Biography
Mr Justin Leonard has dedicated the last 22 of his 26 year research career to the understanding of how bushfire risk to life and infrastructure can be managed. His work has built on the learning of an already established research area within CSIRO in which he was initially mentored and then inherited. The research area combines learnings from bushfire exposure experiments with post bushfire survey investigations and computer modelling of bushfire interactions with buildings.
Recent activities include the development and delivery of accreditations course on bushfire risk assessment with Melbourne University, providing technical support for the Victorian Community Bushfire Community Refuge Program, developing the bushfire planning risk maps for Queensland, development of a comprehensive life/house loss database for Australia, developing innovative ways to perform post bushfire surveys and assisting various individuals and industry groups develop novel building design solutions and related standards.
Professional Areas
Fields of Research
Current Roles
-
Research Leader
Bushfire Adaptation
Academic Qualifications
-
1992
Bachelor of Engineering
Melbourne University -
2013
Senior Research Fellow - Architecture and Planning
Melbourne University
Achievements and Awards
-
2015
Bushfire Building Professional of the Year
Bushfire Building Council of Australia
Other highlights
-
2011-2015
Delivering Research to support the development of the NASH bushfire building standard recently adopted into the National Construction Code
-
2004-2015
Delivering research to support the development of the CFA bushfire burnover protection systems, now comprehensively fitted to the CFA tanker fleet with light tankers and command/control vehicles systems currently under development. These systems saved crew and civilian lives during the Black Saturday Bushfires.
Community and Corporate Citizenship
-
Justin dedicates a significant proportion of his time each year to present various aspects of these learnings to professionals and community members at various forums, events and media.