Prospective Advisors
Below is a list of prospective project advisors in the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation.
Please contact the researcher directly to discuss postgraduate (PhD and MPhil) or undergraduate (Honours or Undergraduate Research Program) research opportunities.
| Researcher | Key interests/research areas | Suited to students studying | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| A/Prof Femi Akinsanmi | Crop protection, Plant disease epidemiology and management | • Agriculture | Ecosciences Precinct Dutton Park |
| Dr Mobashwer Alam | Developing quick breeding tools for rapid genetic gain in Macadamia, Crop Improvement through Molecular Genetics and Genomics, Quantitative Genetic study of Complex traits, Developing rapid disease diagnostic tools, Rapid phenotyping using artificial intelligence. | • Plant Science • Horticulture • Agriculture • Genetics and Breeding • Genomics • Computational biology | Nambour |
| Dr Inigo Auzmendi | Horticultural plant physiology and modelling . Research on improving management practices in subtropical fruit trees (avocado, macadamia and mango). Study of tree architecture, vegetative vigour, crop load and light interception using functional-structural plant modelling to understand the interactions between management practices, environmental factors, plant carbon balance and growth. | • Agriculture • Plant science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Prof Mike Bell | Plant science | ||
| A/Prof Patrick Blackall | Use of both molecular and conventional bacteriology to problems linked with bacterial pathogens of domestic livestock (including food-safety organisms) and native animals. Techniques used range from whole-genome sequence analysis to PCR to phenotypic tests for antimicrobial resistance. Work covers improved diagnostic tools, population dynamics and characterisation of novel organisms. | • Agriculture | |
| Prof Andrew Borrell | Crop physiology and modelling, cereal genetics, sorghum, rice, wheat, barley | • Genetics | Hermitage Research Station Warwick |
| A/Prof Bhagirath Chauhan | Weed ecology and biology, herbicide use, management of herbicide-resistant weeds, non-chemical weed management options, integrated weed management systems using agronomic and varietal components, tillage systems, and conservation agriculture systems. | • Agriculture • Ecology • Plant science | UQ Gatton campus |
| Dr Karine Chenu | Crop physiology in winter cereals (wheat and barley). Potential adaptation to climate change. Understanding plant response to heat and drought. Characterisation of genotypic variability. Development of high-throughput phenotyping method. Identification of genetic controls of adaptive traits. Crop modelling. Development of Gene-to-Phenotype model. Exploration of novel combinations of genotypes, environments and management practices in changing environments. | • Plant Science | • Toowoomba (Leslie Research Centre) • UQ Gatton campus |
| Dr Jack Christopher | My research group aims to improve wheat yield and yield stability in the face of climate change. We work on ways to develop wheat crops that are better adapted to environmental stresses including water-limitation, frost, heat and sodic soils. We study the physiology of the plants to identify mechanisms by which plants can better adapt to these stresses. We then develop selection strategies to select for the desirable traits. These will allow breeders to develop higher-yielding cultivars with more stable yield under adverse environmental conditions. | • Plant Science • Agriculture • Genetics | Toowoomba (Leslie Research Centre) |
| Dr Lilia Costa Carvalhais | Biology, distribution and epidemiology of banana diseases to 1) develop molecular diagnostic assays to prevent new incursions and further spread, and 2) identify the best management strategies. Diseases include banana Fusarium wilt, banana wilt associated phytoplasma (BWAP), Black Sigatoka, Eumusae leaf spot, Moko (Bugtok), banana blood disease, Xanthomonas wilt and Freckle. | • Plant Science • Agriculture • Genetics • Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Ecosciences Precinct Dutton Park |
| Expertise in the use of infrared sensors and chemometrics for the analysis of a wide range of agricultural products and foods. Current research focuses on the use of infrared sensors to monitor the composition of foods in the whole value chain - “plate to paddock”, evaluation of sensors targeting authenticity and provenance of foods, development of high throughput phenotyping tools. | • Agriculture | • UQ St Lucia Campus | |
| A/Prof Liz Dann | Identifying and understanding plant pathogens and the diseases they cause, particularly in avocado. Eg. Phytophthora root rot, black root rot, fruit postharvest diseases anthracnose and stem-end rot. Integrated disease management strategies, including improvement in soil health and evaluating new management tools. Utilising inherent plant defence mechanisms for disease control | • Agriculture • Plant science • Soil science | Ecosciences Precinct Dutton Park |
| Prof Andre Drenth | Plant science | Ecosciences Precinct Dutton Park | |
| Dr Joe Eyre | • Plant science | UQ Gatton campus | |
| A/Prof Mary Fletcher | Organic and analytical chemistry for identification and analysis of natural toxins in plants, fungi and agricultural products. Focus on toxins from pasture plants that can impact on livestock health and also have the potential to form residues in agricultural products and pose a risk to consumers. | • Biochemistry and molecular biology | Health and Food Sciences Precinct, Coopers Plains |
| Dr Geoffry Fordyce | Northern Australia beef cattle | Animal science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Donald Gardiner | Donald has an interest in all things fungal plant pathogens. He is currently working as part of the ARC Research Hub for Sustainable Crop Protection where RNAi based fungicides are being developed to control various pathogens of horticultural and broad acre crops. He has a long history working with Fusarium pathogens of cereals which cause diseases such as Fusarium head blight and Fusarium crown rot. His work has spanned basic biology of plant infection processes, toxin production and regulation, small molecule discovery and the development of gene drive technology to control fungi. He was recently named the most highly cited plant pathologist in Australia and also a world expert in fungi from the Fusarium genus. | • Genomics | UQ St Lucia campus |
| A/Prof Andrew Geering | Plant pathology with a focus on tropical and subtropical food and lifestyle horticultural industries. Research on both viral and fungal pathogens, covering the full spectrum of science, from host-pathogen interactions, to diagnostics, taxonomy and epidemiology. | Plant science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Barbara George-Jaeggli | Increase crop yields in variable environments, be it through pushing the yield ceiling up genetically or identifying optimal agronomic practices to ensure yield potentials are achieved in growers' paddocks. Using molecular techniques, plant and crop physiological experimentation, proximal and remote sensing and crop modelling to study individual traits at the leaf, plant and crop level. | Plant science | Hermitage Research Station Warwick |
| Prof Mike Gidley | Plant-based foods – the structural basis for nutritional properties such as satiety, digestion rate and microbial fermentation. Dietary fibre – classification of food and feed ingredient properties based on molecular characteristics. Gut fermentation – identification of food and ingredient factors that influence human gut microbiome development and fermentation outcomes. | • Biochemistry and molecular biology • Chemical science • Food science • Plant science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Prof Bob Gilbert | Researches the relationships between two glucose polymers, starch and glycogen, whose structure has a major impact on nutrition, diabetes and obesity. | Food science | • UQ St Lucia campus • China |
| Prof Ian Godwin | Biotechnological tools for crop improvement, with emphasis on the sustainable production of grain crops. A major focus is on the improvement of crops for food, feed and bio-industrial end-uses | Plant science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Craig Hardner | Genetics, breeding and physiology of horticultural crops including (i) international collaborations in global genomic prediction in mango, avocado, citrus apple, (ii) conservation and genetics of macadamia, and (iii) quantitative genetics of auto-polyploids. | • Agriculture • Genetics • Plant science • Statistics | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Prof Ben Hayes | Genetic improvement of livestock, crop, pasture and aquaculture species' | Animal science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Alice Hayward | Plant tissue culture with a focus on developing real-world industry platforms for new crops including avocado and duboisia. Genetics and genomics of avocado with a special interest in small RNA regulation of gene expression and exploring new tools such as exogenous RNAi and CRISPR | • Genetics • Plant Science • Agriculture | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Prof Robert Henry | DNA-based methods for identification of plants and their pathogens, development of molecular markers for plant breeding and the genetic transformation of plants, application of DNA technology to the improvement of the quality of crops and agricultural and food products. | • Genetics | UQ St Lucia campus |
| A/Prof Lee Hickey | Plant breeding technologies to support development of more productive and resilient food crops like wheat, barley, mungbean and chickpea. | • Agriculture • Plant Science • Plant Pathology • Plant Physiology • Biotechnology | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Peter James | Biology and population dynamics of livestock pests and parasites; development of controls based on natural plant extracts, fungal biopesticides and entomopathogenic nematodes | • Animal science | Ecosciences Precinct Dutton Park |
| Prof David Jordan | Sorghum breeder and field crop geneticist | Plant science | Hermitage Research Station Warwick |
| Prof Timothy Mahony | Molecular virology revolving around improving viral disease control in production animals such as cattle and poultry. Characterising the molecular interactions between invading pathogens and the subsequent host responses with the goal of developing a new vaccine and diagnostic technologies. Application of RNA interference to improve productivity in aquaculture. Use of gene editing, stem cells, and organoids to accelerate the development of next-generation livestock species. | • Biotechnology • Molecular virology • Molecular biology • Animal Science • Veterinary science • Biomedical science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Deirdre Mikkelsen | Investigating the fermentability of cell wall components as potential prebiotics; developing molecular microbiology techniques to investigate gut microbe-dietary fibre interactions, and investigating the breakdown of model plant cell wall components using molecular microbiology techniques and stable isotope tools. | • Food Science • Microbiology | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Prof Neena Mitter | Plant tissue culture with a focus on developing real-world industry platforms for new crops including avocado and duboisia. Genetics and genomics of avocado with a special interest in small RNA regulation of gene expression and exploring new tools such as exogenous RNAi and CRISPR | • Agriculture • Genetics • Plant science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Karishma Mody | Research with a focus on developing innovative sustainable solutions for real-world problems like sheep blowfly/lice and fire-ants using molecular tools and genomics. | • Animal science • Agriculture | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Michael Netzel | Understanding in vitro bioaccessibility as well as the much more complex in vivo bioavailability and metabolism of dietary phytochemicals are crucial in understanding and predicting their bioactivity and potential health benefits in humans. | Food science | Health and Food Sciences Precinct, Coopers Plains |
| Dr Tim O'Hare | Strawberry, stone fruit, plum | Food science | Health and Food Sciences Precinct, Coopers Plains |
| Dr Luis Prada e Silva | Ruminant nutrition, ruminant physiology, rumen microbiology, ruminant reproduction, forage management, molecular biology, and economics of cattle production systems to improve cattle productivity. | • Agriculture • Animal science • Biochemistry and molecular biology • Microbiology | • UQ St Lucia campus • UQ Gatton campus |
| A/Prof RCN Rachaputi | Pigeonpea, chickpea | Plant science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Prof Daniel Rodriguez | I combine field on farm experimentation with APSIM modelling to inform optimum combinations of hybrids and agronomic managements across highly contrasting sites and environments. At the moment I have projects on sorghum and pulse agronomy that operate from the Liverpool Plains in NSW to Georgetown in Northern Queensland. We use proximal sensing tools to capture digital signals from soils and crops that we integrate in our simulation studies. | • Agronomy | UQ Gatton campus |
| Prof Eugeni Roura | Mechanisms involved in sensing dietary nutrients and their involvement in appetite modulation and food/feed intake in humans, pigs and poultry. | Food science and nutrition | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Millicent Smith | Physiological mechanisms underpinning yield development and adaptation to abiotic stress in pulse crops (including mungbean, pigeonpea, chickpea) | • Agriculture • Plant Science | • UQ St Lucia campus • UQ Gatton campus |
| A/Prof Heather Smyth | Sensory and Consumer Science, Flavour chemistry and food quality. Understanding the drivers of food quality in terms of composition, structure and sensory properties as well as understanding how human variation in orla physiology and behaviour impacts perception. Heather works across a diverse range of products for example wine, coffee, native foods, honey, dairy, fruits, vegetables, nuts and meat. | • Agriculture | Long Pocket |
| A/Prof Yasmina Sultanbawa | Native Australian foods, microbiology | Food science | Health and Food Sciences Precinct, Coopers Plains |
| Prof Ala Tabor | The development of molecular diagnostic and genotyping methods to better identify pathogens; and the study of gene function in relation to virulence and host pathogenicity of infectious diseases, to develop new effective vaccines. | Animal science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| A/Prof John Thomas | Identification and control of plant virus diseases, especially those affecting tropical and sub-tropical crops. These aims are achieved through molecular characterisation of viruses and the development of diagnostic assays, epidemiological studies and collaborations with plant breeders and tissue culture specialist. | Plant science | Ecosciences Precinct Dutton Park |
| Professor Alan Tilbrook | The assessment and improvement of animal welfare by providing quantitative biological measures (biomarkers) of brain function during positive and negative experiences, addressing common practices in animal husbandry, and engaging with all of society in the improvement of animal welfare. | • Animal science • Veterinary science • Biological science • Neuroscience • Physiology • Molecular biology • Psychology | • UQ St Lucia campus |
| A/Prof Bruce Topp | Horticultural tree crop breeding with current projects on macadamia and peach breeding, macadamia wild germplasm and rootstock evaluation. Projects available regarding fruit and nut quality evaluations, phenology, yield parameters, plant propagation, disease/insect resistance and pollination. Studies will be conducted at the Maroochy Research Station located on the Sunshine Coast. | • Agriculture • Genetics • Plant science | Maroochy Research Station, Nambour |
| Dr Conny Turni | Use of both molecular and conventional bacteriology to problems linked with bacterial pathogens of domestic livestock (including food-safety organisms) and native animals. Techniques used range from whole-genome sequence analysis to PCR to phenotypic tests for antimicrobial resistance. Work covers improved diagnostic tools, population dynamics and characterisation of novel organisms. | • Agriculture • Animal science • Microbiology • Food science | Ecosciences Precinct Dutton Park |
| Dr Najeeb Ullah | Qualify the impact of heat stress on wheat crops. Characterisation wheat germplasm for heat stress tolerance. Organ level and plant level physiological process contributing to heat stress tolerance. Testing of new field-based screening technique for heat tolerance in wheat. | • Plant Science | UQ Gatton campus |
| Dr Erik van Oosterom | Research focuses on the crop physiological basis of abiotic stress adaptation (drought, heat) in summer cereals. Close linkages to UQ/DAF sorghum pre-breeding program connects this research to underlying genetic control mechanisms. Scientific insights gained are used in the improvement of crop simulation models that are used to inform breeding programs. | • Agriculture • Plant science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| Dr Barbara Williams | Gut microbiota | Food science | UQ St Lucia campus |
| A/Prof Sudhir Yadav | Sustainable agriculture, Life cycle assessment, Water management, System agronomy, Environmental pollution, Climate change | Environmental Science, Ecology, Agriculture | UQ St Lucia campus |