Leadership
The leadership team consists of:
Professor Mark Tjoelker (Director)
Professor Mark Tjoelker is the Director of the Institute. The Director provides strategic leadership for the Institute, shaping its intellectual vision, research profile, public engagement, and higher degree research and professional training programs. The role builds strong collaborations across the University and with national and international research, industry and user partners, while representing the Institute in key forums. The Director also ensures high-quality research outcomes, achievement of key performance goals, sound financial and human resource management, and the long-term sustainability of the Institute.
Professor Ben Smith (Director of Research)
Professor Ben Smith is the Director of Research within the Institute, responsible for the strategic delivery and execution of the Institute's research strategies.
Distinguished Professor Belinda Medlyn (Theme Leader - Ecosystem Function and Integration)
Distinguished Professor Belinda Medlyn's research focuses on how plants, especially forests, respond to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate change. She works at the interface between experiments and models within the Ecosystem Function and Integration theme.
Professor James Cook (Theme Leader - Plants Animals and Interactions)
Professor James Cook is the Theme Leader for the Plants, Animals and Interactions research theme within the Institute. His research focuses on the ecology and evolution of species interactions, with particular emphasis on insect/plant and insect/microbe interactions.
Professor Uffe Nielsen (Theme Leader - Soil Biology and Genomics)
Professor Uffe Nielsen's research interests centre on the distribution and community composition of soil biota (microbes and soil mites in particular) across various spatial scales in two contrasting habitats within the Soil Biology & Genomics research theme.
Distinguished Professor Ian Wright (Chief Scientist)
Distinguished Professor Ian Wright is a Professor in Plant Functional Ecology, and the new Chief Scientist within the Institute. Ian is best known for global-scale analysis of plant traits, for careful quantification of plant structure-function relationships, and for using concepts from microeconomics to understand plant ecology and evolution.