Joseph Foley

Joseph Foley is an Associate Professor in Water Engineering and Irrigation at the University of Southern Queensland's School of Engineering, affiliated with the Centre for Agricultural Engineering. He holds BEng (USQ, 1992), MEng (UniSA, 2009), and PhD (USQ, 2011) qualifications. His expertise spans precision irrigation, hydraulics, and agricultural hydrology, with a focus on optimizing irrigation systems for crops like cotton and dairy pasture.

Research interests include automated irrigation technologies, variable-rate irrigation, and mitigating water loss through innovations like soil-water sensors and machine vision. Key contributions include the Smarter Irrigation for Profit projects, which integrate real-time data and automation to enhance water productivity. Foley has led/co-supervised multiple doctoral and master’s projects on irrigation optimization, automation, and environmental impact.

His work has been recognized with awards such as the 2018 Cotton Researcher of the Year and a Best Paper Award in 2008. He also contributed to impactful studies on evaporation control in water storages and hydraulic modeling of irrigation systems. Current projects focus on advancing automation in agriculture and data-driven irrigation solutions.

Foley collaborates with industry partners like Cotton Research and Development Corporation and GRDC, emphasizing practical applications of research. His labs and teams work on sensor technologies, decision support systems, and sustainable water management practices in agriculture.