Andrew Skidmore

Professor Andrew Skidmore is a graduate in forestry from the Australian National University (ANU), he worked for 10 years with the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales (NSW) and undertook a PhD in remote sensing and GIS at the Australian National University. In 1991 he moved to the School of Geography, University of New South Wales, and also worked as member and later Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing and GIS. As Head of the Department of Natural Resource for 19 years from 1997 Professor Skidmore maintained an ongoing interest in vegetation mapping and monitoring, while recent research includes wildlife habitat assessment in East Africa, hyperspectral remote sensing, AI techniques for handling geoinformation and accuracy assessment.

Coursework teaching in: 
Advanced GIS, Management and Application of GIS, Remote Sensing Applications, Environmental GIS, Vegetation Science, (Spatial) Statistics.

ERC Grant 2019

The overall aim of an European Research Council Advanced Grant, awarded to Prof Skidmore from 2019-2024, is to monitor biodiversity by upscaling field observations and genomic eDNA information using next generation satellite remote sensing.

Activities in research

Vegetation mapping and monitoring have been his main ongoing research theme, while recent research includes wildlife habitat assessment in East Africa, hyperspectral remote sensing, AI techniques for handling geoinformation and accuracy assessment.

International Journal Editorial Board Member

• International Journal of Geographical Information Systems (1995 - present)
• International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation (1996 - present)
• International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (1997-present)
• International Journal of Geo-Information (2012-present)

Activities in capacity development

Professor Skidmore has undertaken wide-ranging consulting and advisory service work in Australia, Asia and Africa.

Research prizes

• Schlich Medal 1983. This gold medal is presented from a British Commonwealth trust fund collected by public subscription.
• The Australian Academy of Science and The Institute of Foresters of Australia M.R. Jacobs Award 1986.
• The Institute of Foresters of Australia Hedges Bequest 1987. This annual award is presented to the author of the best paper published in Australian Forestry.
• The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 1990 Autometric Award. This award is to stimulate development and recognise achievement in the field of photographic interpretation through special acknowledgment of the superior publication on the various aspects of imagery interpretation.
• The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 1997 ESRI Award. This award recognises the best GIS paper published in 1997.
• The European Association for Remote Sensing 2003 Best Conference paper presentation Award for: Mutanga, O., and Skidmore, A.K., 2003. Continuum-removed absorption features estimate savanna pasture quality in situ. 3rd EARSeL Workshop on Imaging Spectroscopy, 13-16 May, 2003. EARSeL, Herrshing, Germany.
• The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 2005 John J Davidson's award for the best practical paper published in 2005. Mapping coastal vegetation using an expert system and hyperspectral imagery.
• The 8th AGILE conference held in Portugal in 2005: "Remote sensing and GIS for mapping and management of invasive shrub Chromolaena odorata in Nepal" recieved the best remote sensing paper award as well as the second best conference paper award.
• The Talbert Abrams Award 2015 - American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (2nd place)
• 2015 John J. Davidson President’s Award for Practical Papers - American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (2nd place)