I have recently retired. I still give some lectures and cosupervise research students. I no longer take honours students and am not taking any more graduate students as primary supervisor.

Until 2024, I taught in several courses on plant science, global change and plant ecology and supervised honours, masters and PhD students.

I coordinate and am principle lecturer in the undergraduate core plant science unit BIO2030 (Food Security in a changing world) and the Masters of Food and Agribusiness unit FSA5070 (Future Food Supply and Security).

I led the Faculty core undergraduate science units at Monash on scientific practice and communication science (SCI2010 and SCI2015) from 2005-2019.

I am a pioneer in the use of new technology in higher education and publish in that field. I also teach postgraduate courses on science communication and also publish on the importance of science communication. 

As part of my public outreach, I give public lectures on the impact of rising carbon dioxide on food security, the deleterious effects of cyanide on human health,  and the invasive tree  Pittosporum undulatum.

My research is on the effect of climate change on food security with a focus on plants that make cyanide as a herbivore defence, examining the issues from the molecular through to the ecosystem, and even global scales. Current projects are on the effect of CO₂, temperature and salinity on growth and allocation of resources in sorghum, cassava, taro and cycads. I have an on-ongoing interest arising from my early research on invasive Pittosporum undulatum

Positions of national and international significance include

Fellow, Australian Academy of Science

Past President, Global Plant Council

Chair,  Eucalypt Australia (Bjarn K Dahl Trust)

Chair, International Safe Cassavs Working Group

Advisory  Committee for  International Plant Molecular Biology, Cairns, 2021

Organising committee member, ComBio2020, Melbourne

Public Policy and Communication Committee, Royal Society of Victoria

Past President, Australian Society of Plant Scientists

Past member, Australian Academy of Science National Committees for Plants and Animals, and Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Society of Experimental Biology 

University positions included (before retirement):

Coordinator of the Plant Science area of study

Director of the Agtech LaunchPad

Monash Immersive Visualisation Platform (MIVP) Research Advisory Panel member

Faculty of Science Board of Studies

Masters of Food Science and Agribusiness, Oversight and Coursework Management Committee

Faculty of Science Overseas Studies Program Panel

Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor Promotion Committees