About ATFI
ATFI @ JCU – a new research institute excelling in sustainable tropical landscapes research, in the heart of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
ATFI is located at James Cook University’s Cairns Campus in Far North Queensland. The institute facilitates collaboration, co-location and regional partnerships for the sustainable use, management and conservation of tropical forest landscapes.
ATFI hosts research and government agencies as well as non-government organisations and conducts the JCU/CSIRO Tropical Landscapes Joint Venture (TLJV), a high profile research program.
A warm welcome from our executive director
Welcome to ATFI.
The Queensland Government’s Department of State Development and Innovation (DSDI) provided funds from the Smart State Research Facilities Fund (SSRFF) in 2002 to construct the ATFI building on the James Cook University campus in Cairns. This building was completed in late 2007. The main purpose of ATFI is to create a world-leading centre of tropical landscapes research, knowledge brokering and management. This capitalises on our location in a Wet Tropics region and assists in positioning ATFI, James Cook University and partners at the forefront of tropical landscapes research.
Our business objectives reflect our unique role as a ‘hub’ of relevant research and development opportunities for the benefit of communities in the region. A core activity of the Institute is to attract research funding for the tropical landscapes sector.
We will further support our core functions and objectives by pursuing regional, national and international linkages, attracting top calibre researchers.
Professor Steve Turton
Executive Director
JCU/CSIRO Tropical Landscapes Joint Venture
About our executive director
Prior to his current position, Steve was Associate Professor in Geography and Director of Research for the Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre, based at James Cook University. Research interests include tropical climatology, rainforest ecology and natural resource management. Steve has published over 90 scientific papers in these fields of study, comprising refereed journal articles, book chapters and research monographs. He has also supervised over 50 honours and graduate research students during his time at JCU. He is the co-editor of a major book: N.E. Stork & S.M. Turton (eds.) 2008, "Living in a Dynamic Tropical Forest Landscape", Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK, 620p. Steve is a former Councillor of the Institute of Australian Geographers and an ex officio member of the Wet Tropics Management Authority’s Scientific Advisory Committee. He holds the position of honorary treasurer for the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Asia-Pacific Chapter. In 2008, he was appointed to the national leadership team for the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre Climate Change Destinations Adaptation Project and was also appointed as Team leader for the Cairns Region.
