Trevor Harris

Trevor Harris

School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Dr Trevor Harris is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Space and Atmospheric Physics Group at the University of Adelaide, where he researches ionospheric physics topics and advises and assists the post-graduate research program and student education.

Dr Harris' paid employment is with BAE Systems Australia as a Technical Specialist in their Over-The-Horizon-Radar programs.

Dr Harris started his career in the Department of Defence, Australia, researching scientific aspects affecting
high-frequency (HF) radar and communications and the interactions with emerging technologies and
new capabilities. He remained there for over 30 years, gaining experience in remote sensing,
experimentation, modelling, analysis and interpretation of the upper atmosphere and near-space
environment and its impacts on capabilities and missions. He has worked on spread Doppler clutter, ionospheric disturbances, HF comms, regional engagement, and national and international collaborations. He has been deeply involved in over-the-horizon radar coordinate registration research, ionospheric specification, and production of the JORN operational near-real-time regional ionospheric model. Over his career he has been team lead for the coordinate registration system for JORN, international engagement projects, system design and implementation, and Head-of-Group for the JORN science team and Data & Information Fusion.

Over the last ten years his research has concentrated on observation and modelling of ionospheric
dynamics over varying time-spatial scales. He has undertaken extensive international collaborations with military over-the-horizon radar, HF communications, and the scientific R&D communities.

Dr Harris has regularly been on program and organising committees for physics conferences,
contributed over 100 presentations and papers in his field, including a book chapter on
ionospheric effects on HF propagation, and supervised several post-graduate students. He is a regular reviewer for international scientific journals and open access publications; an active participant in the TIGER SuperDARN R&D group; the current Vice-Chair of the Australian Institute of Physics Solar-Terrestrial & Space Physics Group and the National Committee for Space and Radio Science representative on Comm-G of Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale (URSI). He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics and member of the American Geophysical Union.

He is a strong advocate of promoting STEM and equity in the education system, and a strong supporter of the Australian Space industry and Space research.

Dr Harris received the Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) from James Cook University, North Queensland, in 1985, with a double major in Physics and Mathematics. His BSc Honours in 1986 was in Oceanography using an HF surface-wave radar. He gained his PhD degree in 1994 from the University of Adelaide in Atmospheric Physics.

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2018 Co-Supervisor Determining the Angle of Arrival of Ionospherically-Propagated HF Radio Signals using Compact Polarimetric Antennas Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Lenard Hume Pederick
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2018 - 2019 Co-Supervisor A New Empirical Climatological Model of ionospheric foF2 and hmF2 and Review of the International Reference Ionosphere Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Daniel James Field

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