Professor Christine Beveridge is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, an ARC Georgina Sweet Laureate Fellow, and a highly cited researcher. Christine is Director of the ARC Centre for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, a Professor within the School of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Sciences and an affiliated professor at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at UQ. Prior to her Laureate Fellowship, Christine was Associate Dean of Research and Deputy Executive Dean at The University of Queensland Faculty of Science. She is also former Chair of the Faculty’s Equity and Diversity Committee. Christine was both the first female and first Australasian president of the International Plant Growth Substances Association. The role of plant hormones in regulating and coordinating plant development, particularly shoot architecture, has been the focus of her research. She discovered the plant hormone strigolactone and that sugar signalling is a driver of shoot branching. More recently her focus has shifted to identifying how different genetic and physiological networks work together to control plant productivity.

Nadim Tayeh is a research scientist at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE). He leads the genetic and genomic of Target Protein Crops (ECP) team at the UMR Agroecology in Dijon. Nadim Tayeh's expertise is in genetics, genomics and molecular biology. His research is dedicated to the improvement of grain legumes, particularly for agroecological production systems. It focuses on genetic diversity, gene discovery and comparative approaches. Nadim Tayeh has led numerous research projects and contributed highly-cited research papers in the fields of plant genetics and genomics.

I am a PI and academic with an active lab working on flowering time control genes in Medicago, Arabidopsis and kiwifruit. I have supervised or co supervised over 60 graduate students. I am immediate past Director of the Joint Graduate School in Plant and Food Science and have had stints as Head of School of Biological Sciences and Research Director.

Simon is an early career researcher with a passion for crop improvement research and improving the sustainability of our agricultural production systems. He has been a research officer at SARDI since 2015 and is in the final stages of completing his PhD at the University of Adelaide Waite Research Institute.

I am lab leader at UTAS.Our laboratory examines the signals that control plants interactions with symbiotic microbes, including roles of peptides and plant hormones in nodulation and mycorrhizal symbioses. We use both legume system (pea) and non-legume system (tomato) as a powerful approach to examine common and divergent elements.

Dr Dun was awarded her PhD in 2008 from The University of Queensland. In 2011, she was awarded an ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship and currently works as a Research Fellow within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success at The University of Queensland. Dr Dun’s research, using the model plant garden pea , seeks to discover how strigolactones and other known hormones and signals regulate shoot architecture in response to environmental factors (photoperiod) and in coordination with developmental processes (flowering).

Daniela Richaud, Ph.D. candidate, specializes in plant/crop molecular biology and biotechnology. Her research focuses on understanding plant reproductive mechanisms, with a particular interest in investigating Defensin-Like (DEFL) peptides in cowpea to uncover their roles in reproduction. Utilizing bioinformatics and experimental techniques, Daniela aims to identify and analyze DEFL genes, particularly in male-female tissue communication before and after fertilization. Through her work, Daniela contributes to advancements in agricultural sustainability and the understanding of fundamental plant processes.

Dr Stephanie Conway is a plant developmental biologist. She did her PhD with Dr Andrew Drinnan at University of Melbourne and did a postdoc with Dr Elena Kramer at Harvard University. She is currently doing a postdoc with Dr Christine Beveridge at The University of Queensland.

Caitlin Dudley is a PhD student currently conducting plant physiology research on mungbean. Her research focuses on utilizing various technologies and methodologies to gain a deeper understanding into the mechanisms which underpin and regulate flowering behaviour and traits in legume species. Caitlin is particularly interested in translating her knowledge of flowering in fundamental species to contribute to the development of sustainable agricultural systems which have economic and social benefits to growers. Caitlin’s research contributes to the International Mungbean Improvement Network 2 project funded by Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and brings together collaborators from partner countries in Australia, Asia, and Africa to develop improved mungbean varieties.