The Institute is a partnership between four schools within the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (FNAS) and key agricultural, food and health and biotechnology centres within and outside the Faculty.
The institute is governed by its Executive with the Dean of FNAS as the Chair. The Executive consists of representatives from the four schools, and the Director of the IOA. The Executive has a representative from each Research Centre on a rotational basis.
W/Prof Tony O'Donnell
Dean/Winthrop Professor
Contact details
| Phone | 6488 5551 |
|---|---|
| Fax | 6488 1002 |
| tony.odonnell@uwa.edu.au / dean@fnas.uwa.edu.au |
Key research
- Soils are complex, multi-organism systems that are becoming amenable to analysis through the expansion of post-genomic technologies into environmental genomics. In the last ten years, the importance of microorganisms in maintaining a sustainable biosphere has been widely recognised. This has resulted in a surge of activity in environmental microbiology, and the development of novel technologies to better interrogate the role of microorganisms in soil.
- Professor O’Donnell has used these techniques to investigate gene:environment interactions in a range of systems, including agricultural soils and contaminated land. More recently, together with Thailand and India, he has been developing a research programme in bioenergy based around Jatropha and the conversion of municipal waste to biogas. Central to Professor O'Donnell's research is the need to understand the functional consequences of the interactions between biological complexity (eg, bacteria, fungi, nematodes etc.) and between these components and management of the abiotic soil environment.
Research profile
W/Prof Kadambot H.M. Siddique, FTSE
Chair in Agriculture/Director, Institute of Agriculture/Winthrop Professor
Contact details
| Phone | 6488 7012 |
|---|---|
| Fax | 6488 7354 |
| ksiddique@fnas.uwa.edu.au |
Key research
- Prof. Siddique has more than 24 years of experience in crop physiology, production agronomy, germplasm enhancement, breeding and industry development of pulse and cereal crops in Australian and overseas and is recognised internationally as a leader in this field. Prof. Siddique has contributed to the establishment and expansion of the pulse industries in Australia over many years. In addition to his research on crop adaptation and production agronomy of pulses and cereals Prof. Siddique has developed and commercially released several chickpea, lentil and lathyrus varieties that have superior yield, quality and disease resistance. Prof. Siddique maintains regular contacts with farmers and industry through his research and membership in various farmer group committees. Prof. Siddique’s significant contribution to his research field can be illustrated by the following achievements:
- He has been instrumental in the establishment of the pulse industries in Western Australia and nationally through the development and release of chickpea, lentil and lathyrus varieties with superior quality and yield, and the enhancement of national co-ordination and linkage in pulse research and industry development.
- He has successfully supervised a number of PhD, Masters and Honours students at The University of Western Australia, Murdoch University and Curtin University of Technology.
- He has attracted a large number of industry funded projects to UWA-CLIMA and DAWA and been closely involved in the development and management of projects (supported by ACIAR and GRDC) in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Syria, Turkey, Canada and USA.
- He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of various international agricultural science journals, and currently Chair the Editorial Advisory Board of the Australia Journal of Agricultural Research. During 1998-2001 Prof. Siddique was a member of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).
Major research interests
- Crop physiology, agronomy, farming systems, germplasm enhancement and breeding of cereals, legumes and oil seed crops, climate change adaptation, biofuels
- International project collaboration
- Linkage with farmer groups and industry
- Postgraduate training
Research profile
Mrs Christine Richardson
Faculty Manager
Contact details
| Phone | 6488 2480 |
|---|---|
| Fax | 6488 1002 |
| christine.richardson@uwa.edu.au |
Research profile
Professor Graeme Martin
Animal Production Systems Program Leader
Contact details
| Phone | 6488 2237 |
|---|---|
| Fax | 6488 1029 |
| gmartin@cyllene.uwa.edu.au |
Major research interests
- Reproduction in farm animals—neuroscience, physiology, behaviour, technology, management
- Metabolic endocrinology in farm animals
Research profile
W/Prof Hans Lambers
Head of School
Contact details
| Phone | 6488 7381 |
|---|---|
| Fax | 6488 1108 |
| hans.lambers@uwa.edu.au |
Key research
- Mineral nutrition of Australian native plants
- Phosphorus nutrition of crop legumes
- Plant water relations
Major research interests
- Conservation biology
- Plant–water relations and dryland salinity
- Mineral nutrition of native species and crop plants
- Plant physiology/ecology
- Plant respiration
- Structure and function of root clusters
Research profile
Professor Benedict White
Head of School
Contact details
| Phone | 6488 3409 |
|---|---|
| Fax | 6488 1098 |
| bwhite@fnas.uwa.edu.au |
Key research
- Research interests are in environmental and agricultural economics with a particular interest in environmental contracts and incentives for farmers to provide environmental public goods.
Major research interests
- Agricultural forestry production (efficiency of)
- Bioeconomic modelling
- Environmental economics
- Environmental policy
- Household economics
- Natural resource economics and management
- Risk management
- Sustainable resource management
Research profile
W/Prof Lynette Abbott
Head of School/Winthrop Professor
Contact details
| Phone | 6488 2683 |
|---|---|
| Fax | 6488 1050 |
| labbott@cyllene.uwa.edu.au | |
| Personal homepage | http://www.segs.uwa.edu.au/abbott_cv |
Key research
- Soil health related to agriculture, horticulture and viticulture, soil biology, indicators of soil quality, soil fertility, plant-microbe symbioses, minesite rehabiliation, soil management.
Major research interests
- Indicators of sustainability
- Land rehabilitation
- Microbial activity and nutrient cycling in rehabilitated soils
- Microbial ecology
- Mycorrhizal associations
- Plant nutrition and soil fertility
- Rhizobial ecology
- Soil biology
- Soil microbial ecology
Research profile
Professor Peter Davies
Contact details
| Phone | 9842 0836 |
|---|---|
| Fax | 9842 8499 |
| peter.davies@uwa.edu.au |
Research profile
