Bringing together research and ideas from across the Waite campus and beyond. Stay tuned for our fortnightly schedule of industry leaders and speakers on a wide range of topics.
Upcoming speakers
August 2026
- 06.08 – Professor Zhong-Hua Chen, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Adelaide University
- Title: Genome Evolution and Functional Analysis of Abiotic Stress Response in Ferns
- 20.08 – Professor Jenny Mortimer, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Adelaide University
- Title: Sweet green tales: biosynthesis and engineering of plant complex
September 2026
- 03.09 – Professor Kerry Wilkinson, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Adelaide University
- Title: Waiter, there’s a black soldier fly in my wine!
- 24.09 – Doctor David G Schmale III, Fulbright AUKUS Scholar; Professor and Director, Translational Plant Sciences Center Virginia Tech University
- Title: Atmospheric Incursions of Plant Pathogens: From Leaf Surfaces to Continental Transport
October 2026
- 08.10 – Professor Mark Tester, KAUST, Saudi Arabia
- Title: TBA
- 15.10 – Doctor Nari Wilson, Forestry Centre of Excellence, Adelaide University
- Title: TBA
- 29.10 – Professor Renyou Gan, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; 2026 AU International Fellow Award Recipient
- Title: Plant-Based Functional Ingredients and Gut Health: From Food Sources to Translational Nutrition
Past speakers
2026
- 09.07 – Professor Stuart Roy, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Adelaide University
- Title: Establishing a new paradigm for salinity tolerance in cereals: Version 2
- 25.06 – Professor Enzo Lombi, Future Industries Institute, Adelaide University
- Title: Developing (field-relevant) synchrotron techniques to support agricultural innovation
- 11.06 – Professor Rachel Burton, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, Adelaide University
- Title: The trials and tribulations of new crop establishment
- 04.06 – Dr Kelly Houston, James Hutton Institute, Dundee, Scotland
- Title: TBA
- 30.04 – Dr Agnieszka Mierczynska-Vasilev, AWRI
- Title: Engineering Functional Surfaces with Plasma Technologies for Wine Processing
- 16.04 – Dr. Ryan Hansen, Kansas State University
- Title: Advancing Soil and Seed Treatments for Sustainable Agriculture in the Central High Plains
- 27.03 – Dr Dylan Jones, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)
- Title: Investigating regulation of vascular patterning along root axes in cereals
- 05.03 – Professor Emilio Gil, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
- Title: From compliance to precision: Integrating Legislation and Technology in Crop Protection
- 19.02 – Dr Stephen Lee, Director of the SA Drought Hub
- Title: SA Drought Hub – impacts to date and opportunities for collaboration
- 12.02 – Dr Matthew Paul and Dr Cara Griffiths, Rothamsted Research
- Title: Translating discoveries in sugar signalling to crop yield improvement
- 22.01 – Prof Daniel Hunkeler, Centre for Hydrogeology and Geothermics (CHYN), University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Title: Safeguarding groundwater quality in landscapes under intense land use
2025
- 11.12 – Professor Romulo Lollato, Kansas State University
- Title: Magnitude and causes of wheat yield gaps in North America
- 04.12 – WRI Symposium
- Multiple speakers
- 13.11 – Dr. Phil Pardey, U of Minnesota, College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences
- Title: Rethinking Investments in Agri-Food Innovation
- 23.10 – Dr. Nicole Thompson, SARDI, Program Leader, Plant Health & Diagnostics
- Title: SARDI’s Plant Health and Diagnostics Program
- 09.10 – Prof. Tara Pukala, University of Adelaide; School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
- Title: Advancing structural mass spectrometry for complex biomolecules
- 26.09 – Dr. Raymond M. Wheeler, NASA, Emeritus senior scientist
- Title: Plants for bioregenerative life support systems in space
- 25.09 – Prof. Bronwyn Gillanders, University of Adelaide, School of Biological Sciences
-
- Title:Estimating movements and connectivity patterns of fish across a changing seascape
- 28.08 – Dr James Cowley and Bill Hirt, University of Adelaide, SAFW
- Title: Adelaide University Food Product Development Program – Overview of Food Research and Chef in Residence Program
- 14.08 – Sarah Ewers and Guisella Yarasca, SARDI
- Title: Food technology at SARDI: capabilities and recent projects
- 31.07 – Dr Therese McBeath and Dr Stephen Davies, CSIRO Agriculture and Food Systems Program
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- Title: Transforming the agriculture productivity of agricultural sandy landscapes in southern and western Australia
- 17.07 – Prof Zenglu Li, Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics and Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, USA
- Title: Accelerating Genetic Gain in Soybean Through Omics-Driven Breeding Strategies
- 03.07 – David Peck, SARDI
- Title: Seed dormancy and seed priming of annual pasture legumes species
- 26.06 – Prof Chris Preston, University of Adelaide, SAFW
- Title: Reimagining weed management in the grains industry: The GRDC Weed Management Initiative
- 05.06 – A/Prof David Jeffery, University of Adelaide, SAFW
- Title: What can modelling with A-TEEM data tell us about grape and wine traits?
- 22.05 – Dr Jens Blotevogel, CSIRO
- Title: PFAS characterisation and treatment: A global grand challenge.
- 10.04 – Dr Darren Wong – Australian National University
- Title: Plant adaptation through specialized metabolism: Insights from Australia’s plant biodiversity and major horticultural crops
- 28.03 – Dr Daisuke Ogawa, Institute of Crop Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation, JAPAN
- Title: Insight on time-series phenotyping of rice in the field using UAVs
- 27.03 – Prof. Matt Tucker, Interim Director, WRI
- Title: The Waite Research Institute – a modern catalyst for research, innovation and partnership
- 20.03 – Dr. Scott Boden, UoA, SAFW
- Title: Spatial Transcriptomics in Cereal Crops: Advancing Insights into Plant Development and Yield
- 27.02 – Dr. Yusuf Genc, SARDI
- Title: Quantifying Wheat Spike Traits with X-ray Computed Tomography
- 13.02 – Dr Gianpiero Marconi, University of Perugia, IT
- Title: Grapes, Tomatoes, and Epigenetics: A Recipe for Flavor and Complexity
2024
- 11.12 – Dr Sarah McKim, University of Dundee, UK
- Title: Beyond Face Value: epidermal specialisations in cereals
- 24.11 –Prof. Caitlin Byrt, Australian National University
- Title: Redirecting critical resource flow
- 21.11 – Prof. Alex Johnson, University of Melbourne
- Title: Genetic strategies for iron biofortification of cereal crops
- 10.11 – Dr. Han Weng, UoA, SAFW
- Title: Probing the Nature of Soil Organic Matter
- 01.31 – Dr. Matthieu Bogard, Arvalis Institut du Végétal, Baziege, France
- Title: Examples of research projects to support breeding for tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress tolerance of cereal crops
- 01.07 – Dr Yuling Jiao
- 14.06 – Dr Chema Flores
- 12.06 – Dr Nieves Capote
- 08.05 – Dr Chalermchai Wongs-Aree
RELATED NEWS & EVENTS
WRI Seminar Series – Upcoming speakers
Bringing together research and ideas from across the Waite campus and beyond, our seminar series features leading researchers, industry experts and visiting speakers exploring a wide range of topics. Check out our upcoming speakers and mark your calendars to join us for these engaging talks.
Congratulations to Dr Shervin Kabiri, SA Young Tall Poppy Science Award recipient
Congratulations to Dr Shervin Kabiri on being named a 2026 South Australian Young Tall Poppy by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS).
Register now: APBA Networking Event – Cultivating Connections in Plant Breeding
Register by 20 August to attend. This event looks to connect members of the plant breeding community, including students, researchers, and professionals working across academia, government, and industry. The evening will feature a panel including WRI Director Matt Tucker followed by a networking session.