Associate Professor Robert Sharwood
View Robert's Researcher Profile
Associate Professor Robert Sharwood is a Senior Lecturer in Translational Photosynthesis. His research interests centre on developing climate-adapted germplasm through discovering novel heat tolerant and drought resistance mechanisms/traits that contribute to improvements in carbon fixation under future climate scenarios. His program spans from the gene to the protein to alter the biochemistry of photosynthesis through synthetic biology approaches to ultimately tailor crops to the prevailing climate. He focuses on crops such as maize, cotton, wheat, canola and rice and a number of important Eucalypt species including E. camaldulensis and E. globulus.
To mitigate climate variability, he is currently developing a new research program to improve the performance of fruit and vegetable crops within a protected cropping scenario.
Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
Chloroplast RNA Biology, Biochemistry of C3 and C4 Photosynthesis, Molecular Biology, Plant Physiology, Biotechnology, Phenotyping and Crop Production.
Awards and recognition
- Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education, Excellence in Teaching, Protected Cropping Teaching Team, Western Sydney University, 2024
- Awarded a Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow (Plant Molecular Biology), 2020
- Ranked a Leader in Botany Research within Australia, Higher Education Analysis – Published by the Australian Newspaper, 2018
- Australian Academy of Science: Thomas Davies Research Fund – Project
titled: Unlocking the diversity of Rubisco catalysis from deep-sea ocean α-cyanobacteria for eventual transplantation into higher plant chloroplasts to improve photosynthetic CO2 assimilation, 2016 - Department of Agriculture and Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and the Cotton
Research Development Corporation Science and Innovation Award. Project
titled - Improved understanding of the underlying physiology contributing to heat tolerance and water use efficiency in cotton, 2013
Editorial Board Memberships
Journal of Experimental Botany, PLOS One, Plant Growth and Regulation.
Grants / Current Projects
Boosting C4 photosynthesis to climate-proof yields
Co-Researcher: Oula Ghannoum
Partner/funding body: Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Program
Period: 2023-2024
Automated crop monitoring for protected cropping systems
Co-Researchers: Oula Ghannoum, David Tissue, Chris Cazzonelli, and Zhonghua Chen (SoSc)
Partner/funding body: Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC)
Period: 2023-2028
NVPCC glasshouse films to reduce energy use and increase resource-use efficiency
Co-researchers: David Tissue, Oula Ghannoum, and Chris Cazzonelli
Partner/funding body: Future Foods Systems Cooperative Research Centre
Period: 2022-2027
NVPCC glasshouse films to reduce energy use and increase resource-use efficiency
Co-researchers: David Tissue, Oula Ghannoum, and Chris Cazzonelli
Partner/funding body: Innofocus PTY Ltd
Period: 2022-2027
Drought resilient cotton: combining synthetic biology solutions to improve cotton productivity under future water limited and heatwave conditions
Partner/Funding Body: Cotton Research and Development Corporation (HDR scholarship)
Period: 2022-2024
Smart glass film impacts on energy use and productivity in greenhouse lettuce
Co-Researchers: Oula Ghannoum, Chris Cazzonelli, David Tissue, and Zhonghua Chen
Partner/Funding Body: Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre
Period: 2021-2022
Building climate resilience within Australia’s cotton industry by improving CO2 assimilation
Partner/Funding Body: Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis
Period: 2021
The gatekeeper to photosynthesis: mesophyll conductance and abiotic stress in cotton
Co-Researchers: Demi Sargent
Partner/Funding Body: Cotton Research and Development Corporation and the Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment
Period: 2021
Synthetic biology opportunities in the cotton industry
Co-Researcher: David Tissue
Partner/Funding Body: Cotton Research and Development Corporation
Period: 2021
Climate proofing Australia’s cotton industry through improving crop water use and photosynthetic carbon assimilation (Climate-proof cotton) Co-Researcher: David Tissue
Partner/Funding Body: Cotton Research and Development Corporation
Period: 2021-2023
Adaptive evolution of Eucalyptus trees under future climates
Co-Researchers: David Tissue, Simon Southerton, Gavin Rees, Owen Atkin and Graham Farquhar
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Environmental Trust
Period: 2017-2020
Unlocking the diversity of Rubisco catalysis from deep-sea ocean α-cyanobacteria for eventual transplantation into higher plant chloroplasts to improve photosynthetic CO2 assimilation
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Academy of Science
Period: 2016-2018
Uncovering the roles of key ribonucleases critical for post-transcriptional control of chloroplast gene expression
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award
Period: 2013-2016
Understanding the biochemistry that underpins Cotton photosynthesis
Partner/Funding Body: Cotton Research and Development Corporation
Period: 2015
People
- Professor Matthias Boer
- Associate Professor Yolima Carrillo
- Associate Professor Chris Cazzonelli
- Professor Brendan Choat
- Professor James Cook (Theme Leader - Plants Animals and Interactions)
- Doctor Eleonora Egidi
- Professor David Ellsworth
- Doctor Manuel Esperon
- Doctor Adam Frew
- Associate Professor Rachael Gallagher
- Professor Oula Ghannoum
- Doctor Christopher Gordon
- Professor Scott Johnson
- Associate Professor Catriona Macdonald
- Doctor James Makinson
- Doctor Jessica Meade
- Distinguished Professor Belinda Medlyn (Theme Leader - Ecosystem Function and Integration)
- Associate Professor Ben Moore
- Professor Uffe Nielsen (Theme Leader - Soil Biology and Genomics)
- Associate Professor Rachael Nolan
- Associate Professor Alexie Papanicolaou
- Professor Elise Pendall
- Associate Professor Jonathan Plett
- Professor Jeff Powell
- Professor Sally Power
- Doctor Renée Marchin Prokopavicius
- Professor Markus Riegler
- Associate Professor Paul Rymer
- Doctor Demi Sargent
- Associate Professor Robert Sharwood
- Distinguished Professor Brajesh Singh
- Professor Ben Smith (Director of Research)
- Distinguished Professor David Tissue
- Professor Mark Tjoelker (Interim Director)
- Doctor Bin Wang
- Doctor Jun-Tao Wang
- Professor Justin Welbergen
- Distinguished Professor Ian Wright (Chief Scientist)
Honorary and Adjunct Appointments
