Researcher biography

Millicent Smith is a plant physiologist with expertise in the source-sink dynamics of grain crops. Her research is focused on understanding the physiological mechanisms that underpin yield stability and grain quality in pulses and cereals. Millicent is particularly interested in applying innovative phenotyping technologies from leaf to crop scales to accelerate selection in crop improvement programs. Her research funded by the Australian grains industry on high-value grain crop mungbean, is focused on developing UAV-based phenotyping platforms to dissect key physiological traits underpinning yield development. Millicent has a dual continuing appointment as a Senior Lecturer in Crop Physiology within the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability and as a CI in the Centre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation where she is building a research team focused on the improvement of grain legumes. Millicent is passionate about training the next generation of plant scientists and applies innovative teaching approaches to large undergraduate and specialised Masters courses.

Areas of research