My research explores regenerative agriculture as an alternative approach to conventional farming. It looks to synthesise the principles, practices and agricultural system overlaps, while investigating the evolving understanding of knowledge between farmers and industry professionals.

My PhD project uses soil metabolomics and DNA profiling to understand how a community of microbes is affected following inoculation into a different soil type. Changes to microbial diversity profiles and the corresponding metabolites will clarify the functionality of a microbial community following inoculation and give a better understanding of the efficacy of potential microbial inoculants.

Literature shows that unconscious mental processes dominate decision-making. Of these processes, intuition is noted as being fast; familiar; easy and able to draw conclusions for complex problems. This PhD endeavours to bridge the gap of knowledge about the role of intuition in farmers’ decision-making about soil health.

This project is looking to characterise the taxonomic diversity of soil microbiota, the abundance of particular microbial groups and the level of enzyme activity in the soils. To distinguish between soil health and soil fertility, the impact of imposed stresses (drought, waterlogging) on soil microbiota will be assessed and the ability of the microbiota to recover following the removal of the stresses will also be examined.

Soil amendments are commonly promoted as a sustainable solution to improving soil health. However, despite numerous scientific evidence of their benefits, there is a lack of economic analysis of soil amendments. My project aims to fill in the socio-economic knowledge gaps in adopting soil amendments to help overcome the barriers and challenges faced in the adoption process.

My PhD investigates the effect of soil-applied hydrothermal carbonised wastes on plants and soil organisms. Hydrothermal carbonisation converts high moisture biomass into hydrochar, a carbon material with substantially lower energy inputs compared to pyrolysis.

I am studying the effect and mechanism of how hydrochar affects plants and soil organisms. This study aims at informing decisions on sustainable use of hydrochar.

This study will focus on extent and severity of non-wetting in Australia and globally. The early human settlement and various vegetation patterns and types had an influence on the formation of non-wetting soils. Characterisation of non-wetting soils on mineralogical, physical, chemical, and biological parameters will be performed to find out sustainable remediation approach (microbial base) to treat non-wettability of soils.

The primary objective of my PhD work is to enhance the organic carbon content in sugarcane cultivated soils of North Queensland. I will make use of waste products and industrial effluents produced by the sugar industry to develop a sustainable fertiliser. This soil fertiliser or conditioner will be customisable to meet the needs of the farmer. Apart from building soil organic carbon this will also be a useful tool for waste management and a potential circular economy model.

My PhD project will focus on determining the dynamics of carbon compounds in amended soils to identify if particular classes of chemical species are preferentially stabilised by different amendments. This investigation will aid in identifying amendments that can be used to improve soil fertility, health and soil carbon in sandy soils levels over the long term.

The aim of this research is to examine food waste valorisation products (dehydrated products, composted products, biochars, hydrolysates and anaerobic digestates). This research will evaluate the different products as a nutrient source and carbon amendment to improve soil health, soil carbon content, soil fertility and crop productivity.

This study aims to explore the thresholds level of soil-borne herbicide residues that cause damage to grain crops from herbicide carryover in Australian cropping systems. The research will focus on up to six key herbicides used in WA. An exploratory study of herbicide residues will also be conducted in the central dry zone of Myanmar.

This study will employ a suite of advanced analytical approaches to evaluate the suitability of locally available, low cost, biochar produced from different feedstock and pyrolysis conditions, and emerging biopolymers as alternative carriers for effectively delivering rhizobia.

This project will provide new knowledge on cost-effective alternative carriers for the formulation of rhizobial inoculants to improve legume nitrogen-fixation and soil productivity in Australian farming systems.

Rainfall and leaching, acidic parent material, organic matter decay, harvest of high yielding crops and nitrification of ammonium are the main causes of soil acidification. My research aims to synthesis biochar-based soil amendments to improve soil pH and thereby improve soil health and productivity.

My research is focused on soil water repellency and the use of soil sensors to better understand and manage this issue.

I seek to understand how these soil sensors can assess optimal and targeted remediation strategies in sandy soils under dryland cropping systems of Western Australia.

The aim of this PhD project is to enable the high-resolution estimation and forecasting of plant available water, within and across individual paddocks at multiple depths in the soil profile.

This qualitative research explores the question “How can gendered knowledges contribute to agricultural practice change in Australia?”. The literature indicates that although women have unique knowledges and perspectives, they are under-represented in agriculture outreach.

It will explore the potential for including women’s knowledges and perspectives in agriculture in Australia to facilitate practice change

My PhD study aims to investigate the impact of cover crop on soil water, yield, and explore mechanisms and trade-offs between the changes in soil water, soil organic carbon and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi population that affect soil health and productivity.