Biography
I am a senior research scientist with CSIRO Agriculture and Food in Canberra, Australia. Plant diseases are major constraint on agricultural production, threatening food security, farm profitability and environmental sustainability. To tackle these problems, I use integrated approaches to develop strategies for sustainable disease control that can be applied across multiple crops and systems.
My research includes:
* Plant pathogen epidemiology and integrated disease management
* The economic impacts of plant disease epidemics and durable control strategies
* Remote sensing for early disease detection and area-wide management
* The development of strategies for the durable deployment of plant genes conferring resistance to pathogens
* Plant-microbiome assembly and function
Background:
I received my BSc (Honours) from Curtin University in 2003 and a PhD from the Australian National University in 2008. In 2008 I was awarded the Dropkin Fellowship in Plant Pathology for research at the University of Chicago, and in 2010 I returned to Australia to take up an Australian Research Council postdoctoral fellowship. I was appointed to a research scientist position at CSIRO in 2012.
Learn more:
For more information about Dr Barrett's research or the CSIRO Biotic Threats Group, visit our website https://research.csiro.au/bioticthreats/
Get in touch:
I am always happy to hear from potential collaborators at any stage of their career
Professional Areas
Fields of Research
Current Roles
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Senior Research Scientist
Current projects include research on pathogen evolution and resistance durability in crops, quantitative resistance to blackleg disease in canola, epidemiology of ascochyta blight of chickpeas, plant and insect microbiomes, and the use of gene-drives to control agricultural pests.
Academic Qualifications
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2008
PhD (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)
Australian National University -
2003
BSc, Hons (Environmental Biology)
Curtin University -
2002
BA (Geography)
Curtin University
Professional Experiences
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2008-2010
Research Fellow
University of Chicago -
2010-2012
ARC Postdoctoral Fellow
CSIRO -
2012-2015
Research Scientist
CSIRO