• Biosecurity and the economics of quarantine and surveillance
• Climate change 

Tom Kompas is a Professor of Econmics, the Foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics (ACBEE) and one of four Chief Investigators in the Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis (CEBRA) at the University of Melbourne. He has dedicated much of his recent time and work to public policy in Australia and the region. Until recently, he was a part-time Senior Economist at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), a Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities (CERF) project leader on biosecurity and Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. In 2012, Tom became Editor-in-Chief of Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, President of the newly-formed Asia and Pacific Policy Society and Publisher of APPS Policy Forum. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. 

Tom's research specialises in applied economic dynamics and natural resource and environmental economics. His bioeconomic modelling has been published in the world's leading international journals and his current work focuses on the major biosecurity issues in Australia and internationally. In 2009, Tom received the 'CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement', in 2004, the 'Crawford Award for Research Excellence' from ABARE, and in 2011 the 'Eureka Prize for Water Research and Innovation'.

In 2009, Tom was a recipient of the University's highest award for teaching, the 'Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching'. In 2008, Tom also received the 'Award for Teaching Excellence' from the College of Asia and the Pacific at ANU, and in 2010 he received a national teaching award, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council 'Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning'.

• bioeconomic modelling
• economic dynamics and optimal control theory
• agricultural economics
• natural resources and environmental economics
• cost-benefit analysis