Guest: Rakshith Gowda

Host: Mahnaz Afsar

In the final episode of Season 2 of Cultivating the Future, Mahnaz Afsar speaks with Rakshith Gowda, a PhD researcher in crop genetics and pre-breeding, about the race to develop heat-tolerant barley for a changing climate.

Originally from India, Rakshith completed his Bachelor of Agricultural Science and Master’s in Genetics and Plant Breeding before moving to Perth to pursue doctoral research focused on strengthening crop resilience. His work addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing grain production: rising temperatures and the increasing frequency of heat stress events that can significantly reduce yield and downgrade barley grain from malting to feed quality.

The conversation explores how advances in physiology, pangenomics and haplotype stacking are being used to identify valuable genetic modules and accelerate the development of superior barley lines. By delivering improved haplotypes and pre-breeding materials to industry, this research aims to support the creation of more heat-tolerant, high-quality barley cultivars suited to Western Australian growing conditions.

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Guest: Ben Camer-Pesci

Host: Tarkjot Kaur

In this episode of Cultivating the Future, host Tarkjot Kaur turns the microphone around to interview fellow Murdoch University PhD student Ben Camer-Pesci, exploring the interdisciplinary world of phycology and its emerging role in sustainable agriculture and bioproduct development.

Now in the second year of his PhD, Ben’s research spans multiple disciplines, bringing together marine ecology, chemistry, ruminant nutrition and bioproduct generation to investigate how algae-based systems can contribute to more sustainable production pathways. The conversation highlights how cross-disciplinary research is opening new opportunities to connect marine science with agricultural innovation, particularly in areas such as livestock nutrition and value-added bio-based products.

Alongside his research, Ben shares his passion for teaching and mentoring the next generation of scientists at Murdoch University, as well as the experiences that shape his life beyond academia, including diving and running.

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Guest: Tarkjot Kaur

Host: Ben Camer-Pesci

In this episode of Cultivating the Future, Ben Camer-Pesci speaks with Tarkjot Kaur, a PhD student at Murdoch University, about advancing grain yield potential in barley and oats through genetics and data-driven breeding.

Growing up in a Punjabi agricultural family in India, Tarkjot developed an early connection to farming systems and crop production, experiences that continue to shape her research perspective today. Her current PhD focuses on translating knowledge of grain-yield genetics from major cereal crops such as rice, wheat and maize into barley and oats, helping unlock new opportunities to improve productivity in these important grains.

The discussion explores how integrating genetic insights with machine-learning-based prediction models could enable breeders to more accurately identify high-yielding varieties and accelerate breeding progress. By combining traditional plant breeding approaches with advanced analytics, this work aims to support the development of more productive, resilient cereal crops for future farming systems.

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Guest: Mohitul Hossain

Host: Celia Spyridaki

In this episode of Cultivating the Future, Celia Spyridaki speaks with Mohitul Hossain, a PhD student at the Centre for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM) at Curtin University, about the next generation of genome-enabled tools for crop disease surveillance.

Mohitul shares his international academic journey, completing forestry studies across Bangladesh, Finland and Germany, before moving into plant pathology and ecophysiology research in Australia. His work now focuses on developing genome-based decision-support systems that help researchers, breeders and growers better anticipate disease risks and make more informed cultivar choices.

The conversation explores how automated screening for pathogenicity effectors, combined with region-specific effector-based cultivar recommendations, could transform how crop diseases are monitored and managed. By integrating genomics, surveillance data and decision-support technologies, this research aims to deliver faster, more precise responses to emerging disease threats and strengthen the resilience of cropping systems.

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Guest: Chris Reed

Host: Ali Zahid

In this episode of Cultivating the Future, Ali Zahid sits down with Chris Reed, a first-year PhD candidate and WAARC Scholar based at Murdoch University’s Western Crop Genetics Alliance.

Chris’s research tackles a persistent challenge for Western Australian barley growers: black point, a grain defect that reduces quality and causes significant economic losses for the malting, brewing and distilling industries. Through his PhD, Chris is working to better understand the causes of black point and support the development of new malting barley varieties with improved resistance.

Supervised by Professor Chengdao Li and Dr Yong Jia, Chris discusses why black point remains such a difficult problem to solve, what success would mean for growers and industry, and how applied genetics research can deliver real-world outcomes for WA agriculture.

Beyond the lab, Chris reflects on balancing PhD life with family responsibilities, sharing how he juggles study and research alongside raising two young daughters with his wife, a cardiothoracic anaesthetist at Fiona Stanley Hospital. He speaks candidly about the challenges, the support systems that make it possible, and his appreciation for the opportunity to contribute to an important research gap while building new skills.

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Guest: Yunlong Huo
Host: Angelia Tanu

In this episode of Cultivating the Future, Angelia Tanu sits down with Yunlong Huo, a PhD candidate at Murdoch University, to explore his journey from industry back into research.

With two Master’s degrees in animal nutrition and a decade of experience in the cattle industry, Yunlong is now focused on strengthening the downstream side of beef production. His PhD project is developing a national protocol for using CT scanning to accurately measure beef lean meat yield, creating a gold standard to train and calibrate faster, lower-cost technologies used on abattoir production lines.

The work has the potential to deliver benefits right across the supply chain, from genetic selection and on-farm decision-making through to processors and end consumers.

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Guest: Angelia Tanu
Host: Yunlong Huo

In this episode of Cultivating the Future, Yunlong Huo chats with Angelia Tanu.

Angelia is a CSIRO and The University of Western Australia (UWA) PhD student whose journey into agricultural science began far from the paddock, growing up in Indonesia and discovering a passion for research after moving to Western Australia. A former tennis athlete who represented UWA at UniNationals, Angelia completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at UWA and has worked across DPIRD, Murdoch University, CSIRO, InterGrain and UWA.

Angelia’s current PhD tackles one of Australia’s most costly crop constraints - poor canola establishment - by investigating the genetics and physiology behind longer hypocotyls to enable more reliable deep sowing. Drawing on genomics, breeding, bioinformatics, and physiology, her work aims to improve canola resilience as climates become more variable and input pressures increase.

• Follow Angelia on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/angelia-tanu

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Guest: Ali Zahid
Host: Chris Reed

In this episode of Cultivating the Future, Chris Reed chats with Ali Zahid.

Originally from Pakistan, Ali is a PhD student at Murdoch University where he is looking into the training of generalist predators by investigating how dietary experience influences predatory behaviour of ladybird beetles.

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