Dr Matt Garthwaite

Matt is an Earth Observation scientist with expertise in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Interferometric SAR (InSAR). His research interests include geodetic and geophysical applications of synthetic aperture radar (SAR), SAR interferometry, and SAR calibration/validation techniques and infrastructure.

Matt joined the CSIRO Centre for Earth Observation (CCEO) in the Space & Astronomy research unit in 2022, initially to lead the implementation of "AusCalVal" - a national facility for facilitating open access to Australian Earth Observation satellite calibration and validation data. Since 2023, he has also been leading the CCEO's SAR capability development team, which includes the NovaSAR National Facility.

Matt was previously with Geoscience Australia from 2012 to 2022, first as a Geodetic Scientist and since 2016 as InSAR Team Lead and Assistant Director for National Geodesy. In these roles, he led the development of a national-scale capability to leverage Sentinel-1 InSAR for generating surface movement products over large areas in Australia. Matt successfully delivered projects for the state government of NSW, assessing ground subsidence effects from coal seam gas and longwall mining in the Sydney basin, and for the Victorian state government's Melbourne Metro Rail project. Matt was responsible for designing a new geodetic infrastructure network funded by AuScope, which yielded the Queensland Corner Reflector Array in the Darling Downs region. Matt was then the acting Director for Natural Hazards and Impacts at Geoscience Australia between 2021 and 2022, where he led a team of 13 subject matter experts contributing scientific analysis for cyclone, tsunami and earthquake hazards in both Australia and overseas.

Matt obtained a Masters degree in geology and geophysics from the University of Leicester, UK, in 2005 and completed his PhD at the University of Leeds, UK, in 2011. His doctoral research involved harnessing InSAR for measuring the slow deformation patterns in the Tibetan Plateau region, whilst undertaking numerical modelling to explain the processes of deformation in the Indo-Eurasian continental collision zone.