ASPS poster award winner Michael Dodt tells a story about his success at COMBIO 2016

My PhD research has focussed on improving our understanding of the impact that drought stress has on Australian pulse crops. My research mainly revolves around four areas of study: photosynthetic responses to drought, root morphology / architecture; crop modelling (APSIM) and transcriptomics (RNA-Seq). A major part of my project has been establishment and evaluation of a novel chemical seed pre-treatment to enhance root development of commercial crops for improved drought tolerance. This fits into our team’s larger project aimed at improving biotic and abiotic stress tolerance of a range of crop species as well as improving nutritional value of crops. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to present at COMBIO in 2016 and was thrilled to win the best poster award. COMBIO provided an excellent opportunity to gain experience presenting at a conference and I highly recommend it to all early career researchers – especially if you’re nervous about presenting. This is a great opportunity to gain exposure and confidence in the scientific community. It is an excellent event for PhD students since it’s big and broad enough to fit in comfortably while networking with top tier scientists from multiple disciplines. Speakers were fantastic and there were plenty of opportunities for interaction. I look forward to my next opportunity.

Email: michaeldodt1@gmail.com

Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities, QUT, Brisbane.