Brian Collins Email & Phone Number

Brisbane, Qld, Au

Toowoomba, Qld, Au

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

- I lead the modelling theme of two projects (AgriFutures- and BACI-funded) on sesame.- I am developing a new APSIM NextGen module for sesame. - The new module will be used to inform the adoption of sesame crops into existing Australian farming systems.

Townsville, Queensland, Australia

As the leader of the i-RAT extension project in the Mackay-Whitsunday region, I am responsible for guiding and managing the project's activities. This includes overseeing the collection of relevant data, conducting comprehensive crop modelling, and performing in-depth analysis. Additionally, I actively engage and collaborate with stakeholders from various backgrounds to ensure their needs are understood and met through effective solutions. By leveraging my expertise and fostering collaborative partnerships, I strive to achieve the project's objectives and deliver valuable outcomes for all involved parties.

Townsville, Queensland, Australia

My research focuses on modelling sustainable practices in sugarcane production to mitigate pollution in the Great Barrier Reef. As the i-RAT project leader, I've developed an interactive irrigation assessment platform (https://i-rat.net) to enhance irrigation practices in the Burdekin region. Using the APSIM-Sugar crop model, I've generated a comprehensive data cube representing sugarcane management scenarios. i-RAT aims to connect improved irrigation management with natural capital accounting, encouraging better practices and water quality. I organise, analyse, and visualise extensive datasets, utilising R and Python with machine learning techniques for valuable insights. Engaging stakeholders, I provide tailored solutions to address their needs.

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

• Studied the impacts of abiotic stresses on wheat crops in Australia to help alleviate these impacts under current and future climates using crop model simulations (with APSIM and APSIM-NextGen) and to find potential avenues to improve crop adaptivity under current and future climates• Designed and conducted field and greenhouse experiments to explore opportunities to improve drought and heat stress tolerance in wheat. Ran glasshouse experiments in an automated lysimetric platform to test tens of genotypes from various sources in search of new genetic material that might help achieve better drought adaptation and higher productivity. • Flew drone over experimental (wheat) paddocks to collect RGB and multispectral images for pre-breeding analyses.• Adopted data science techniques (R/Python/SQL) in combination with crop models (mostly APSIM, APSIM-NextGen and AquaCrop) to explore the value of promising traits under various management and climate scenarios. • Contributed to the development and maintenance of APSIM and APSIM-NextGen crop models by liaising with the APSIM Initiative via diagnosis and upgrading of the source code of the models (C#, C++, FORTRAN). • Implemented a new photosynthesis module into APSIM-NextGen (C#), which enabled the analysis of the impact of the limited transpiration rate trait on wheat transpiration efficiency and grain yield and exploring the value of currently existing genetic variability in transpiration efficiency for breeding programs in Australia. • Liaised with UQ researchers to implement and test a new canopy photosynthesis-stomatal conductance module (DCaPST) for APSIM (C++/Fortran) and APSIM-NextGen (C#) enabling the APSIM community to simulate the effect of enhanced photosynthesis on crop performance under various environmental conditions.• Conducted large-scale simulation analyses using the UQ high-performance computer clusters.

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

(Refer to the next role for the rest of the responsibilities)• Expedited data ETL, analysis and visualisation by implementing simulation, data warehousing and analysis frameworks (R and Python) in 12 research projects leading to more efficient data ingestion (datasets as large as 5-10 billion records), higher data quality, and reduced risk of data loss.• Analysed a dataset of simulated wheat traits (~40 million records) covering the Australian Wheatbelt to estimate average yield loss due to heat shocks and investigate yield and yield loss trends over the last three decades.• Published a paper entitled “Plausibility of training artificial neural networks with crop models to predict wheat phenology and yield”, wherein neural networks were used to reproduce simulations conducted by a process-based crop model.• Performed explanatory analysis, data mining, machine learning and data visualisation with R (+ ggplot, data.table), Python (+ Pandas, NumPy, matplotlib, seaborn, scikit-learn) and SQL to study the effect of physiological traits on crop growth and yield and to investigate crop responses to abiotic stresses under current and future climates.• Conducted explanatory data analysis (incl. trend analysis) on an extensive, gridded weather database (CRU) to identify temporal and spatial patterns in drought indexes across Iran from 1957 to 2016.• Collected, managed, and optimised national, continental, and global-scale datasets (SQL, CSV, NetCDF, RData, XML, Excel, JSON) from disparate sources; analysed and visualised data with R/Python programming and tools such as Power BI (reports and dashboards) and SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS). • Supervised honours and research higher degree students and performed administrative functions.• Attended meetings and conferences to present and explain complex data to technical and non-technical audiences.

Qazvin, Qazvin Province, Iran

• Co-founded a company specializing in digital agriculture and integrated water resources management.• Exerted a significant impact on water resources planning and crop production through the development and implementation of cutting-edge methodologies and the promotion of data science techniques in the field.• Led the integration of crop simulation models (WOFOST, AquaCrop, DSSAT, and APSIM) and agro-hydrological models into comprehensive frameworks for water resources planning.

Tehran, Iran

• Project: Surveying, Design, Drafting and Cost Estimation of Drip Irrigation Systems (700ha), Qazvin. Role: Project Manager and Senior Irrigation Engineer.• Project: Design, Drafting and Cost Estimation of Drip Irrigation Systems (200ha), Firouzkouh. Role: Project Manager and Senior Irrigation Engineer.• Project: Design and Cost Estimation of Low-Pressure Irrigation Systems (160ha), Rey. Role: Project Manager and Senior Irrigation Engineer.• Project: Design, Drafting and Cost Estimation of a Diversion Dam, Pipeline and Concrete Canal, Kermanshah. Role: Flood Management / Hydraulic Structure Engineer.Engineering:• Led and participated as a senior engineer in multidisciplinary projects encompassing irrigation and drainage, agrometeorology, hydraulic structures, crop physiology, and crop modelling, overseeing all stages from contract signing to design and execution.• Collaborated with management to coordinate activities, prioritise project components, and define data requirements.• Managed and participated in farm surveys using Leica cameras, as well as conducted hydraulic design, drafting, and cost estimation for pressurized and low-pressure irrigation systems.• Led the hydraulic design, drafting, and cost estimation for a water diversion project, including the construction of a diversion dam, groundwater artificial recharge facilities, and a pipe water delivery line.• Designed pipelines for the testing of machine learning models (regression, decision tree, SVM, ANN) for predictive modelling and classification of weather and hydrological data.Data Science:• Managed the organisation, analysis, and visualisation of data using R, Python, SQL, Power BI, DAX, Excel, and other tools to support data-driven decision-making by the management team.• Created publication-ready material and presented spatial data using ggplot, matplotlib, seaborn, ArcGIS, and QGIS.

Montpellier Area, France

Crop Physiology and Modelling:• Headed the joint project between INRA and Limagrain Europe, titled "Typology of drought, nitrogen, and heat stress patterns at European level for wheat," at the European scale.• Enhanced the functionality and user interface (C#) of the SiriusQuality crop model, incorporating modifications and introducing new modules for automated crop management. Additionally, developed a stress index to simulate the effects of abiotic stresses.• Conducted simulations for eight stress scenarios at a continental scale and performed environment characterization to reassess the placement of Limagrain trial stations across Europe.• Designed and implemented a distributed simulation and analysis framework using R and SQL to investigate the impact of abiotic stresses and nitrogen deficiency on wheat performance across Europe. Covered over 8,000 locations and 25,000 simulation units for the period 1984-2014. Data Science:• Developed an ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), data warehousing, and analysis pipeline using R, Python, and SQL to handle extensive weather, soil, and agronomic data.• Utilized advanced data mining and machine learning techniques in R to analyse a large dataset of simulated data. For instance, applied clustering algorithms to identify significant environmental patterns across Europe based on extensive weather variables and wheat traits. Additionally, conducted trend analysis to examine temporal variations from 1984 to 2014.• Employed ggplot, matplotlib, seaborn, ArcGIS, and QGIS to present spatial data and generate publication-ready materials.• Created an R package to ensure reproducibility of analyses, modelling, and visualizations for Limagrain scientists.

Montpellier Area, France

Tehran, Iran

• Managed and actively participated in diverse multidisciplinary projects encompassing irrigation and drainage, agrometeorology, hydrology, water resources management, river engineering, flood management, hydraulic structures, crop physiology, and crop modelling, from the initial design phase to successful execution.• Made significant contributions to multidisciplinary teams involved in the delivery of major water resources projects.• Utilized remotely sensed and soil sensor data to establish crop model simulations, enabling the assessment of long-term impacts stemming from soil property variability on yield and irrigation/nutrient requirements.• Led the implementation of water balance modelling to evaluate different scenarios of water delivery efficiency.• Successfully managed and delivered high-quality technical reports and presentations independently and as part of teams.• Took charge of investigation, analysis, and design tasks crucial to supporting detailed planning and design of water systems.• Enhanced floodplain zoning processes through hydrological and flood modelling, utilizing HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS.• Conducted hydrological assessments of water catchments and accurately estimated design flow in flood management studies.• Undertook hydrological and meteorological studies, hydraulic design and drafting utilizing AutoCAD and Civil3D, as well as conducted comprehensive farm surveys utilizing Leica cameras in irrigation and drainage network projects, and drip and sprinkler irrigation systems.• Carried out hydraulic design, drafting, and cost estimation for delivery pipelines, drip and sprinkle irrigation systems, as well as diversion dams and canal hydraulic structures.• Initiated collaborative partnerships with researchers from University of Tehran and Imam Khomeini International University.

Tehran, Iran

• Project: Improvement of water and soil resources productivity in Qazvin irrigation and drainage network, Qazvin. Role: Data Scientist, Crop Modeler and Irrigation Management ExpertDuties:• Conducted simulations of wheat yield and water requirement utilizing the WOFOST crop model.• Developed and evaluated eight statistical weather generators using MATLAB to assess the quality of synthetic weather data (through direct evaluation) and their impact on simulated wheat yield with WOFOST (through indirect evaluation).• Assessed weather generators’ capacity to replicate short-term autocorrelations in time series of drought events using R.• Trained and evaluated artificial neural networks (using MATLAB) as well as Random Forest and SVM models (using R) to fill in missing weather data, thereby enhancing the quality of input data for weather generators and WOFOST.• Designed and implemented Access and SQL databases to effectively store data generated by weather generators and WOFOST.

Karaj, Iran

• Calibrated and validated DSSAT models using PEST for wheat, maize, barley, tomato, cotton, sorghum, and potato.• Evaluated biophysical potentials under multiple climatic scenarios using the DSSAT models.• Developed and implemented a planning support system, using Linear Programming, for climate change adaptation.• Integrated DSSAT crop models into a data-fusion-based agro-hydrological simulation model to quantify economic, social, and environmental impacts resulting from land use changes and selected adaptation strategies across various climate scenarios.• Performed data collection, cleansing, analysis, and visualisation of extensive climate and hydrological datasets using MATLAB and SQL.• Developed and tested ten statistical weather generators with MATLAB, including the implementation of a novel semi-parametric model based on K-NN regression and copulas.• Utilized diverse architectures of artificial neural networks and introduced the application of Hammerstein-Wiener models, for the first time in hydrological studies, for simulating reservoir inflow.• Developed a data fusion method based on K-NN regression, resulting in a significant 20% improvement in simulation accuracy compared to the best-performing ANN and HW models.• Generated climate change scenarios by downscaling the outputs of 25 GCMs using the Inverse Distance Weighting method.• Evaluated the impacts of population growth on domestic water demand under varying climate change scenarios.• Conducted comprehensive assessments of climate change adaptation strategies from multiple perspectives employing multi-criteria evaluation techniques.• (Co)-authored and published over 20 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and showcased research findings at national and international conferences.

Tehran, Iran

1- General Irrigation Lab, Department of Irrigation and Reclamation. 2- General Irrigation, Assistant, Department of Irrigation and Reclamation. 3- Irrigation Systems, Assistant, Department of Irrigation and Reclamation. 4- Surface and Sprinkle Irrigation Systems, Assistant, Department of Irrigation and Reclamation.5- Linear Programming, Assistant, Department of Irrigation and Reclamation.

Qazvin, Iran

Field measurements associated with water application efficiency and water distribution uniformity for various types of irrigation systems; Field measurements associated with water delivery efficiency of earthen and concrete irrigation canals; Performing soil sampling to determine soil texture, bulk density, water content, field capacity, permanent wilting point and final infiltration rate; Performing crop sampling to determine crop phenology, yield and biomass production; Performing required calculations related to irrigation system efficiency, water distribution uniformity and soil water balance; Preparing technical documents and reports, and participating in official meetings.

Tehran, Iran

• Project: River Engineering Studies of Ijeroud River, Zanjan. o Role: Senior Flood Engineer• Project: River Engineering Studies of Rivers of Five Counties, Eastern Azerbaijan. o Role: Senior Flood EngineerDuties:• Conducted hydrology assessments of water catchments and estimation of design flows.• Performed flood plain zoning to determine flooding extents and associated impacts using HEC-RAS 1D/2D modelling.• Designed flood relief plans and investigated their efficiency using HEC-RAS modelling.• Contributed to project planning, client liaison, development of solutions, and technical report writing.

Tehran, Iran

Consultant in the fields of landscape design, landscape water requirement, water delivery systems and other related fields.​​

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Agricultural Engineering (Irrigation And Drainage Engineering)

For the doctoral dissertation, I developed a Spatial Planning Support System (PSS) for adaptation to climate change. I calibrated and used.

Master'S Degree, Agricultural Engineering (Irrigation And Drainage Engineering)

For my master thesis, I used soil and land use map of the study area (Isfahan, Iran) beside other required (especially agricultural.

Bachelor'S Degree, Agricultural Engineering (Irrigation Engineering)