Dr. Thomas Smith
Member of staff, Department of Geography, King's College London.
Like many geographers, Tom’s formative fieldwork experiences began at Field Studies Centres, on the Isle of Arran, and Blencathra. Things took a turn for the extreme when Tom went on a trip to measure forest fires in the Canadian Rocky Mountains of Banff National Park. Since then, Tom has worked on fires in Australia, Southeast Asia, and closer to home in Northumberland.
Talk summary:
The King's College London Wildfire Group has been involved with wildfire fieldwork on five continents over the past few years. Tom will talk about some of the varied cultural and scientific experiences that accompany wildfire research in Canada, Australia, Southeast Asia and at home in the UK. Tom’s talk will include images akin to Armageddon at forest fires in Canada; stories of aboriginal blessings in Australia; documentary footage of fieldwork that led to challenges to the IPCC report; experiences from the wildfire-threatened peat bogs of Borneo; through to appearances on CBBC Newsround with a lizard man!
Photos taken by Tom during a Tactical Burn Course that took place in Catalonia. For more pictures visit Tom's personal website