Biography
Prior to appointment as Head of the National School of Forestry in September 2008, David worked forestry and forest industry research in Australia, the Netherlands and the UK. His first degree was in Wood Science at Bangor University. He also spent a year at George Washington University in Washington DC on a CCEA scholarship. David gained his PhD from Aberdeen University studying the ascent of sap in tall trees and the impact of freezing and thawing cycles on xylem conductivity.
For the last nine years David has worked for CSIRO in Australia, with a variety of roles including Deputy Chief of CSIRO Forest Biosciences, Deputy Chief Executive of Ensis (a joint venture between CSIRO and Scion in New Zealand) and Assistant Chief of CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products. Prior to that David was the Head of TNO’s Centre for Timber Research in the Netherlands. In the UK, David was involved in the start up of the The BioComposites Centre as one of the first Research Managers and worked for the Building Research Establishment.
While working in Australia, David was a member of the National Forestry and Forest Products Committee, a board member of the SmartPrint Co-operative Research Centre and a trustee of the Gottstein Trust (charitable trust funding training for industry). While in the Netherlands, David was Chair of the European COST Wood Technology Sector Group, Vice-chair of the European COST Technical Committee on Forests and Forestry Products and the Netherlands National Representative on the COST Technical Committee on Forests and Forestry Products, a Board member of Eurowood and a member of the Eurowood Research Group and Centrum Hout Stuurgroep Research
Research interests/activities
In CSIRO David managed the delivery of a A$34 million/year portfolio of research projects funded from a wide variety of sources and, on average, consisting of 200 projects at any one time. Projects ranged from multi-million $ collaborative programmes to routine testing/consultancy/ research for industry. Example of areas which David was closely involved in were developing a portfolio of projects for the Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation (now FWPA) and being on the steering group creating the Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre (a seven year, $110 million program with some 30-40 partners (industry, government, research and education)).
Recent and current research projects
David is currently working on developing a range of biomass and bioenergy projects based around the expertise and facilities at Newton Rigg. This range includes biomass research, bioenergy research, biomass and bioenergy demonstration sites and technology incubators. In addition, David is exploring the potential for Cumbrian based carbon mitigation research and demonstration projects.
Peer reviewed Publications
Derbyshire, H. and Robson, D. 1999 Moisture conditions in coated exterior wood. Part 4: Theoretical basis for observed behaviour. A computer modelling study. Holz als Roh- und Werkstoff 57 105-113.
Bonfield, P.W.; Mundy, J.; Robson, D.J.; Dinwoodie, J.M. 1996 The modelling of time-dependant deformation in wood using chemical kinetics. Wood Sci. Technol. 30, 105-115.
Published Reports
Robson, D., Hague, J, Newman, G, Jeronimidis, G., Ansell, M. 1993. Survey of natural materials for use in composites. Report to DTI LINK Structural Composites Committee.
Bass, R. Robson, D. J. Neale, M. Willmot, P. 1993 Advances in straw wafering technology. Report to AEA Technology, ETSU.
Chisholm, C. J. et al. 1994 Towards a UK research strategy for alternative crops. Report for MAFF.
Selected Conferences
John Handmer, Simon Fischera, Gaminda Ganewatta, Aimee Haywood, David Robson, Richard Thornton and Lyndsey Wright 2008 The cost of fire now and in 2020. III International Symposium on Fire Economics, Planning and Policy: Common Problems and Approaches, Carolina, Puerto Rico - April 29 - May 2,
Robson, D., Freischmidt, G. and Hague, J. 2000 The use of non-wood lignocellulosic materials in composites. Hobart, Tasmania: Forest Industries Association of Tasmania.
Robson, D. (2000) Residues: using the wood we have effectively. Proceedings of the AusTimber 2000 Conference
Robson, D. and Blyth, M. (2000) The future for wood composites in Australia. Proceedings of the 5th Pacific Rim Bio-Based Materials Composites Symposium, 10-13th December 2000, Canberra 765-773.
Robson, D., Evans, R., Ilic, J. and Schimleck, L. 1999 Industrially focused wood quality research at CSIRO. Paper presented at the 1st Wood Quality Symposium, Emerging Technologies for Evaluating Wood Quality for Processing, Melbourne, 2nd December 1999.
Robson, D., Esser, P. Life-sys Wood: Consistent life-cycle analysis of wood products. Proceedings of the 4th Eurowood Symposium, 22-23 September 1997, Stockholm.
Patent
Robson, D.J., Lawther, J.M., Hughes, S. Improvements relating to the absorption of hydrophobic water immiscible liquids. UK Patent Application Number 9120989.