DrRebecca Thistlethwaite

Dr Rebecca Thistlethwaite graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Hons) in 2012 and a PhD in 2017. Rebecca was the recipient of a Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Post-graduate Scholarship to complete her thesis entitled “Identification of genetic variation in heat stress and mechanisms of tolerance in wheat”. Rebecca’s thesis aimed to identify genetic diversity for high temperature tolerance in bread wheat by evaluating a large number of genotypes across years and sowing dates, evaluate a subset of germplasm using different screening methods for heat tolerance (in‐field controlled environment chambers and glasshouses) and compare different screening methods and propose a screening methodology for evaluating large numbers of genotypes. Rebecca’s supervisors were Professor. Richard Trethowan (Primary), Dr. Daniel Tan (Auxiliary). Since graduating from her PhD, Rebecca has taken on a post-doctoral role to continue her work on breeding heat tolerant wheat and is located at the University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute Narrabri.

Before undertaking her PhD studies, Rebecca worked as a Research Agronomist (Northern NSW) for PGG Wrightson Seeds Australia and whilst completing her PhD, she worked part-time as a Research Assistant for Pork CRC Feed Grains project. Rebecca has presented research posters at the Agriculture and Climate Change conference in Amsterdam (2014) and Spain (2017) and the International Wheat Symposium 2015 in Sydney (2015) and has presented her research orally at GRDC Research Updates, University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute Narrabri Annual Breeders Walk and Field Days.