Researchers
Professor Matthias Boer’s research focuses on gaining better understanding of multiscale interactions between climate, vegetation, and fire, including the management of bushfire risk within the Ecosystem Function & Integration research theme.
Associate Professor Yolima Carrillo focuses on the cycles of carbon and nutrients in terrestrial ecosystems, both natural and agricultural. She is interested in the mechanisms by which these cycles are affected by environmental change and management. She studies belowground biogeochemical processes and how they are shaped by plants, plant roots and soil biotic communities.
Associate Professor Chris Cazzonelli is an esteemed Plant Molecular Biologist and a dedicated lecturer at Western Sydney University. As head of the Environmental Epigenetics Laboratory (EELab), Associate Professor Cazzonelli leads groundbreaking research into genetic regulatory mechanisms, metabolic feedback loops, and processes that prime plants for stress acclimation in response to environmental changes. His research interests include the discovery of molecular mechanisms underpinning plant acclimation and adaptation to changing environments within the Plants, Animals & Interactions research theme.
Professor Brendan Choat's research interests centre on the hydraulic function of plants and its effect on their growth and survival under drought within the Plants, Animals & Interactions research theme.
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.
Dr Eleonora Egidi is a Research Fellow in Microbial Ecology and Environmental Sustainability and an ARC DECRA Fellow (2021-2025). Through global surveys and manipulative experiments, her research focuses on investigating microbial biogeography, plant-soil-microbe interactions, and the mechanism underpinning microbial responses to environmental stressors. She employs cutting-edge methodologies, including metagenomic and functional trait analyses, to understand and manipulate microbial systems.
Theme affiliation: Soil Biology and Genomics.
Professor David Ellsworth is the senior scientific advisor for the Eucalyptus Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (EucFACE) experiment. His research interests centre on the response of forests to rising CO2 concentrations and climate change within the Ecosystem Function & Integration research theme.
Dr Manuel Esperon is a Research Support Program Fellow. His research centres on the Urban Transformation and Climate Change within the Ecosystem Function & Integration theme.
Dr Adam Frew is an ARC DECRA fellow. His research focuses on ecology of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plants within the Soil Biology and Genomics theme.
Associate Professor Rachael Gallagher's research interest centres on plant conservation, ecology and biogeography within the Ecosystem Function & Integration research theme.
Professor Oula Ghannoum is Director of the Australian Research Council's Training Centre for Smart and Sustainable Horticulture (ARC TC-SaSH). Her research focuses on the biochemical underpinnings of photosynthetic diversity and regulation, especially among C4 grasses, and their implications for plant physiology under a changing environment within the Plants, Animals & Interactions research theme.
Dr Christopher Gordon is Lecturer in the Institute. His research concentrates on using remote sensing products and statistical techniques to determine how drought impacts wildfire occurrence and activity in wet forest types (e.g. rainforests) of eastern Australia within the Ecosystem Function & Integration research theme.
Professor Scott Johnson's research interests centre on insect-plant ecology, especially multi-trophic interactions spanning aboveground-belowground systems within the Plants, Animals & Interactions research theme.
Associate Professor Catriona Macdonald's research interests are geared towards understanding how environmental change impacts nutrient cycling and ecosystem functioning and how this affects productivity and sustainability of soils within the Soil Biology and Genomics research theme.
Dr James Makinson is a Research Fellow in Crop Pollination and Apiculture. He is interested in the foraging ecology and communication behaviour of social Hymenoptera such as honey bees, bumble bees and stingless bees, their biology, and pollination services within the Plants, Animals and Interactions theme.
Dr Jessica Meade is a Lecturer in the Institute. Her research relates to projects relating to the movement ecology of flying-foxes within the Plants, Animals & Interactions research theme.
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.
A/Professor Ben Moore is broadly interested in plant-animal interactions, chemical ecology and the causes and consequences of variation in plant chemistry within the Plants, Animals and Interactions research theme.
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.
Associate Professor Rachael Nolan is a Senior Research Support Program Fellow within the Institute. Her research centres on Bushfire Research: Environmental and Social Impacts within the Ecosystem Function and Integration theme.
A/Professor Alexie Papanicolaou blends the frontiers of molecular biology and computer science to secure Australia's agricultural and natural ecosystems in the face of a changing climate. He is a genome bioinformatician working on ecological and economically important species within the Soil Biology and Genomics theme.
Professor Elise Pendall is a leading expert on the responses of biogeochemical cycling to climate change and ecological disturbances. Her research interests centre on how linkages between aboveground and belowground ecosystem components regulate carbon, water and nutrient cycling in grasslands, forests and crops within the Soil Biology & Genomics research theme.
A/Professor Jonathan Plett's research broadly aims to identify and understand how signals are sent and perceived by plants and their associated microbiota to coordinate development and enable this ecosystem to survive under less than ideal conditions, within the Soil Biology and Genomics research theme.
Professor Jeff Powell is the Theme Leader for the Soil Biology & Genomics research theme within the Institute. His research interests centre on soil ecology and understanding contributions of microbial biodiversity to ecosystem functioning and stability, particularly in systems experiencing environmental change.
Prof Sally Power is the deputy theme leader for the Ecosystem Function & Integration research theme within the Institute. Her research broadly focuses on the impacts of atmospheric pollution and climate change on the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems.
Dr Renée Marchin Prokopaviciusis a Lecturer in the Institute. She currently works with Professor David Ellsworth on the Which Plant Where? project, researching how to create urban green spaces that are resilient to future heat waves and drought within the Ecosystem Function and Integration research theme.
Professor Markus Riegler is the Higher Degree Research Student Director for the Institute. His research interests centre on the biology and diversity of arthropod symbionts, their role in insect adaptations to the environment and their application for the management of pest and vector species within the Plants, Animals and Interactions research theme.
A/Professor Paul Rymer's research interests centre on the ecology and evolution of organisms in natural populations, in particular plant-animal interactions, mating patterns, hybridisation and local adaptation, and how these factors drive and erode species diversity within the Plants, Animals and Interactions research theme.
Dr Demi Sargent is a Research Fellow in Cotton Physiology. Her research aims to determine whether superior photosynthetic traits can be transferred to commercial cotton cultivars to improve cotton’s productivity and abiotic stress resilience under increasingly challenging climates within the Plants, Animals and Interactions theme.
Dr 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 within the Plants, Animals & Interactions research theme.
Distinguished Professor Brajesh Singh is an internationally recognised expert in the field of functional microbial ecology, climate change and environmental biotechnology with particular focus on the role of microbes in ecosystem function and environmental sustainability within the Soil Biology & Genomics research theme.
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 David Tissue is an international expert on the effects of climate change on ecosystems. His research interests centre on the plant response to changes in global climate; primarily considers the interactive effect of elevated CO2 and associated environmental factors (e.g. temperature, nutrients and water) on leaf level physiology and its implications for plant growth within the Plants, Animals & Interactions research theme.
Professor Mark Tjoelker is the Interim Director of the Institute. His research interests centre on the impacts of global environmental change on terrestrial ecosystems, particularly the effects on respiration and carbon cycling, climatic adaptation in plant traits, and the biogeography of forest tree species.
Doctor Bin Wang is a Senior Research Fellow in the Institute, focusing on how plants and ecosystems respond to climate change. He is an expert in modelling the impacts of climate change on agriculture, forestry, and hydrology. His research focuses on understanding how climate change and variability affect crop yields, soil carbon, and forest productivity, with a particular interest in improving simulation models for better climate risk management in the Ecosystem Function and Integration Research Theme.
Doctor Jun-Tao Wang is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute. He is an expert on soil informatics and big data mining, with a research focus that bridges ecological theory and practical applications in agriculture and environmental sustainability within the Soil Biology & Genomics theme.
Professor Justin Welbergen's research interests centre on whole organism biology, but focuses on evolutionary ecology, which is concerned with the ways organisms respond adaptively to changes in their social, ecological, and physical environment within the Plants, Animals & Interactions research theme.
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.
