Women in Ag

Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa 
Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa is the Director of the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences at Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation. Her research interests are in food and nutrition security, in particular micronutrient deficiency (hidden hunger), lack of diet diversity and nutritional losses in the food supply chain, which are addressed by her work with Australian native plant species. She is also the Director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre on Uniquely Australian Foods, where her focus is working with Indigenous communities and enterprises to create social and economic benefits for remote communities. View Yasmina's full research profile.

Professor Heather Smyth
Heather’s research interests are in wine flavour chemistry, her expertise is in understanding consumer enjoyment of foods and beverages in terms of both sensory properties and composition. She has a special interest in describing and articulating food quality, understanding regional flavours of locally grown produce, native plant foods and modelling food flavour and textural properties using instrumental measurements. She specialises in researching how human physiology, such as saliva and chewing behaviour, can impact sensory perception and therefore food choice. She enjoys training industry and researchers in the application of flavour chemistry, sensory and consumer evaluation methods. View Heather's research profile here.

Professor Ala Tabor
Ala’s passion is to use genomics and molecular tools to develop translational solutions for animal health. She has led research to develop patented vaccines (cattle tick and paralysis tick) and has a strong research portfolio associated with northern Australian bovine health including health biomarkers and pathogenic diseases. She is funded by industry including commercial companies and Meat & Livestock Australia and is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. View Ala's research profile here.

Christie Warburton 
Christie is a PhD student with the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation. Her research interest is in the development of multi-breed genomic evaluations for the north Australian beef industry. Christie grew up on a cattle station near Comet in central Queensland. With a passion for agriculture and the bush, Christie studied a Bachelor of Rural Science with Honours at the University of New England in Armidale. After graduating, Christie worked in a number of positions within the agricultural industry, in both academic and industry roles, before taking time away from her career to start and raise her family. She now lives with her family on a small farm in the Darling Downs, studying her PhD part-time while raising her son and supporting their family business. View Christie's research profile here.

Dr Barbara George-Jaeggli
Barbara’s work in cereal crop physiology helps plant breeders better understand traits that lead to higher and more sustainable grain yields. Apart from improving the efficiency with which crops use water for their growth, Barbara is currently also trying to find out what leads to improved photosynthetic capacity, or the efficiency with which crops use light; the other essential ingredient for plant growth. Not only does that considerably increase the speed with which breeders can assess their lines, but it also gives them valuable information about plant characteristics that is invisible to the human eye. View Barbara's research profile here.

Professor Emma Mace
Emma’s research interest is in the development and application of innovation genomics tools to support plant breeding programs, with a particularly focus on the grain crop sorghum. Emma is involved in a range of projects to increase the rate of genetic gain in sorghum improvement programs both in Australia and internationally, through work in Ethiopia funded by The Bill and Melinda gates Foundation. Emma’s other passion is mentoring women scientists and she has recently become a mentor for the Australia Awards Women’s Leadership Initiative. View Emma's research profile here.