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Dr Dongxue Zhao is a Research Fellow within the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at The University of Queensland, Australia. Her research aims to contribute to sustainable gains in crop productivity by improving our understanding of how crop-soil interactions determine crop and root growth, water and nutrient uptake, and final yield. In her research, she combines innovative proximal and remote sensing techniques of crops, soils and roots, with predictive modelling and artificial intelligence tools. These include integrating electromagnetic induction (EMI) techniques, and drone and satellite imagery to monitor crop root growth and water use dynamics over time; 3D mapping of soil properties and sub-soil constraints to map resource constraints; time-lapse imaging of soil wetting and drying cycles for applications in irrigated cropping; developing new hyperspectral libraries for the rapid estimation of plant, crop and soil properties; data fusion and machine learning in the landscape mapping of soil carbon, plant water and nutrients availability.

Research Interests

• Phenotyping crop rooting systems in the field
• 3D characterization of soil water content and crop water use
• Developing new spectral databases for measuring and monitoring soil and plant properties

Professor Zhao (PhD, ANU, 1993; MSc, Univ Adelaide, 1989; BSc, Nanjing Univ, 1985) has ~30 years research experience in isotope geochemistry and geochronology, with research interests straddling across the fields of geological, geochemical, geographical, environmental, ecological and archaeological sciences. He developed the mass spectrometry U-series dating methods at UQ and applied them to dating coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef and other parts of the tropical oceans, karstic deposits (stalagmites, stalactites, flowstones, etc) and calcite veins across different continents, as well as important hominid and fauna records in China, South East Asia, Australasia, Europe and Polynesia, which have received widespread recognition and public attention. Most recently, his team has been developing laser-ablation ICP-MS in situ U-Th and U-Pb dating methods for applications in earth, environmental and archaeological research. Since 1991, Zhao have authored >350 refereed publications, won more than 50 competitive grants and contracts, supervised or mentored more than 50 research high-degree students and early-career researchers, and received one ARC APD fellowship (1995), one ARC research/QEII fellowship (1998), one UQ research excellence award (2001), one Chinese National Science Foundation distinguished overseas young scholar award (2000), and the prestigious inaugural Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers (2011).

The Radiogenic Isotope Facility (RIF) that Prof Zhao took charge since 2005 is a ~200 m2 HEPA-filtered, fully-automated, ultra-clean low-blank chemistry and mass spectrometer laboratory, housing two Nu Plasma multi-collector ICP-MS instruments, two Thermo iCap-RQ and one Thermo X-series II quadrupole ICP-MS instruments, and two ASI RESOlution SE laser ablation systems for high-precision radiogenic/metal-stable isotope and trace element analysis in both solution and in situ laser-ablation modes. The facility is unique in its design and capabilities in Australia, representing one of only a small number of establishments with its level of analytical sophistication, range and quality of mass spectrometers and proven ultra-low analytical blank performance. It is widely acknowledged by peers in the field as being among of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the world. It services a multidisciplinary research community on campus, nationally and overseas in traditional earth science research, palaeoclimate, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological research, coral reef research, environmental science research, archaeological research, and forensic research.

Dr Yan Zhao is a dedicated researcher in the field of agricultural systems, utilizing remote sensing observations to unveil spatial and temporal patterns and advance earth observation techniques and modelling. He is an integral member of a multi-disciplinary predictive agriculture research group based at QAAFI.

Currently, Dr Zhao's focus lies in the intricate integration of spatial technologies, crop modelling, and climate forecasting systems at various scales. His primary objective is to leverage remote sensing and crop simulation techniques for a comprehensive understanding of Australia's dryland cropping system. In pursuit of this goal, he has successfully developed pipelines for handling volumetric spatial datasets and delivering crucial information on crop types, production, and phenology, spanning from local to national scales.

Engaging actively with agri-business companies, government departments, and local growers, Dr Zhao collaborates closely with stakeholders to validate and implement his research findings in practical applications.

Dr Zhao earned his Doctoral Degree in Natural Science, with a specialized focus on Cartography and Geographic Information Systems. He completed his doctoral research at the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2013.

Dr Zhi Zheng is a Research Fellow within QAAFI at the University of Queensland, focusing on genetic improvement of sugarcane lignocellulosic composition. He brings over a decade of experience in crop improvement and translational genomics, with a strong record of delivering research outcomes that connect fundamental discovery with industry application. Prior to joining UQ, Dr. Zheng served as a Research Scientist at CSIRO Agriculture and Food. In this role, he held a leadership position in managing approximately $3 million in GRDC-funded investments. His work played a pivotal role in developing wheat and barley germplasm with improved disease resistance, equipping Australian breeding programs with essential molecular markers and genetic tools to protect yield. His transition to sugarcane research leverages this extensive background in genetics and pre-breeding to optimize biomass quality and biofuel potential for the future of sustainable agriculture.

The aim of Allie's research is to improve soil health for sustainable agricultural production and environmental protection. Her research spans the areas of plant-soil-microbe interactions, soil microbiology, nutrients cycling and the recylcing of organic wastes, currently focusing on (i) the development of advanced and novel methodologies for investigation of plant-soil-microbe interactions; (ii) dynamics of nutrients (N, P, K) and carbon in soils including greenhouse gas emissions; and (iii) soil carbon sequestration and persistence.

Professor Zuduo Zheng is TAP Chair (Deputy) sponsored by Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, and Professor in the School of Civil Engineering, a current ARC Future Fellow, and a former ARC DECRA Research Fellow. He is currently a member of the College of Experts, the Australian Research Council.

His research primarily focuses on:

1. traffic flow theory, modelling, simulation and optimisation;
2. understanding emerging, disruptive, and intelligent mobility technologies’ impact on traffic efficiency, traffic safety, energy consumption, vehicle emissions, etc.;
3. developing essential theories, the foundational algorithms and analytics that can seamlessly integrate future mobilities into the existing transportation systems;
4. establishing a new breed of control strategies tailored to maximise the power of the connected environment and vehicle automation; and
5. complex systems modeling and the design of adaptable, controllable, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure systems (intelligent transportation systems and smart city particularly in the context of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games).

He has been listed as the Top 2% of Scientists in Logistics and Transportation by Scopus & Stanford University since 2020. He has won many prestigious awards, and serves/served as editor, guest editor or editorial board member of several prestigious journals, including Transportation Research Part B, Transportation Research Part C, Analytic Methods in Accident Research , IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, etc.

More information about Professor Zheng's research activities and engagements can be found here.

Xiuwen Zhou received her PhD in 2014 from the University of Geneva (Switzerland), where she worked with Prof Tomasz A. Wesolowski, who is recognized as the co-inventor of Frozen-Density Embedding Theory (FDET) alongside Nobel laureate Prof. Arieh Warshel (co-winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry). Then she moved to the University of Queensland (UQ) as a visiting scholar, supported by two awarded fellowships, i.e., a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Early Postdoc Mobility Fellowship (2015) and an Australian-APEC Women in Research Fellowship (2016). She then took up a UQ Development Fellowship in 2017, working as a teaching and research fellow at UQ School of Mathematics and Physics. Later, she was awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (ARC DECRA) commencing in 2019.

New PhD applicants: I am always looking forward to working with new PhD students. Please get in touch with me to talk about potential projects and applicaiton timelines.

I am a geoscientist working in Geochronology and Tectonics. I am also an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow working on using geochronology (and thermochronology) and micro-analysis to improve knowledge in geoscience related to critical minerals. This Fellowship project is a key activity in my research group and I am always looking for motivated students and ECRs to join this research. It is sponsored by Queensland State Government and in collaboration with leading companies in the critical minerals industry.

Broadly speaking, my research advances fundamentals of Plate Tectonics, the unique and unifying theory for our home planet. My group uses a set of field, laboratory, and computational approaches to reveal the geologic history of modern and ancient plate boundaries, focusing on reconstructing the evolution of plate-margin mountains and basins. Such regions are among the most dynamic in the Earth system: their development alters regional and global climate, impacts biogeographic evolution, triggers earthquakes and other geologic hazards, and determines formation and distribution of natural resources such as critical minerals. I have been fortunate to work in some of the most rewarding areas for geologists, including the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau, Central Andes, eastern Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands. Check out some of my field photos here. I am the lead of UQ Thermochronology Lab. As an in-depth user of UQ RIF (Radiogenic Isotope Facility), I also work with laser ablation ICP-MS with recent work around laser ablation geochronology and geochemistry.

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Editorial activities: I am a Subject Editor for Journal of the Geological Society and a member of the Editorial Board for Results in Earth Sciences. I am the lead Editor for issue 'Geochronology and Critical Minerals Systems' at Ore Geology Reviews. More information could be found here.

Teaching activities: My teaching duties range from delivering introductory courses, upper-year disciplinary courses, to research training courses. Here's a YouTube video of my first-year course [Link]. Also, here's a sneak peek into my SCIE4000 research course [Link].

Dr Yinghong Zhou leads the ImmunoEngineering for Regenerative Dentistry research team at the School of Dentistry. Her research interests extend across several transdisciplinary research projects, all with the central theme of biomedical engineering and bone/periodontal tissue regeneration. Her high-quality research leads the field in (a) hypoxia-mimicking bioscaffolds for bone regeneration (field-weighted citation impact=13.15), (b) trace element-mediated biomineralization (recognised by the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) Young Investigator Award, given only to two emerging researchers in the whole Asia-Pacific region in 2021), and (c) immunoengineering approaches for periodontal regeneration (introduced into the tertiary learning sector as the world-first Master of Philosophy (Materiobiology) Program at QUT). Dr Zhou has been awarded prestigious fellowships including the Endeavour Research Fellowship (2017), NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (2016-2020), and the BridgeTech Industry Fellowship (2021).

Dr Xiaoyun Zhou is a Senior Research Fellow at the COE Centre for Indigenous Futures and Faculty of Business, Econimics and Law, The University of Queensland. She has a multidisciplinary background spanning psychology, mental health, and digital health, with a strong research focus on digital mental health interventions for children and adolescents. Dr Zhou holds a PhD in Health and Behavioural Sciences from UQ, where she developed and evaluated a culturally tailored digital mental health intervention for Chinese adolescents. Her doctoral work employed mixed methods, including a cluster randomized controlled trial, and was supported by multiple competitive awards, including the UQ Research Training Program Scholarship. Her research expertise includes both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. She has extensive experience working with large national datasets, such as Census and Medicare data, and linked datasets. She has also led several studies related to child and adolescent mental health. Dr Zhou is a member of the Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH), Chinese Psychological Society (CPS) and the American Psychological Association (APA).