Agriculture experts

Professor Stan Fenwick

Veterinary public health, food security, animal-borne disease epidemiology and control, biosecurity, surveillance, avian influenza (bird flu)

Dr Stan Fenwick is Professor of Veterinary Public Health in the School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences and has a long involvement in the investigation and management of animal-borne and food-borne diseases in Australia, the Middle East and South East Asia.

He is an active teacher and researcher in the field, with an emphasis on the training of veterinarians in emerging infectious diseases, biosecurity and surveillance.

His current research interests include avian influenza (bird flu), arthropod-borne infections including tick-borne rickettsiae and Q fever, bacterial food-borne disease such as salmonella and pig parasites affecting humans.

Professor Glenn Albrecht

Sustainability, environmental history and environmental politics

Director of Murdoch’s Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Professor Glen Albrecht specialises in the incidence of mental health issues caused by climate change.

He investigates the complexity of human and ecosystem health, and is credited for his “solastalgia” concept - a form of human distress created by negatively perceived environmental change resulting from industrial development, mining, drought and climate change.

Professor Albrecht is also examining the resilience of various regions in Western Australia.

Dr Wayne Reeve

Microbiology, microbial genomics

Dr Wayne Reeve is a senior lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology and teaches in Cell Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry units.

Dr Reeve is an expert in the field of microbiology with research expertise in microbial physiology, biochemistry and genetics. His research is primarily focused on symbiotic and virulence determinants and adaptation processes in microorganisms.

He has completely established the genomes of five microsymbiotic bacteria and has 20 more in a sequencing facility production pipeline.

He currently coordinates the activities of the US funded GEBA-RNB (Genome Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea-Root Nodule Bacteria) project consisting of an international consortium of 32 scientists from 15 different countries involved in sequencing the genomes of 100 geographically distinct root nodule bacteria.

Professor John Howieson

Sustainable agriculture, nitrogen fixation in legumes

Professor John Howieson is an internationally recognised expert in sustainable agriculture, specialising in the nitrogen fixation of legume crops.
His research interests include the selection and development of root nodule bacteria as commercial inoculants for agricultural legumes, and the selection of annual and perennial legumes for sustainable agriculture.

Professor Howieson was the Foundation Director of the Centre for Rhizobium Studies at Murdoch University and he has led the discovery program for several new pasture and forage legumes in Australian agriculture.

Currently he is on the steering committee for the project “N2Africa: Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa”. This US$20 million program is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Associate Professor Robert Trengove

Separation science and metabolomics

Associate Professor Rob Trengove is the Director for the Murdoch Separation Science and Metabolomics Laboratory and the node leader for the Murdoch Node of Metabolomics Australia.

Professor Trengove has pioneered the development of MS-based ‘omics techniques for more than 20 years, collaborating with Australian and International researchers and industry.

He currently leads a team of more than 15 researchers working on a diverse range of topics including HIV/AIDs, iron disorders, desalination, microalgae lipidomics, fungal and bacterial metabolomics.

Professor Trengove has published more than 50 high-impact journal articles and has ongoing commercial contract research arrangements with major industry players in the petrochemical, clinical and animal health pharmaceutical sector.

Dr Kirsty Bayliss

Plant biosecurity and crop disease, development of new plant varieties

Dr Kirsty Bayliss is a plant pathologist and has worked on plant diseases affecting many crops including pastures, legumes and oilseeds as well as native ecosystems and tree plantations. Dr Bayliss has also worked in plant tissue culture and plant biotechnology, specifically in the production of new varieties of plants.

In her current role she is responsible for coordinating the education and training program within the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity.

Dr Bayliss is also a member of the international QUADs biosecurity education program, aimed at developing international standards for teaching biosecurity. Based at Murdoch University, she lectures in biosecurity, plant pathology and plant biotechnology and is currently the Academic Chair for courses in biosecurity.

Professor John Pluske

Pig nutrition and physiology

Professor Pluske conducts research related to the nutrition and digestive physiology of pigs (particularly weanling pigs) but has also worked in a number of other monogastric species including dogs, horses and chickens.

His other research interests encompass alternatives to antimicrobials in piglet diets, the role of nutrition and the environment in modifying immune function and the gastrointestinal microbiota, feedstuff evaluation, and controlling enteric diseases in pigs without antimicrobials.

Professor Pluske is the Director of the Animal Research Institute at Murdoch University that aims to strategically unite, foster and grow animal-based research, postgraduate education and delivery to its stakeholders for the University.

The Institute represents a key collection of researchers in four core activities, namely production animal research, companion animal research, animal biosecurity and health, and wildlife biology and systems.

Associate Professor Mehmet Cakir

Agricultural biotechnology, gene discovery and breeding in wheat and barley

Associate Professor Mehmet Cakir is nationally and internationally recognised in agricultural biotechnology area with a particular expertise in gene discovery and breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses in wheat and barley.

His research interests include breeding for biosecurity threats to Australia, such as Stem rust strain Ug99 and Russian Wheat Aphid.

He is currently leading the global Russian Wheat Aphid Project with research partners from the USA, France, Turkey, Syria, Iran, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Argentina.

Professor Nick Costa

Sustainable grazing, rumen ecology and nutrient management

Professor Nick Costa researches livestock grazing systems and the impact of trace elements, in particular the minerals selenium and copper in sheep and cattle which may be limiting productivity and reproduction among Western Australian livestock.

He specialises in sustainable grazing systems and the fundamentals of livestock nutrition and grazing management.

Professor David Pethick

Biochemistry – from the paddock to the plate

Professor Richard Bell

Soil fertility and land management

Professor Richard Bell is an expert in soil fertility and land management. He specialises in soil management in highly weathered soils, fertility and management constraints associated with acid, salt-affected and degraded soils, fertiliser requirements for field cropping, rehabilitation of degraded land, the physiology and agronomy of food legumes, canola, wheat and rice, and mine rehabilitation.

He is also experienced in third world agricultural development issues, particularly rural development, the management and administration of research projects and training researchers in plant nutrition, soil science and land management.