Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation

Dr Robert Armstrong

Research Fellow
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
+61 7 535 15086
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Researcher biography

Dr Robert Armstrong has 14 years' experience among the fields of ecohydrological and agriculture systems research. He joined the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) in 2015 as a postdoctoral research fellow. He currently works with an esteemed team of UQ researchers on a major national initiative; Analytics for the Australian Grains Industry (AAGI). The AAGI project includes three strategic partners: Curtin University, University of Queensland, and University of Adelaide along with the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). AAGI aims to harness quantitative analytics to drive the Australian agricultural sector's profitability and global competitiveness.

Dr Armstrong's prior researach, involved leading an esteemed team of QAAFI researchers (2015-2023) and nationally based agronomic managers (2020-2023) in the development of a predictive modelling simulation framework for evaluating phenological and environmental conditions that can result in late-maturity alpha-amylase incidence that affects susceptible wheat genotypes.

Dr Armstrong's research interests include: quantitative geospatial and statistical analysis of climate and land surface data using geographical information systems (GIS), quantitative analysis of remotely sensed imagery; statistical and graphical programming, climate impacts and risks related to agricultural production, hydrological and flood hazard analysis of complex Canadian Prairie environments, and scaling impacts on terrain analysis for hydrological applications.

Dr Armstrong received his Doctoral Degree in 2011 from the University of Saskatchewan (B Sc, M Sc, Ph D), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. This research specialised in land surface and hydrological parameterisation and spatial variability in land surface evaporation modelling. From 2011-2014 he was awarded an NSERC Visiting Fellowship with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan).

Publications

Book Chapters (4)
Journal Articles (8)
Conference Paper (1)
Data Collections (3)
Research Reports (5)

Book Chapters

Pomeroy, John W., MacDonald, Matthew K., Dornes, Pablo F. and Armstrong, Robert (2016). Water budgets in ecosystems. A biogeoscience approach to ecosystems. (pp. 88-131) edited by Edward A. Johnson and Yvonne E. Martin. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Armstrong, Robert, Kayter, Cameron, Shook, Kevin and Hill, Harvey (2013). Using the wetland DEM ponding model as a diagnostic tool for prairie flood hazard assessment. Putting prediction in ungauged basins into practice. (pp. 255-270) edited by John W. Pomeroy, Christopher Spence and Paul H. Whitfield. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Water Resources Association.
Thorne, Robin, Armstrong, Robert N., Woo, Ming-ko and Martz, Lawrence W. (2008). Lessons from macroscale hydrologic modeling: experience with the hydrologic model SLURP in the Mackenzie Basin. Cold Region Atmospheric and Hydrologic Studies. The Mackenzie GEWEX Experience: Volume 2: Hydrologic Processes. (pp. 397-410) edited by Ming-ko Woo. Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-75136-6_21
Martz, Lawrence W., Pietroniro, Alain, Shaw, Dean A., Armstrong, Robert N., Laing, Boyd and Lacroix, Martin (2008). Re-scaling river flow direction data from local to continental scales. Cold Region Atmospheric and Hydrologic Studies. The Mackenzie GEWEX Experience: Volume 2: Hydrologic Processes. (pp. 371-396) edited by Ming-ko Woo. Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-75136-6_20

Journal Articles

Pomeroy, J.W., Brown, T., Fang, X., Shook, K.R., Pradhananga, D., Armstrong, R., Harder, P., Marsh, C., Costa, D., Krogh, S.A., Aubry-Wake, C., Annand, H., Lawford, P., He, Z., Kompanizare, M. and Lopez Moreno, J.I. (2022). The cold regions hydrological modelling platform for hydrological diagnosis and prediction based on process understanding. Journal of Hydrology, 615 128711, 1-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128711
Armstrong, Robert N., Potgieter, Andries B., Mares, Daryl J., Mrva, Kolumbina, Brider, Jason and Hammer, Graeme L. (2019). An integrated framework for predicting the risk of experiencing temperature conditions that may trigger late-maturity alpha-amylase in wheat across Australia. Crop and Pasture Science, 71 (1), 1-11. doi: 10.1071/cp19005
Armstrong, Robert N., Pomeroy, John W. and Martz, Lawrence W. (2019). Spatial variability of mean daily estimates of actual evaporation from remotely sensed imagery and surface reference data. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 23 (12), 4891-4907. doi: 10.5194/hess-23-4891-2019
Armstrong, R. N., Pomeroy, J. W. and Martz, L. W. (2015). Variability in evaporation across the Canadian Prairie region during drought and non-drought periods. Journal of Hydrology, 521, 182-195. doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.11.070
Armstrong, Robert N., Pomeroy, John W. and Martz, Lawrence W. (2010). Estimating evaporation in a prairie landscape under drought conditions. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 35 (2), 173-186. doi: 10.4296/cwrj3502173
Armstrong, Robert N. and Martz, Lawrence W. (2008). Effects of reduced land cover detail on hydrological model response. Hydrological Processes, 22 (14), 2395-2409. doi: 10.1002/hyp.6830
Armstrong, Robert N., Pomeroy, John W. and Martz, Lawrence W. (2008). Evaluation of three evaporation estimation methods in a Canadian prairie landscape. Hydrological Processes, 22 (15), 2801-2815. doi: 10.1002/hyp.7054
Armstrong, Robert N. and Martz, Lawrence W. (2003). Topographic parameterization in continental hydrology: a study in scale. Hydrological Processes, 17 (18), 3763-3781. doi: 10.1002/hyp.1352

Conference Paper

Armstrong, Robert, Hammer, Graeme and Potgieter, Andries (2022). Frequency analysis of environment types associated with late-maturity alpha-amylase for Australian wheat under current and future climates. 20th Australian Agronomy Conference , Toowoomba, QLD Australia, 19-22 September 2022. Australian Society of Agronomy.

Data Collections

Armstrong, Robert, Potgieter, Andries, Hammer, Graeme, Mortlock, Miranda, Biddulph, Ben, Curry, Jeremy, Height, Nathan, McCallum, Melissa, Porker, Kenton, Harris, Felicity, Bathgate, Jordan, Simpson, Jess, Clarke, Genevieve, Giblot-Ducray, Danièle, Fairlie, William, Hughes, David and Cullis, Brian (2023). Late Maturity alpha-Amylase winter wheat data from field trials conducted at six locations in Australia. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/6769356
Armstrong, Robert, Potgieter, Andries, Hammer, Graeme, Mortlock, Miranda, Biddulph, Ben, Curry, Jeremy, Height, Nathan, McCallum, Melissa, Porker, Kenton, Harris, Felicity, Bathgate, Jordan, Simpson, Jess, Clarke, Genevieve, Giblot-Ducray, Danièle, Fairlie, William, Hughes, David and Cullis, Brian (2023). Field trial raw and processed datasets for 2020 winter field season. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/721f2e2
Armstrong, Robert, Potgieter, Andries, Brider, Jason and Hammer, Graeme (2023). LMA Risk maps at Shire scale. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/1774e6f

Research Reports

Armstrong, Robert (2011). Summary of Potential Evaporation and Temperature and Rainfall Variability for Relative Risk Assessment of Agricultural Production Zones. Summary report prepared for AAFC contract #3000440573..
Martz, Lawrence, Armstrong, Robert and Pietroniro, Elise (2007). The South Saskatchewan River Basin: Physical Geography. In 'Climate Change and Water SSRB Final Technical Report'.
Martz, Lawrence, Armstrong, Robert and Rolfe, Terry (2007). Determining Water Use in the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB).
Armstrong, Robert (2007). Appendix C: Re-Assessment of 1996 Census Population, Livestock and Water Use Information.
Armstrong, Robert, Pietroniro, Elise, Rolfe, J. Terry and Wagner, Angela (2007). Estimated water use in the South Saskatchewan River Basin.