I completed a B.Sc.(for) with 1^st class Honours at the ANU as a Forestry Commission Trainee in 1981 and then went to work for the NSW government. After 3 years as a field forester, I moved to Sydney where I eventually became the Senior Inventory Officer responsible for quantifying the growth and value of plantations and native forests of NSW. In 1994, I returned to the ANU to teach and research into forest measurement and management. Since then, my most significant research contributions have been the development of optimal sampling strategies, modelling tools, and decision-support systems for trees and associated biota at stand, landscape and continental scales. This research integrates my knowledge of and innovation in applied statistics (for sampling), data acquisition (from remotely sensed imagery and ground-based surveys), modelling (of tree and stand dynamics), and expert and decision support systems (as integrating methods). This research has broad application in both natural, plantation and urban environments, and is novel in its integration of quantitative and qualitative information; it has significant national and international standing as a result.

My work was influential in development of the National Carbon Accounting System for Australia (winner of the Eureka Environmental Science Award), and in the development of new approaches by forest and land managers and policy makers nationally and internationally.

In 2009, I took leave to become the inaugural Chair and Professor of Forestry at the Waiariki Institute (Rotorua, New Zealand) and subsequently became the Director of Research with a mandate to increase the research profile and potential of that Institute (in fields from primary industry, Maori development, nursing and health studies, computing and business). After a successful 3 years, I returned to the ANU to take up my teaching and research roles in the Fenner School of Environment and Society.

In 2020 I accepted an Honourary position at the ANU. I am continuing my work with land managers and urban foresters in association with the ANU and The Mullion Group.