School of Life and Environmental Sciences

I am a plant developmental biologist passionate about understanding how plants translate genetic information into complex biological structures. I am originally from Egypt, where I earned a BSc and an MSc in Agricultural Genetics from Al-Azhar University and Cairo University, respectively. My academic journey brought me to India, where I completed a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology under the supervision of Prof. Usha Vijayraghavan at the Indian Institute of Science — one of Asia's most prestigious research institutions. Following my PhD, I was appointed as a lecturer at Al-Azhar University, Egypt, and then as a visiting assistant professor at IISc. In late 2025, I relocated to Australia to join the University of Sydney as a Postdoctoral scientist in Heisler's group.

My research focus is floral development — a field at the intersection of fundamental developmental biology and the broader questions of how plant form and function are encoded and regulated at the molecular levels. I am fascinated by the precision with which flowers develop, and by the genetic and molecular mechanisms that underpin the spatial and temporal decisions that give rise to their architecture. This curiosity drives my current work investigating the molecular mechanisms that govern floral ground plans in Arabidopsis, using genetic perturbation tools, transgenic fluorescent reporter lines, and live imaging approaches to understand how developmental decisions are dictated at the molecular and cellular levels.

Dr Adhikari began his career in plant breeding as an assistant wheat breeder in Nepal after completing a Bachelor's degree with Honours from the Harayana Agricultural University, India. He obtained his Masters from the University of Manitoba, Canada in plant breeding and a PhD from the University of Sydney in genetics of cereal rust. After his PhD, he has been committed to grain legume (lupins, field pea and faba bean) research as a breeder. Dr Adhikari worked as a plant breeder for more than 14 years in Western Australia, firstly at the University of Western Australia and later at the State Department of Agriculture and Food. He has released three varieties of lupins and the same number of varieties of faba beans in Australia. His varieteies are well received by farmers and almost all area of faba bean in northern NSW and southern Queensland is under his varieteies. Along with the increased grain yield and quality, breeding for resistance to diseases, such as rust and bean leaf roll virus; and abiotic stresses such as frost, drought and heat tolerance have been his main focus. He joined the University of Sydney in 2010 as a grain legume breeder.

Dhahi is a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Life & Environmental Science, the University of Sydney. Dhahi's research interests are in modelling (e.g. crop yield and crop type models) in space and time. Dhahi has completed his master's degree in science in agriculture at the University of New England (Armidale, NSW, Australia), and a PhD at the University of Sydney.

A/Prof Ashe is a molecular biologist working in the areas of epigenetics and small RNA molecules. She uses a combination of genetic engineering, microscopy, bioinformatics and some structural biology techniques to understand how epigenetic gene regulation occurs in a range of species.

Rajitha Athukorala is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Precision Agriculture, Hydrology and Geo Information Sciences Laboratory (PAHGISL) He received his PhD through the ARC Center for Data Analytics for Resources and Environment (DARE) at the University of Sydney. His research focus is on interpretable probabilistic machine learning methods in hydrology.

Previously, he has worked as a Research Associate at Geoinformatics Center (GIC), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand focusing on remotes sensing and GIS applications for real world problems.

Rajitha has past involvements in projects related to climate projection, modelling, and downscaling, multi hazard risk assessment, and mapping with drones in several countries of central and southeast Asia.

He has also involved in several capacity building programs as a technical lead in remote sensing and GIS applications in agriculture, disaster risk management, and drone image processing for participants from India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand, Laos, and Tajikistan.

• 2016 Professor in Conservation Biology, SOLES
• 2011 Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, USYD
• 2010 Associate Professor, School of BEES, UNSW
• 2005 Senior Lecturer, School of BEES, UNSW
• 1999 Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, UNSW
• 1998 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Turku, Finland
• 1997 PhD, USYD
• 1991 BSc, USYD

A/Prof Barnes is the Director of the Social Dynamics and Environmental Change Lab in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences. She is a social network scientist and interdsciplinary, environmental social scientist. Her work has a thematic focus on marine and coastal systems, where she draws on theories and methods from sociology and complex systems science to contribute a better understanding of how social dynamics and relationships between people and nature influence sustainability and resilience, particularly in the context of climate change. 

A/Prof Barnes has received number of significant national and international awards for her research on social dynamics and environmental change, including prestigious fellowships from the U.S. National Science Foundation (2015) and the Australian Research Council (DECRA, 2019), the Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and a Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research. She is committed to research impact and thus regularly works in collaborative, interdisciplinary teams and directly engages with policymakers and practitioners to work toward a sustainable future for both people and ecosystems. Her research has directly contributed to conservation strategies, environmental management reform, and the development of sustainability and adaptation initiatives; e.g. she served on the Expert Working Group that developed a National Strategy for Just Adaptation in Australia and was the sole Australian author on the Resilience Science Must-Knows Report, launched at COP30.

A/Prof Barnes is currently a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Second Global Assessment and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Beijer Institute. She previosuly served on the board of the International Network for Social Network Analysis and was the president of the Australian Network for Social Network Analysis. A/Prof Barnes is an editor of Ecology and Society, serves on the editorial advisory board of Cell Reports Sustainability, and often serves as a guest editor for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Dr Joy Becker is an Professor of Aquatic Animal Health and Production at the University of Sydney. Joy holds a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from the University of Western Ontario (Canada) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Fish Health from the Atlantic Veterinary College (Canada).

Joy's research program is focused on understanding and controlling production-limiting diseases affecting global aquaculture. Her research program has a strong industry focus on "real world" problems faced by fish farmers. Her most important research contribution has been providing the scientific evidence that underpinned changes in Australia's quarantine policy for exotic aquatic pathogens coming in with the trade in ornamental fish. Other key career achievements include development of a prototype parasite vaccine, new drug treatments for fish parasites, and novel diagnostic tests.

Joy has an energetic determination to make meaningful contributions to society through research and teaching that will promote the sustainable production of fish whilst limiting the impact of diseases. Her career goal is to establish and mentor a collaborative network of innovative scientists that share a goal to find industry-relevant solutions to global problems in aquaculture through education and research. This is vital for human and animal health and for food security as there is an ever widening gap between the global demand for seafood and the limited supply from the wild fisheries. Joy uses her research as a way to connect with students and relate theoretical content to real world problems.

Joy's research program has attracted research income in excess of $3.7 million and she has co-authored 36 peer-reviewed scientific publications with over 500 citations. Joy's 2016 article in The Conversation and IFLScience on the risks of releasing pet fish in the wild has been read by more than half a million people.

I joined the University of Sydney in May 2001 after having been a postdoc at the University of Sheffield (UK). During my time at the University of Sydney I collaborated extensively with people scattered around the globe and loved doing field work. Now, I mostly hide in my office in Far North Queensland to write popular science books and observe the endangered cassowary.

I started my journey in science more than 30 years when I did a Bachelor of Science in Botany and Zoology at the University of Western Australia. I fell in love with plants so, as a PhD candidate, I specialised in plant nutrient acquisition and mycorrhizal symbioses of native Australian and introduced plant species. This was set against a backdrop of bushfire as an environmental disturbance of plant growth. At the time, the intersection of bushfire and plant productivity was only just being recognised in Australia, and I eagerly contributed to the growing body of knowledge.

At this point I went international. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Cape Town, South Africa, I investigated the responsiveness of native South African grasses, rushes, and shrubs to changed nutrient environments post-fire. Since then, I have researched the ecological effects of bushfires from a range of perspectives, particularly centered around the needs of fire agencies and land managers in Victoria and New South Wales.

I have authored multiple publications, including chapters in two pivotal books about bushfire in Australia (Flammable Australia: Fire Regimes, Biodiversity and Ecosystems in a Changing World, CSIRO Publishing, 2012 and Prescribed Burning in Australasia: The Science, Practice and Politics of Burning the Bush, Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities, 2020).

A/Prof Kim Bell-Anderson is a teaching and research academic in the Charles Perkins Centre. Kim is course coordinator of NUTM3001 Introductory Nutrition and Metabolism and NUTM3888 Metabolic Cybernetics in the Nutrition Science major. Kim's research is in the area of nutritional physiology and focuses on determining the effects of dietary carbohydrate quality on cardiometabolic health.

Dr. Maria Bergamasco recieved a PhD in biomedical research in 2020 from the University of Melbourne. She continued her thesis work in the laboratory of Prof Anne Voss and A/Prof Tim Thomas at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, studying the roles of histone acetyltransferase genes in brain development and intellectual disability. In 2024 she moved to the Neely lab at the Charles Perkins Institute at the University of Sydney.

Tom Bishop is the Academic Director of the Sydney Informatics Hub which is a Core Research Facility at the University of Sydney. He is a Professor in the School of Life & Environmental Science where his research interests are in modelling and predicting the variation of environmental properties in space and time with an emphasis on applying this to the domains of soil, agriculture and hydrology. His main teaching is related to applied statistics, environmental science and GIS. He is an Associate Editor for the European Journal of Soil Science and Soil Research and on the Editorial Board of Geoderma and Pedosphere. Prior to starting work at the University of Sydney in 2007 he held postdoctoral positions at the University of Florida in the USA, Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom and the University of New South Wales. He completed his PhD in Precision Agriculture in 2002 at the University of Sydney.

Dr Arezoo Boroomandnia is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney, funded by the One Basin CRC. Her research focuses on decarbonising irrigation systems across the Murray–Darling Basin, integrating renewable energy, microgrid optimisation, and irrigation efficiency to support sustainable transitions in agriculture.
She holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Melbourne and brings multiple years of interdisciplinary experience in water resource engineering, energy systems, and sustainability consulting across academia and industry. Arezoo has collaborated with farmers, irrigation trusts, and government partners to improve on-farm energy performance, promote solar-powered systems, and inform low-carbon policy and investment frameworks.

PhD, AO FAA

Professor Jennie Brand-Miller – or GI Jennie, as she is known – is internationally recognised for her groundbreaking work that developed a way to measure the body’s absorption of carbohydrates, now commonly known as the ‘glycemic index’.

Battling years of criticism and scepticism, she is now at the forefront of research that has the potential to help millions of people avoid chronic diseases associated with obesity, such as diabetes.

Brand-Miller’s breakthrough discovery is that not all carbohydrate foods are created equal. In fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels.

Choosing low GI carbs – the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels – is the secret to long-term health, she says. They reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes and are the key to sustainable weight loss.

“High GI foods push your body to extremes,” Brand-Miller says. “Switching to eating mainly low GI carbs that slowly trickle glucose into your blood stream keeps your energy levels balanced and means you will feel fuller for longer between meals,” she adds.

Brand-Miller’s current research includes diabetes prevention. She is the Principal Investigator of the Australian arm of the PREVIEW study (www.previewstudy.com), the world's largest lifestyle intervention to prevent diabetes in individuals at high risk. This 6-year study funded by the European Union is comparing two diets and two exercise strategies to determine the most efficient way to prevent type 2 diabetes and maintain weight loss in the long term. Early findings will be released in the second half of 2018.

Brand-Miller is also investigating the diets of pregnant women, with the ultimate aim of reducing child obesity. “Our hypothesis is that a modestly higher protein intake combined with low GI carbohydrates during pregnancy will lower maternal glucose levels and be superior to a conventional low fat diet.”

Together with Fiona Atkinson, Brand-Miller and colleagues are also investigating the gene involved in starch digestion (the AMY gene) to see if different versions affect the rate at which people digest starch.

Other projects include examining the role of fat adn protein and the potential of a food insulin index to improve glycemic control in adults with type 1 diabetes.

Brand-Miller is currently Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Sydney. She was a finalist in the 2006 Australian of the Year Award, and her books have sold millions of copies around the world. She was also recently made an Officer (AO) of the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to education in the field of human nutrition as a researcher and academic, and as a supporter of people with a hearing impairment.

Dr Brandon completed her PhD in 2007 at the University of New South Wales under the supervision of Dr Karen Gibson investigating the Consequences of an altered intrauterine environment on the offspring's renal, cardiovascular and renin angiotensin systems. She then did her postdoc at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research with Profs. Ted Kraegen and Gregory Cooney investigating the development of obesity and insulin resistance, with particular focus on nutritional and genetic models. In 2016 she moved to the University of Sydney to continue this research theme and in 2019 joined the group of Prof. Stephen Simpson to investigate the role of nutrition in metabolic health and aging.

Dr Maria Byrne is Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Sydney. Her research on the impacts of environmental stressors on marine species with a focus on the impacts of climate change across latitudes is generating crucial findings on species' vulnerabilities and resilience for management and conservation.The overarching goal is to determine the ecologically and economically important species that may be resilient to changing climate.Her research on the complex interactions between stressors across life stages and species groupsis influential. Recent research on the impacts of marine heatwaves shows that warming is the contemporary stressor of greatest concern, including work with the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce and investigation of species' poleward range extension.Prof Byrne is world expert on echinoderms(sea urchins, the crown of thorns starfish, beche de mer sea cucumbers) and her research on these species is providing key findings to address the challenge for their management. In long standing research her work on closely related species with contrasting modes of development is providing break throughs on the molecular mechanisms underlying developmental change, generation of evolutionary novelty and speciation in the sea.

Dr Mac Campbell is a Charles Gilbert Heydon Travelling Research Fellow at The University of Sydney. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Spanish from Willamette University (Salem, Oregon, USA) and a Master of Science in Biology and a Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Sciences from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA).

Stephen grew up on a wheat-sheep farm in central western NSW, and graduated from The University of Sydney with a BScAgr (Hons I) in 1991 and a PhD in Soil Science in 1995. He was appointed as a lecturer in soil science in the Faculty of Agriculture in 1997. Since then, he has taught in soil science and agricultural science units, carried out research on dust as a soil-forming factor and on agriculturally important soils of NSW, and has served in various Faculty and University administrative roles. In recent years, Stephen was the Associate Head (Education) in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, and continues to serve as the academic Director of Sydney Faculty Farms. In the soil science community, Stephen has served as Federal President of the Australian Society of Soil Science Inc., and has been a champion for the discipline of soil judging in Australia since 2012.

• Ph. D, (2003, Sydney), M.Sc & B Sc. (NENU, China)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, ANU, 2003
• Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Fellow, USyd, 2004 - 2006
• Research Fellow, USyd, 2007
• ARC QEII Fellow, USyd, 2008 - 2012
• Associate Professor, USyd, 2011 - 2014
• ARC Future Fellow, USyd, 2013 - 2016
• Professor, USyd, 2015 - present

Mumta Chhetri completed her MSc. degree from Wageningen University Netherlands specializing in Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources. She examined quantitative resistance in barley for Puccinia hordei and Blumeria graminis. In 2011, she received the Australian Leadership Award from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government to pursue PhD program at the Universityof Sydney. Her doctoral research project "Molecular mapping and genetic characterization of rust resistance in wheat" contributed significantly to the field of rust research. Her extensive research on wheat rust led her to identify, map, and officially name three novel wheat rust-resistantgenes: Yr58, Yr72 & Lr74.

Prior to her PhD studies, she worked as a National Rice Coordinator in Bhutan, where she demonstrated her commitment to improving agricultural practices and worked towards empowering local farmers. She released four blast disease-resistant rice varieties for Bhutanese farmers. In 2018, she joined Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to further advance her research. Her focus at CSIRO spun around Fusarium Crown Rot resistance, which involved molecular mapping and marker development utilizing RNA-seq techniques and bioinformatic tools. Her research led to the design of SNP-based diagnostic markers for three Fusarium Crown Rot resistant genes. She joined the University of Sydney in June 2021 and started working on cereal rust diseases and fungicide resistance at PBI Cobbitty, Camden Campus.

Dr Anna Chlingaryan is a data scientist specialising in machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), mathematical modelling, and the development of novel algorithmic solutions for real-world challenges in livestock production, dairy science, plant science, and mine geology modelling. Her work integrates rapidly evolving AI/ML technologies into multidisciplinary research, strengthening and adapting these capabilities to operate effectively under real-world constraints and complexities.

With a strong foundation in applied mathematics, Dr Chlingaryan bridges data science with domain-specific expertise to deliver measurable impact across industry and government sectors. Over the past fourteen years at the University of Sydney, she has contributed to major initiatives within the Faculty of Engineering, including the Rio Tinto Centre for Mine Automation and the Agriculture Group at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics.

In 2021, Dr Chlingaryan joined the Faculty of Science, the Livestock Production and Welfare Group where she works across multiple projects, enabling data-driven techniques for cattle feed optimisation, improved heat-tolerant dairy cattle selection, early flood alerts for dairy farmers, pasture management through remote sensing, and reducing impact of climate change on livestock production.