Dr Richard Thornton is the Chief Executive of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, a position he has held since the start of the CRC in February 2013. Prior to that, he was Deputy CEO and Research Director of the Bushfire CRC, a role he held since 2004; his responsibilities included leadership and oversight of the research program.

Richard has a physics background and has worked in fields including nuclear and semiconductor physics, computational fluid mechanics, IT and telecommunications engineering, and online services, primarily in the private sector. 

Until January 2016, Richard was a member of the Board of the International Association of Wildland Fire and the Chair of the Editorial Advisory Committee of the ‘International Journal of Wildland Fire’.