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Dr James Watson

Research Fellow

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Science
j.watson@uq.edu.au
+61 7 4529 4177

Overview

Dr James Watson received a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Queensland, and worked at the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science (University of Leeds, United Kingdom) before joining QAAFI. He is a contributing author of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR5), and is currently investigating optimal data pipeline designs for remote and proximal sensing in agriculture. James is experienced in data analysis, high performance computing, dynamic visualizations, and the calibration and programming of hyperspectral, LIDAR, GPS and thermal sensors.

Research Interests

  • Remote Sensing
    I am currently working on the design and implementation of software pipelines to support remote sensing in agriculture. I am also heavily involved in the calibration and programming of hyperspectral, LIDAR, GPS and thermal sensors.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Publications

  • Journal Article: Comparing the effects of calibration and climate errors on a statistical crop model and a process-based crop model

    Watson, James, Challinor, Andrew J., Fricker, Thomas E. and Ferro, Christopher A. T. (2014) Comparing the effects of calibration and climate errors on a statistical crop model and a process-based crop model. Climatic Change, 132 1: 93-109. doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1264-3

  • Journal Article: A meta-analysis of crop yield under climate change and adaptation

    Challinor, A. J., Watson, J., Lobell, D. B., Howden, S. M., Smith, D. R. and Chhetri, N. (2014) A meta-analysis of crop yield under climate change and adaptation. Nature Climate Change, 4 4: 287-291. doi:10.1038/nclimate2153

  • Book Chapter: Food security and food production systems

    Porter, John R., Xie, Liyong, Challinor, Andrew J., Cochrane, Kevern, Howden, S. Mark, Iqbal, Muhammad Mohsin, Lobell, David B., Travasso, Maria Isabel, Netra Chhetri, Netra Chhetri, Garrett, Karen, Ingram, John, Lipper, Leslie, McCarthy, Nancy, McGrath, Justin, Smith, Daniel, Thornton, Philip, Watson, James and Ziska, Lewis (2014). Food security and food production systems. In Christopher B. Field, Vicente R. Barros, David Jon Dokken, Katharine J. Mach, Michael D. Mastrandrea, T. Eren Bilir, Monalisa Chatterjee, Kristie L. Ebi, Yuka Otsuki Estrada, Robert C. Genova, Betelhem Girma, Eric S. Kissel, Andrew N. Levy, Sandy MacCracken and Patricia R. Mastrandrea (Ed.), Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: global and sectoral aspects (pp. 485-533) New York, United States: Cambridge University Press.

  • Journal Article: The relative importance of rainfall, temperature and yield data for a regional-scale crop model

    Watson, James and Challinor, Andrew (2013) The relative importance of rainfall, temperature and yield data for a regional-scale crop model. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 170 47-57. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2012.08.001

  • Conference Publication: Patterns in complex systems modeling

    Wiles, Janet and Watson, James (2005). Patterns in complex systems modeling. In: M. Gallagher, J. Hogan and F. Maire, Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning IDEAL 2005. Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning (IDEAL 2005), Brisbane, Australia, (532-539). 6-8 July 2005. doi:10.1007/11508069_69

View all Publications

Publications

Featured Publications

  • Comparing the effects of calibration and climate errors on a statistical crop model and a process-based crop model

    Watson, James, Challinor, Andrew J., Fricker, Thomas E. and Ferro, Christopher A. T. (2014) Comparing the effects of calibration and climate errors on a statistical crop model and a process-based crop model. Climatic Change, 132 1: 93-109. doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1264-3

  • A meta-analysis of crop yield under climate change and adaptation

    Challinor, A. J., Watson, J., Lobell, D. B., Howden, S. M., Smith, D. R. and Chhetri, N. (2014) A meta-analysis of crop yield under climate change and adaptation. Nature Climate Change, 4 4: 287-291. doi:10.1038/nclimate2153

  • Food security and food production systems

    Porter, John R., Xie, Liyong, Challinor, Andrew J., Cochrane, Kevern, Howden, S. Mark, Iqbal, Muhammad Mohsin, Lobell, David B., Travasso, Maria Isabel, Netra Chhetri, Netra Chhetri, Garrett, Karen, Ingram, John, Lipper, Leslie, McCarthy, Nancy, McGrath, Justin, Smith, Daniel, Thornton, Philip, Watson, James and Ziska, Lewis (2014). Food security and food production systems. In Christopher B. Field, Vicente R. Barros, David Jon Dokken, Katharine J. Mach, Michael D. Mastrandrea, T. Eren Bilir, Monalisa Chatterjee, Kristie L. Ebi, Yuka Otsuki Estrada, Robert C. Genova, Betelhem Girma, Eric S. Kissel, Andrew N. Levy, Sandy MacCracken and Patricia R. Mastrandrea (Ed.), Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: global and sectoral aspects (pp. 485-533) New York, United States: Cambridge University Press.

  • The relative importance of rainfall, temperature and yield data for a regional-scale crop model

    Watson, James and Challinor, Andrew (2013) The relative importance of rainfall, temperature and yield data for a regional-scale crop model. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 170 47-57. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2012.08.001

  • Patterns in complex systems modeling

    Wiles, Janet and Watson, James (2005). Patterns in complex systems modeling. In: M. Gallagher, J. Hogan and F. Maire, Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning IDEAL 2005. Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning (IDEAL 2005), Brisbane, Australia, (532-539). 6-8 July 2005. doi:10.1007/11508069_69

Book Chapter

  • Food security and food production systems

    Porter, John R., Xie, Liyong, Challinor, Andrew J., Cochrane, Kevern, Howden, S. Mark, Iqbal, Muhammad Mohsin, Lobell, David B., Travasso, Maria Isabel, Netra Chhetri, Netra Chhetri, Garrett, Karen, Ingram, John, Lipper, Leslie, McCarthy, Nancy, McGrath, Justin, Smith, Daniel, Thornton, Philip, Watson, James and Ziska, Lewis (2014). Food security and food production systems. In Christopher B. Field, Vicente R. Barros, David Jon Dokken, Katharine J. Mach, Michael D. Mastrandrea, T. Eren Bilir, Monalisa Chatterjee, Kristie L. Ebi, Yuka Otsuki Estrada, Robert C. Genova, Betelhem Girma, Eric S. Kissel, Andrew N. Levy, Sandy MacCracken and Patricia R. Mastrandrea (Ed.), Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: global and sectoral aspects (pp. 485-533) New York, United States: Cambridge University Press.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Determining crop growth dynamics in sorghum breeding trials through remote and proximal sensing technologies

    Potgieter, Andries B., Watson, James, Eldridge, Mark, Laws, Kenneth, George-Jaeggli, Barbara, Hunt, Colleen, Borrell, Andrew, Mace, Emma, Chapman, Scott C., Jordan, David R. and Hammer, Graeme L. (2018). Determining crop growth dynamics in sorghum breeding trials through remote and proximal sensing technologies. In: 38th IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Valencia, Spain, (8244-8247). Jul 22-27, 2018. doi:10.1109/IGARSS.2018.8519296

  • Taking cover: an assessment of the performance of sensor hardware and algorithms for estimating sorghum cover

    Watson, James , Potgieter, Andries , George-Jaeggli, Barbara , Laws, Kenneth , Eldridge, Mark , Hammer, Graeme and Jordan, David (2017). Taking cover: an assessment of the performance of sensor hardware and algorithms for estimating sorghum cover. In: TropAG 2017, Brisbane, Australia, (). 20-22 November 2017.

  • Field phenotyping of sorghum breeding plots through proximal sensing

    Potgieter, Andries, Watson, James, Jordan, David, Hammer, Graeme, Chapman, Scott, Laws, Kenneth, McLean, Greg, Barbara George-Jaeggli, Holland, Edward and Eldridge, Mark (2016). Field phenotyping of sorghum breeding plots through proximal sensing. In: 5th International Controlled Environment Conference (AusPheno 2016), ANU, (). 18-23 September, 2016.

  • Heat, frost and drought – what are the trends?

    Chenu, K., Zheng, B., Watson, J., Lobell, D. and Chapman, S. (2016). Heat, frost and drought – what are the trends?. In: International Crop Modelling Symposium, Berlin, Germany, (). 15-17 March 2016.

  • The design and implementation of a high-throughput data pipeline for an agricultural proximal sensing platform

    Watson, James, Potgieter, Andries, Holland, Edward, Jordan, David and Hammer, Graeme (2016). The design and implementation of a high-throughput data pipeline for an agricultural proximal sensing platform. In: eResearch 2016, Melbourne, (). 10-14 October, 2016.

  • Impact of projected climates on drought occurrence in the Australian wheatbelt

    Watson, James, Zheng, Bangyou, Chapman, Scott C. and Chenu, Karine (2015). Impact of projected climates on drought occurrence in the Australian wheatbelt. In: Building Productive, Diverse and Sustainable Landscapes: Proceedings of 17th Agronomy Conference 2015. 17th Australian Agronomy Conference, Hobart, Australia, (163-167). 20-24 September 2015.

  • Projected impact of future climate on drought patterns in complex rainfed environments

    Watson, James, Zheng, Bangyou, Chapman, Scott C. and Chenu, Karine (2015). Projected impact of future climate on drought patterns in complex rainfed environments. In: Agriculture and Climate Change: Adapting Crops to Increased Uncertainty, Amsterdam, Netherlands, (). 15-17 February 2015.

  • Exploring synergies in field, regional and global yield impact studies

    Koehler, Ann-Kristin, Challinor, Andrew and Watson, James (2014). Exploring synergies in field, regional and global yield impact studies. In: Modelling climate change impacts on crop production for food security: Abstract Book. CropM International Symposium and Workshop, Oslo, Norway, (34-34). 10-12 February 2014.

  • How have uncertainties in projected yields changed between AR4 and AR5?

    Challinor, Andy, Watson, James, Lobell, David, Howden, Mark and Vermeulen, Sonja (2014). How have uncertainties in projected yields changed between AR4 and AR5?. In: Modelling climate change impacts on crop production for food security: Abstract Book. CropM International Symposium and Workshop, Oslo, Norway, (15-15). 10-12 February 2014.

  • Measuring the impact of climate and yield data errors on regional scale crop models

    Watson, James and Challinor, Andrew (2014). Measuring the impact of climate and yield data errors on regional scale crop models. In: Modelling climate change impacts on crop production for food security: Abstract Book. CropM International Symposium and Workshop, Oslo, Norway, (-86). 10-12 February 2014.

  • Towards metrics for using process-based and statistical models to project regional-scale crop responses to climate

    Watson, James and Challinor, Andrew (2013). Towards metrics for using process-based and statistical models to project regional-scale crop responses to climate. In: European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2013, Vienna, Austria, (). 7-12 April 2013.

  • Quantifying the impact of input data uncertainties in regional scale crop-climate modeling

    Watson, James and Challinor, Andrew (2011). Quantifying the impact of input data uncertainties in regional scale crop-climate modeling. In: American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2011, San Francisco, CA, USA, (). 5-9 December, 2011.

  • Towards improved crop-climate projections: the role of calibration and weather data

    Challinor, Andrew, Hawkins, Ed and Watson, James (2011). Towards improved crop-climate projections: the role of calibration and weather data. In: American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, San Francicso, CA, United States, (). 5-9 December 2011.

  • Computational techniques for modeling complex biological systems

    Watson, James, Wakabayashi, Mark, Moore, Jared, Sanin Montoya, Andres, Willadsen, Kai, Geard, Nic, Bradley, Daniel and Wiles, Janet (2007). Computational techniques for modeling complex biological systems. In: The 8th Asia-Pacific Complex Systems Conference: COMPLEX 07. Handbook & Abstracts. Complex 07: 8th Asia-Pacific Complex Systems Conference, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (46-46). 2-5 July, 2007.

  • Dsweep: A lightweight tool for distributed parameter sweeps

    Watson, J., Maetschke, S. and Wiles, J. (2007). Dsweep: A lightweight tool for distributed parameter sweeps. In: Nigel Crook and Tjeerd olde Scheper, Proceedings of the Seventh International Workshop on Information Processing in Cells and Tissues 2007 (IPCAT 2007). Seventh International Workshop on Information Processing in Cells and Tissues (IPCAT 2007), Oxford, United Kingdom, (400-408). 29-31 August 2007.

  • Interactively exploring distributed computational models of biology

    Watson, James and Wiles, Janet (2007). Interactively exploring distributed computational models of biology. In: The 8th Asia-Pacific Complex Systems Conference: COMPLEX 07. Handbook & Abstracts. Complex 07: 8th Asia-Pacific Complex Systems Conference, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, (). 2-5 July, 2007.

  • Patterns in complex systems modeling

    Wiles, Janet and Watson, James (2005). Patterns in complex systems modeling. In: M. Gallagher, J. Hogan and F. Maire, Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning IDEAL 2005. Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning (IDEAL 2005), Brisbane, Australia, (532-539). 6-8 July 2005. doi:10.1007/11508069_69

  • There's more to a model than code: understanding and formalizing in silico modeling experience

    Wiles, Janet, Geard, Nicholas L., Watson, James, Willadsen, Kai, Mattick, John, Bradley, Daniel and Hallinan, Jennifer (2005). There's more to a model than code: understanding and formalizing in silico modeling experience. In: Proceedings of the 2005 Workshops on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation. GECCO'05: The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference 2005, Washington, DC, USA, (281-288). 25-29 June, 2005. doi:10.1145/1102256.1102318

  • Towards a network pattern language for complex systems

    Watson, J. R., Hawkins, J. C., Bradley, D. R., Dassanayake, D., Wiles, J. H. and Hanan, J. S. (2005). Towards a network pattern language for complex systems. In: H.A. Abbass, T. Bossomaier and J. Wiles, Recent Advances in Artificial Life. Australian Conference on Artificial Life (ACAL'05), Sydney, Australia, (309-317). 5-9 December 2005.

  • Software engineering for artificial life, complex systems, and agent-based distillation

    Watson, J. R., Abbass, H., Lokan, C. and Lindsay, P. A. (2004). Software engineering for artificial life, complex systems, and agent-based distillation. In: R. Stonier, Q. Han and W.Li, Proceedings of the Seventh Asia-Pacific Conference on Complex Systems. The Seventh Asia-Pacific Conference on Complex Systems, Cairns, (649-661). 6-10 December, 2004.

  • Towards More Relevant Evolutionary Models: Integrating an Artificial Genome With a Developmental Phenotype

    Watson, James, Wiles, Janet and Hanan, Jim (2003). Towards More Relevant Evolutionary Models: Integrating an Artificial Genome With a Developmental Phenotype. In: H. Abbass and J. Wiles, Proceedings of the 1st Australian Conference on Artificial Life. The 1st Australian Conference on Artificial Life (ACAL 2003), Canberra, Australia, (288-298). 6-7 December, 2003.

  • Evolving Complex Integrated Behaviour by Masking and Unmasking Selection Pressures

    Wiles, Janet, Watson, James, Tonkes, Bradley and Deacon, Terrence (2002). Evolving Complex Integrated Behaviour by Masking and Unmasking Selection Pressures. In: International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS2002), Nashua, NH, United States, (). 9-14 June 2002.

  • Stability and Task Complexity: A Neural Network Model of Evolution and Learning

    Watson, James, Geard, Nicholas and Wiles, Janet H. (2002). Stability and Task Complexity: A Neural Network Model of Evolution and Learning. In: Standish, R. K., Bedau, M. A. and Abbass, H. A., Artificial Life VIII: Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Artificial Life. The 8th International Conference on Artificial Life (Artificial Life VIII), Sydney, Australia, (153-156). 9-13 December, 2002.

  • The rise and fall of learning: A neural network model of the genetic assimilation of aquired traits

    Watson, J. R. and Wiles, J. H. (2002). The rise and fall of learning: A neural network model of the genetic assimilation of aquired traits. In: D. Fogel and M. El-Sharkawi et al., Proceedings of the 2002 Congress on Evolutionary Computation. 2002 Congress on Evolutionary Computation, Hawaii, (600-605). 12-17 May, 2002.

  • The rise and fall of learning: a neural network model of the genetic assimilation of acquired traits

    Watson, James and Wiles, Janet (2002). The rise and fall of learning: a neural network model of the genetic assimilation of acquired traits. In: D. Fogel, M. El-Sharkawi and et al., Proceedings of the 2002 Congress on Evolutionary Computation. The 2002 Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC 2002), Hawaii, United States, (600-605). 12-17 May 2002. doi:10.1109/CEC.2002.1006994

  • How learning can guide evolution in hierarchical modular tasks

    Wiles, J. H., Tonkes, B. and Watson, J. R. (2001). How learning can guide evolution in hierarchical modular tasks. In: J.D. Moore and K. Stenning, Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Twenty-Third Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Edinburgh, Scotland, (1130-1135). 1-4 August, 2001.

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ORCID: 0000-0002-9344-5038

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