Gavin J Ash Science Protecting Plant Health 2017

Gavin J Ash

Professor Gavin Ash is a Professor in Plant Pathology and the Director of the Centre for Crop Health in the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). He received his PhD from the University of New England after conducting fundamental research on yield loss and epidemiology of stripe rust of wheat. He has lectured and conducted research on microbiology, genetics and plant disease management at Charles Sturt University for over 20 years. Prior to taking the position at USQ he was the Head of the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at CSU and the associate Director of the Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation. He has worked extensively on broadacre crops such as wheat, rice, canola, lupins and horticultural crops such as sweetpotato, coconuts, pistachios and macadamias. Dr Ash’s current research focus is on the use of biological control organisms formulated as biopesticides. He has led teams researching biological control of invasive snails, fungal diseases of crops and insect pests. His team has used NextGen technologies to design more efficient systems of selection of biocontrol agents and the identification of genetic targets for the improvement of biopesticides. Dr Ash serves as an editor of Scientific Reports, Gene, Plant Gene, Niugini Agrisaiens and Annals of Applied Biology.