Dr Geoff Norton

Position:  Past President (2012 – 2024)
Location:

Adjunct Professor
The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
Phone: +61 7 3300 1861

Expertise

Systems analysis and decision analysis tools for IPM, IPM stakeholder workshop facilitation, Economics of plant protection, Use of Information Technology for IPM information dissemination, training and decision support.

Education:

  • D.Sc. (Resource Management) Imperial College, University of London – 1988
  • Ph.D. (Resource Economics) University of Wales (Bangor) – 1968
  • M.Sc. (Agricultural Economics) University of Wales (Bangor) – 1966
  • B.Sc. (Agric.) University of Wales (Bangor) – 1965

Work experience:

Geoff Norton has been involved for over thirty five years in the development and worldwide application of a series of analysis and IT tools for crop protection problems. Systems analysis, decision analysis, and workshop facilitation tools have been developed and used for analysing issues and exploring solutions to pest management problems. Generic software tools have been developed that allow clients to produce CD and online products for training and decision support in crop protection. The main focus of this activity has been on providing support to policy, research, advisory, and pest management decision-makers.

Geoff Norton has extensive project and consulting experience in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America, in collaboration with various public and private sector organisations. He has been involved in projects and consultancies concerning weed, insect and disease management in field crops (such as cotton, rice, temperate cereals), plantation crops (such as sugar cane, cocoa and apples), and horticultural and vegetable crops. He has provided consulting services for a wide range of organisations, including Environment Directorate, OECD, Paris; International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna; Ford Foundation, New York; New South Wales Department of Agriculture, Sydney; IICA/EMBRAPA, Brasilia; International Fund for Agriculture and Development, Rome; International Rice Research Institute, Manila; Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, New York.

Geoff Norton was at Imperial College, University of London for over 20 years where he was Director of the Silwood Centre for Pest Management from 1984 to 1992. He was responsible for overall administration of the Centre and for initiatives in the three main Centre activities – research, training (including short courses and a one-year Masters course in Pest Management), and consulting. In 1992 Geoff Norton moved to Australia to become Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Pest Management based in Brisbane (1992-1999). The Centre consisted of four partner institutions – CSIRO Division of Entomology, The University of Queensland, Queensland Dept of Primary Industries and Queensland Dept of Lands. Staff from these institutions worked collaboratively on IPM research, training and implementation activities associated with tropical pest management issues in Australia and overseas.

Geoff Norton is currently a part-time director at Identic Pty Ltd – a small spin-off company from the University of Queensland – that develops and supports a range of software tools, initially developed at The University of Queensland, including the Lucid system for developing and deploying identification and crop diagnostic tools on the Internet and as smartphone apps. He is also an adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Science at The University of Queensland.