Plants choose their microbes. What happens to that choice as the climate changes?

Bridging microbial ecology and plant science

I am a microbial ecologist and computational biologist currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, and as a Guest Scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), Potsdam. My work focuses on the ecological mechanisms underlying plant–microbiome interactions and their role in soil health, plant resilience, and sustainable agricultural systems.

Before this, I spent over two years at the University of Western Australia's School of Agriculture and Environment, working within the Soil Science Challenge as a microbial ecologist studying plant–microbe interactions under soil organic and biological amendments — running pot and field trials, handling bioinformatics and statistical analysis, and supervising Master's and PhD students.

I completed my PhD at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, where my doctoral research explored the drivers and mechanisms of plant microbiome assembly — integrating microbial ecology, plant biology, and computational approaches across glasshouse and large-scale field experiments spanning eucalypts to native and exotic Australian grasses.

I'm always keen to engage in collaborative research across disciplines and institutions.