Associate ProfessorTristan Salles

I lead research at the interface of surface processes, landscape evolution, and Earth system dynamics, focusing on how tectonics, climate, and life have co-evolved through geological time. In the QuESt Lab, we develop numerical models and open-source software to simulate landscape change, sediment transport, and carbon cycling from local to global scales.

Current projects include “The Great Barrier Reef in 2100” (ARC Discovery DP220101125), which examines reef evolution and resilience under climate change, and “Tectonic Reshaping of the Biosphere” (ANR G7H-IRG22B76), exploring the coupling between plate motion, topography, and biodiversity. I also work in the STELLAR (BHP-funded) program on spatio-temporal exploration for resources and contributes to the DARE Training Centre for data analytics in environmental and resource systems.

I have created several widely used open-source models, including Badlands, goSPL, pyReefCore, and bioLEC, providing scalable tools for simulating geomorphic and biogeochemical feedbacks across Earth’s history.

I am committed and experienced supervisor, having mentored numerous PhD, Master’s, and Honours students as well as postdoctoral fellows funded by ARC, the Mobility Fund Swiss National Foundation, the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Postdoc Fellowship and the Industry.

My students and postdocs work on diverse topics ranging from global-scale landscape and climate modelling to reef dynamics, sedimentary basin evolution, and biodiversity modelling. Many have gone on to research and industry positions in Australia and abroad, reflecting a strong culture of collaboration, creativity, and technical excellence within our lab.

My research has appeared in Nature, Science, and Nature Communications, and received international media coverage for revealing how landscape dynamics shape biodiversity and resource distribution. The QuESt Lab collaborates globally to integrate Earth system modelling, geodata analytics, and computational geoscience for understanding our planet’s evolving surface and life.