David King

David King is an Adjunct Professor of Geography in the discipline of Earth and Environmental Sciences at James Cook University, and is Director of the Centre for Disaster Studies, and the Centre for Tropical Urban and Regional Planning. He is a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia. He has worked in North Queensland for thirty two years and was formerly at the University of Papua New Guinea for ten years.

He began his career as a school teacher on the diamond fields of Sierra Leone, turning that experience into a doctorate on the social impact of the diamond rush. His research has gone on to specialise in social impact and evaluation in such areas as planning, natural hazard vulnerability, climate change adaptation and resilience, disaster mitigation and recovery, as well as the social impact of mining projects, development projects, and census analysis. He holds a BA honours and PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies of London University and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from Cambridge University.