Associate ProfessorThomas Roberts

Roberts' major current and recent grant-funded projects:

01/07/2025 – 30/06/2028    Roberts TH, Keitel C, Bell T, Khoddami A, Cross R & van Ogtrop F. Food Quality of Australian Indigenous Grains: Impacts of Plant Environment. Discovery-Projects (DP250101050), Australian Research Council (ARC). $876K

05/09/2022 – 31/12/2026    Roberts TH. Effects of Crop Production Under Heat Stress and High Atmospheric CO2 on the Food Grain Chemistry of Wheat, Barley and Chickpea. Bruce Veness Chandler Fund. $781K

01/04/2018 – 31/03/2021    Park RF, Roberts TH & van der Hoorn RAF. Cereals and Rusts: Molecular Interactions for Plant Defence and Food Security. Discovery-Projects (DP180103377), Australian Research Council (ARC). $510K

01/07/2016 – 30/06/2021    Roberts TH, Tan DKY & Bishop TFA. Expanding Options for Sorghum - Food and Distilling. Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) (UCS00025). $478K for subcontract to the University of Sydney from Charles Sturt University (total value of GRDC grant $1,539K

Roberts is the Lead Supervisor for the following PhD students:

• Jacob Humphries: Controlled Brewing Trials Comparing Triticale Malt with Barley, Wheat and Rye Malts
• Susanga Mahamadakalapuwage: Effect of Heat Stress on Grain Quality and Carbohydrate Metabolism in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
• Junaid Abid: Enzyme Activities and Grain Quality in Tritordeum: Genetic Diversity and Industrial Applications for Bakery Products

Roberts' PhD completions as Lead Supervisor (in reverse chronological order):

• Farkondeh Abedi: Morphology and Biochemistry of Australian Native Grains
• Jennifer Le: Molecular Interactions between Hordeum vulgare (barley) and Puccinia hordei (barley leaf rust)
• Sayedur Rahman: Canopy Architecture, Carbon Gain and Grain Properties of Native Australian Rices: Effects of Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
• Samar Shenouda: Beta-amylase Genes in Common/Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum)
• Yoav Yichie: Salinity Tolerance of Wild Rice Accessions from Northern Australia
• Erpei Wang: Pigments in Rust Fungi: Biosynthesis, Role in Plant-Pathogen Interactions, and Evolution
• Sergio Nicolas Daneri-Castro: Germination-related Cell Death in the Aleurone Layer of Malting Barley
• Ali Khoddami: Phenolic Compounds in Grains of Australian-Grown Sorghums: Quantitative Analyses including Impacts of Malting and Effects on Broiler Nutrition
• Rodrigo Siqueira Reis: Role of Double-stranded RNA Binding Proteins in the Arabidopsis miRNA Pathway
• Nicole Walczyk: The Impact of Elevated Carbon Dioxide Concentration and Other Environmental Conditions on the Allergenicity of Peanuts
• Renan Ersoy: Functional Expression Analyses of Serpin Genes in Arabidopsis and Rice
• Joon-Woo Ahn: Functional Characterization of Serpins in Plants and Green Algae