Richard Thornton
Richard P. Thornton, deputy CEO and research director for the Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre (CRC), is responsible for the management of the research portfolio of the centre. Thornton oversees research in such diverse areas as fire behavior and suppression, ecological studies of fire in the landscape, community self-sufficiency, and protection of people and property. More recently, Thornton has coordinated the Australian government’s bid for a new A$150 million research centre for fire-environment and society. Following the devastating 2009 bushfires in Victoria, Thornton provided guidance and oversight of a large, multidisciplinary research effort to gather data and understand the events.
Previously, Thornton was research strategy manager for Telstra Research Laboratories (TRL), where he was responsible for the management of the commercialization research and design projects, long-term strategic research and design projects, external research and design interactions, and strategic guidance of TRL's research program.
Thornton received a degree in physics from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom and a PhD in physics from RMIT, Victoria in Australia. He is a member of the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
Before joining Telstra in 1990, Thornton worked at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, UK, at CAP Scientific Plc in the UK.