Dr. Hossein Rizeei, McGregor Coxall’s Geospatial Scientist, has been named as one of 40 ‘rising stars of research’ within The Australian’s Research 2021 Special Report.

Hossein has designed, developed, and implemented several GIS-based methodologies that assess natural and built environments for resilient urban planning, natural hazard detection, and blue-green infrastructure applications through a unique combination of GIS, remote sensing, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Named in the ‘Business, Economics and Management’ category, Hossein’s research interests include spatial data-driven support systems in forest fire, flooding, urban heat island, soil erosion, and tree health assessments – publishing numerous ISI papers and scientific journal articles and delivering conference presentations on such topics.

“My passion and motivation lie in my research and its practical applications through my work – centred around the harmonisation of built and natural environments. From data capturing techniques that simulate the natural behaviour of nature, to finding practical solutions that widen humanity’s perspective over our planet, this ‘work’ is my castle in the sky,” he said.

This year, Hossein’s co-authored research and development project titled ‘Forest Fire Risk Prediction: A Spatial Deep Neural Network-Based Framework’, featured in the prestigious, peer-reviewed Remote Sensing journal. Developed collaboratively between McGregor Coxall and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the resultant AI-led framework assesses and quantifies the probability of forest fire risk – factoring 36 indicators from topographic, climatic, and human usage elements. Machine learning recognises fire occurrence patterns via an adaptable, highly accurate predictive model to aid environmental planners develop strategies that protect the public and conserve our rich ecological assets.

The ‘rising starts of research’ are identified by The Australian through a methodology based on individuals’ annualised H-index, a measure which considers both their volume of research output, as well as the impact it has in their field.

You can read the full article here.