Current as of 1/06/2023

Rob Fitzpatrick is the founding director of the Acid Sulfate Soils Centre (ASSC) and Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide focusing on basic and applied research & development of acid sulfate soils associated with the fields of environmental science, mineral exploration, acid mine drainage and damage to infrastructures. He is also the founding director of the Centre for Australian Forensic Soil Science (CAFSS) – a national and international body, which provides focus for R&D in soil science for forensic purposes. He has conducted over 200 forensic investigations for law enforcement agencies involving search, location and recovery of soil and mineral samples to solve forensic investigations in “high end” criminalistic cases. He is currently also an Honorary Fellow in CSIRO Mineral Resources and previously Chief Research Scientist in CSIRO Land and Water from 2000 – 2011. He is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and Fellow of several global soil science and geological societies. He has received the following awards for outstanding contributions to science: Sir Joseph Verco Medal by the Royal Society of South Australia; The Prescott Medal and Pioneer Lecture Award by Soil Science Australia; Forensic Geology & Forensic Soil Science Award by the International Union of Geological Sciences and Pons Medal for outstanding contribution to acid sulfate soil science and practice by the International Union of Geological Sciences.

His career has focused on the interface of soil science (pedology), regolith science, mineralogy, biogeochemistry, forensic science, mineral exploration and climate change as applied to: 1) Landscape processes, 2) Advanced techniques to characterize, map, monitor and manage soil-regolith systems and 3) Criminal and environmental forensic techniques for soils and regolith. He has over 50 years of experience in leading global multi-disciplinary research projects and conducted over 500 specialised soil-regolith investigations and surveys.

Professor Robert William Fitzpatrick, has made outstanding contributions to soil mineralogy, pedology, biogeochemistry and spatial analysis and applied this knowledge to the benefit of the environment, industry and forensics. His work in three fields has been of particular national benefit. He is a consultant to Telstra on the impact of soils on the stability of fibre optic cables. His knowledge on acid sulfate soils in coastal and inland systems, especially in River Murray environments is being applied by state and federal governments to solve serious environmental problems. He developed the novel concept of "forensic soil science" together with Flinders University and used clay mineralogy to solve over 60 crimes.