Postgraduate Students

The Institute's higher degree research students are actively engaged in projects relevant to the current research agenda within Australia and overseas. Our cohort gain valuable experience from research-active academic staff, while contributing fresh ideas and knowledge to their chosen field.

Current Students

Please note: Students with active web site links have successfully completed their Confirmation of Candidature milestone.

• Ms Sarah Addison - Thesis title - Tree-root microbiome project: At the root of climate proofing forests
• Mr Aqeel Ahmad - Thesis title - Synergistic effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and phosphorus solubilising bacteria on Soil Organic Carbon Formation and Mineralization Rate in Rhizosphere and Hyphosphere
• Ms  Malavika AK - Thesis title - Viruses infecting major pulse crops and management of the prevalent virus
• Mr Chaminda Alahakoon - Thesis title - Effect of elevated temperatures and drought stress on seed germination and functional traits of seedlings in the Cumberland Plain
• Mr Riyadh Al-Naseri - Thesis title - Modelling Australia's vegetation within an operational land surface model
• Ms Riesma Andiani - Thesis title - A new framework for adopting genetic technologies within integrated pest management
• Ms Nuwanthi Arampola - Thesis title - Identifying drivers and mechanisms of climate-related tree mortality
• Ms Mishal Bano - Thesis title - Response of cotton cultivars to water deficit and changes to vapour pressure deficit
• Ms Alice Barratt - Thesis title - Thermal physiology, behaviour and energetics of Australian birds
• Bhavesh - Thesis title -  Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Australia: diversity, community assembly, and agriculture
• Ms Tasnim Bhuiyan - Thesis title - Mechanisms of heat stress tolerance in the C₄ crop sorghum
• Mr Farzad Bidari - Thesis title - Pupation biology and ecology of Queensland fruit fly
• Mr Avijit Biswas - Thesis title - Linking mechanical stress to bioactive carotenoid signals that prime insect resistance in crops
• Ms Emily Bradstock - Thesis title - Cultural evolution in the song of the endangered Eastern Bristlebird
• Mr Dylan Bristol - Thesis title - Enhanced ecosystem functioning of threatened ecological communities of the Cumberland Plains
• Mr Husnain Butt - Thesis title - The regulation of biosynthesis of apocarotenoids that promote mycorrhizal interactions with tomato
• Mr Erick Calderon-Morales - Thesis title - Understanding the survival of forests under extreme drought
• Ms Jyotsana Chauhan - Thesis title - Investigating the potential of blue-banded bees as managed crop pollinators
• Mr Matt Chaumont - Thesis title - Cultural evolution in lyrebirds
• Ms Anne-Cecile Colin - Thesis title - Exploring the evolutionary history of drought response in Eucalyptus species (Boxes/Ironbarks and Redgums) with genomic, environmental and phenotypic data
• Ms Isobel Colson - Thesis title - Saving Our Species: A genetic biobank for threatened waxcaps (Hygrocybe)
• Mr Ericson Coracero - Thesis title - The role of rewilding in restoration: soil microbial diversity and ecological functions
• Mr Claudio Cortellazzi - Thesis title - Food and fibre under changing climate conditions: A focus on cotton and capsicum
• Ms Caitlin Dagg - Thesis title - Landscape scale ecosystem analysis: A data-driven approach to restoring the Cumberland Plain
• Mr Arindam Deb - Thesis title - Building climate-adapted rice by investigating abiotic stress tolerance traits from endemic Oryza relatives
• Ms Jay Delves - Thesis title -  Mycorrhizal adaptations to Aridity and drought in Australian environments
• Ms Marie-Emma Denarié - Thesis title - The role of silicon in plant-mediated interactions between pests and pathogens
• Mr Manoj Dhakal - Thesis title -  Entomopathogenic nematodes as biological control agents of Australian pest fruit fly
• Ms Sushmita Dhakal - Thesis title - How do Australian native plants stay productive under phosphorus-limited soils?
• Mr Sonam Dhargay - Thesis title - Can LiDAR data help improve ecosystem model predictions for Australia?
• Ms Jasmine Divinagracia - Thesis title - Directed evolution of PEPC carboxylase to improve C₄ photosynthesis
• Ms Garima Dubey - Thesis title -  Drought resilient cotton: Combining synthetic biology solutions to improve cotton productivity under future water limited and heat stress conditions
• Ms Mirritya Ebsworth - Thesis title - An Eco-cultural Study of Culturally Significant Species on Wangkumarra Country
• Ms Zahra Emlaei - Thesis title - Priority sites for conservation in Cumberland based on resilience and ecosystem services
• Ms Sarah Fletcher - Thesis title -  Boosting C4 Photosynthesis to Climate Proof Crop Yields
• Mrs Kathryn Fuller - Thesis title - The biogeography of fire: Mapping key fuel types across NSW
• Mr Pablo Damian Gaona Cifuentes - Thesis title - Support from down under: Fostering sustainable forestry through soil microbiome management
• Ms  Sienna Grady - Thesis title - Sub-continental mapping and forecasting of nectar availability for the grey-headed flying-fox
• Mr Happy - Thesis title -  Floral traits and environmental factors that affect mechanical-induced pollination, fruit development, yield and nutritional qualities in Tomato
• Ms Mahnoor Hayat  - Thesis title - Impact of biological amendments on microbial diversity and soil and plant health
• Ms Meike Heuck - Thesis title - Linking land management and climate change impacts on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity and plant growth
• Mr Akhter Hossain - Thesis title -  Soil multitrophic interactions and ecosystem functions
• Ms Nodoka Izumi - Thesis title - Leaf and wood physiology and biomass allocation as drivers of plant growth
• Ms Awapa Jirabanjongjit - Thesis title - Animal pollination and plant reproductive patterns in native seed production areas
• Mr Eranda Namal Jayasuriya - Thesis title - Develop crop-based sensors for real-time monitoring and control under protected cropping
• Mr Antony Kamiri - Thesis title - Genomic approaches and metabolite biomarker development for improving Phytophthora root rot (PRR) resistance in chickpea (Cicer sp.)
• Mr Anoban Karunananthan - Thesis title - A unifying framework for understanding root form and function
• Ms Ramalka Kasige - Thesis title - Build a better plant: Using silicon to augment crop defence against Australia’s newest pest
• Mr Mohammad Kibria - Thesis title - Testing urban tree performance under drier and hotter climates of the future
• Ms Isabelle Kite - Thesis title - Pasture nutrition and associated greenhouse gas emissions potential under climate extremes
• Ms Mayuri Kotian - Thesis title - Bio- and eco-acoustic monitoring of the Christmas Island fauna
• Mr Ivan Kotzur - Thesis title - Understanding and mapping how thermal and dietary constraints combine to restrict koala habitat and determine refugia
• Ms Adhuna KP - Thesis title - Improved diagnostic capacity for plant-parasitic nematodes using Nanopore metabarcoding
• Ms Swathy Kumar - Thesis title -  Influence of planting density and irrigation on crop performance of sorghum varieties
• Ms Nor Azizah Kusai - Thesis title - Soil microbial mechanisms regulating nitrous oxide emissions under climate change
• Ms Bree-Anne Laugier - Thesis title - Pushing the envelope: Does range size limit Eucalypt tolerance to warming?
• Mr Josh Lee - Thesis title -  Integrating Functional Diversity into Conservation Stewardship Programs
• Ms Jiayu Li - Thesis title - Plant and soil microbiome interactions
• Mr Xuqing Li - Thesis title - The role of silicon in carbon biogeochemistry: how does plant silicification impact decomposition?
• Mr Sunny Maanju - Thesis title - Entopmopathogenic nematodes as biological control agents against honey bee pests
• Mr Solomon Maerowitz-McMahan - Thesis title - From ashes to insights: Mycorrhizal fungi role in post-fire landscapes
• Mr William McNeice - Thesis title - Biogeography of plant traits that govern bushfire risk and drought vulnerability
• Ms Anu Middha - Thesis title -  Anatomy and physiology of the leaf cuticle: The crucial barrier to desiccation
• Mr Aaron Midson - Thesis title - Modelling climate-related snow gum dieback, management and recovery
• Mr Ram Mohan - Thesis title - A cross-continental comparison of drivers of flying-fox urbanisation
• Ms Varna Murali - Thesis title - Exploring socio-economic factors and agricultural adaptation strategies underpinning technology adaptation in the protected cropping sector and home gardens
• Mr Abhiram Muthyala - Thesis title -  Spatial and temporal variability of nutrients and microbes in organic amended soils
• Ms Neelima - Thesis title - The interaction of P availability and CO₂ enrichment on tree physiology and growth in a Eucalyptus tereticornis forest
• Mr Ephrem Ngendahimana - Thesis title - Understanding mechanisms underpinning climate resilience in managed pasture grassland
• Ms Ellie Nichols - Thesis title - Determining the physiological underpinnings of eucalypt dieback in NSW
• Ms Farzana Nowrin - Thesis title - Unravelling the interactions between silicon and conventional fertilisers on rice plant growth and herbivore susceptibility
• Ms Efenaide Okoh - Thesis title - Using comparative genomics to review taxonomy, predict pathogenicity factors and develop typing schemes for the phytopathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas citri 
• Ms Snehalatha Pasupuleti - Thesis title  - Development of a rapid point-of-care diagnostic method for the important plant-parasitic nematodes of Australian and Indian agriculture
• Mr Prashant Paudel - Thesis title - Improved Modelling of plant competition through traits
• Mr Kedharnath Pengani - Thesis title -  Soil biotic interaction and their roles in nutrient transformations of agricultural soil
• Ms Caroline Ponsonby - Thesis Title - Flies as crop pollinators
• Mr Sanjay Pradhan - Thesis title -  Gene editing and virome studies for potential applications in the control of tephritid fruit flies
• Mr Prajwal R - Thesis title -  Development of autonomous harvesting system based on intelligent maturity detection and quality assessment of selected vegetables under protected cultivation environments
• Mr Md Hasan Rahman - Thesis title -  Plant molecular responses of crops to light-blocking and light-altering films
• Ms Simin Rahmani - Thesis title - Tree mortality and forest recovery following unprecedented drought and bushfires
• Mr Hasan Raihan - Thesis title - Plant physiological and biochemical responses of crops to light-blocking and light-altering films
• Mr Kalana Ranasinghe  - Thesis title - Automated crop monitoring for protected cropping systems
• Mr Ganesh Madakaripura Rangaswamy - Thesis title - The Brassica bio-shield: Microbe-based approaches for improved disease resistance and plant health
• Ms Shamiza Rani - Thesis title - Deciphering disease resistance in citrus trees through computational and molecular genomics
• Ms Aastha Ranjan - Thesis title - Biologically informed control of gummy stem blight in glasshouse cucurbits
• Ms Paola Raupp - Thesis title - Barriers to success in ecological restoration: Soil health promoting ecosystem function and resilience
• Mr Sajjad Reyhani Haghighi - Thesis title - The Impacts of Warming, Heatwaves, and UVB Radiation on Plant Silicon Defences against Herbivores
• Mr Rogelio Rosales García - Thesis title - Foraging behaviour and behavioural rhythms in blue-banded bees
• Ms Erin Rogers - Thesis title - Plasicity in photosynthesis, leaf chemistry and structure, and growth in native Australian species across P gradients
• Ms Rhiannon Rowe - Thesis title - Can silicon supplementation relieve salinity stress and herbivory simultaneously?
• Mrs Amy Rowles - Thesis title - Seasonal migration of Australian tree roosting microbats
• Mr Shahasad Salam - Thesis title - Role of sugar sensing in regulating C₄ photosynthesis
• Mr Hardik Sapkota - Thesis title - The impacts of hive pests and pesticides on the health of Australian stingless bees
• Ms Aaranya Sekaran - Thesis title - Predicting vegetation dynamics in Australia's arid zone
• Ms Sindhu Sheoran - Thesis title - Effects of landscape scale floristic diversity on pollinator performance and crop pollination efficiency
• Ms Romika Shrestha - Thesis title - Microbiome management: Using myco-centric advances to boost sustainability of pine forestry
• Ms Camille Sicangco - Thesis title -  Keeping cool in a warming world evaluating the capacity of Australian vegetation to cope with heatwaves and chronic warming
• Mr Davide Siclari - Thesis title - Which plants use transpiration to survive heatwaves
• Mr Charan Singh - Thesis title - Exploring the potential of bacterial isolates to enhance plant drought stress tolerance
• Mr Pankaj Singh - Thesis title - Plant and Soil Microbiome Interactions
• Ms Amy Smart - Thesis title - Sensitivity of Gondwanan rainforest recovery to drought and fire
• Ms Hannah Smart - Thesis title - Evolution of dynamic anti-predator behaviour of insects
• Mr Fridtjof Snijders - Thesis title - Improving assays for bacterial phytopathogens using CRISPR-CAS based diagnostics
• Ms Dhruthi Somesh - Thesis title - Harnessing microbes to boost drought tolerance in grasses
• Ms Dharini Sudha Venkatesh - Thesis title - Study of Pollination Efficiency of Native Stingless Bees on Mango Cultivars and the Impact of Climate Change on Phenology of Mango Cultivars and Distribution of Stingless Bees in India and Australia
• Ms Mekala Srinivasan Manivannan - Thesis title - Functional genetics in horticulture using viral induced gene regulation
• Mr Matthew Stanton - Thesis title - The influence of weather on the diet, behaviour and physiology of the marsupial arboreal folivore, the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)
• Mr Pankaj Tiwari - Thesis title - Understanding microbial-mediated soil CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes and their response to climate change in a grassland ecosystem
• Mr Amir Tourani - Thesis title -  Reproductive manipulations and population dynamics of endosymbionts in haplodiploid thrips and their application in pest management
• Mr Emmanuel Ugwu - Thesis Title  - Prioritisation of sites through shared social, cultural and conservation values
• Ms Jeanine Umfuyisoni - Thesis title -  Unveiling Infection Biomarkers in Pre-symptomatic Plants: Early Pathogen Detection
• Ms Cloud Vacca - Thesis title -  Developing novel technologies to bolster plant resistance to fungal pathogens
• Ms Klaske van Wijngaarden - Thesis title - From branch to forest to globe: how do tree choices regarding growth change forest response to elevated CO₂?
• Ms Vidula Varadarajan - Thesis title - Animal Pollination and Plant Reproductive patterns in Native Seed Production Areas
• Mr Venkatesh Vemulapati - Thesis title - The role of rewilding in restoration: invertebrate biodiversity and ecological functions
• Mr Tomas Villada Cadavid - Thesis title -  Winter hibernation biology of cave-roosting bats in south-eastern Australia: predicting their vulnerability to a fungal disease
• Ms Lulu Wang - Thesis title - Function of silicon transporters in wheat in response to drought and herbivory
• Mr Jiahao Wen - Thesis title - Adaptations to temperature and water stress in Australian trees and crop wild relatives
• Ms Samantha Yabsley - Thesis title -  The impacts of extreme heat events on Australian flying-foxes
• Mr Niraj Yadav - Thesis title - Liquid gold: Understanding plant and soil Interactions with nutrients in a circular economy
• Mr Kai Zhao - Thesis title - Automated crop monitoring for protected cropping systems
• Ms Min Zhao - Thesis title - Assessing Eucalyptus forest responses to rising CO₂ and climate change
• Ms Yingying Zhou - Thesis title - The relationship between leaf heat tolerance and plant resource acquisition strategies along hydraulic and thermal gradient zone

Graduates (opens in a new window)