Alison Gill
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.
I am a postdoctoral research fellow affiliated with the ARC CoE in Plants For Space and supervised by A/Professor Jenny Mortimer and Professor Matt Gilliham. My project focuses on autonomous agriculture for Space exploration and controlled environment agriculture on Earth. Using cameras and machine learning, coupled with plant physiology, we are investigating autonomous stress detection in lettuce plants. This project is funded by the UK Space Agency and Australian Space Agency, lead by Vertical Future (UK), and in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, University of Western Australia, University of Southern Queensland, Axiom Space (USA), and Saber Astronautics.
Previously, I was a PhD candidate in the School of Agriculture, Food, and Wine supervised by Professor Rachel Burton, A/Professor Beth Loveys and Professor Tim Cavagnaro (Flinders University). My research focused on industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) drought tolerance, water use efficiency, and physiological responses to water deficit. My PhD was awarded in May 2024 and I received a Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence. I also worked a research assistant for Dr Stephanie Watts-Fawkes from 2020 to 2025, investigating arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses with various crop and model plants to increase plant and grain nutrition under abiotic stresses.
More broadly my research interests include plant and novel crop responses to future climate changes, as well as sustainable agriculture and plant physiology. I am interested in studying the physiology of photosynthesis and its interactions with environmental drivers, particularly water, to improve crop productivity and water use efficiency.
I spent most of 2022 as a visiting researcher at the University of California, Berkeley with a Fulbright Scholarship. At UC Berkeley, I undertook research and was part of the Bowles Agroecology laboratory where I investigated how soil management and variety influence dry-farmed tomato plant production and quality under water stress. Please check out the Bowles Agroecology lab website for more information: https://nature.berkeley.edu/agroecologylab/
Please get in touch about collaborations or other opportunities.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2024 - ongoing Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of Adelaide 2020 - 2025 Research Assistant University of Adelaide -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2020 - 2024 University of Adelaide Australia PhD in Plant Science 2015 - 2019 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Science (Advanced) with First Class Honours
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Journals
Year Citation 2025 WattsâWilliams, S. J., Gill, A. R., Nguyen, T. D., Tavakkoli, E., Jewell, N., & Brien, C. (2025). Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Can Improve the Water Use and Phosphorus Acquisition Efficiencies of Aerobically Grown Rice. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment, 4(1), e70040-1-e70040-9.
Scopus12025 Gill, A. R., Phillips, A. L., Tyerman, S. D., Lawson, T., Cavagnaro, T. R., Burton, R. A., & Loveys, B. R. (2025). Water conservation and assimilation is driven by stomatal behaviour in industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.). Environmental and Experimental Botany, 232, 106119.
2024 Gill, A. R., & Burton, R. A. (2024). Saltbush seedlings (Atriplex spp.) shed border-like cells from closed-type root apical meristems. Functional Plant Biology, 51(10), FP24178-1-FP24178-12.
2023 Matros, A., Menz, P., Gill, A., Santoscoy, A., Dawson, T., Seiffert, U., & Burton, R. (2023). Non-invasive assessment of cultivar and sex of Cannabis sativa L. by means of hyperspectral measurement. Plant-Environment Interactions, 4(5), 258-274.
Scopus2 Europe PMC12023 Gill, A. R., Loveys, B. R., Cavagnaro, T. R., & Burton, R. A. (2023). The potential of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) as an emerging drought resistant fibre crop. Plant and Soil, 493(1-2), 7-16.
Scopus152023 Gill, A. R., Rainey, C., Socolar, Y., Gil-Santos, Y., & Bowles, T. M. (2023). Comparing dry farming of tomatoes across varieties and soil management history. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, 14 pages.
Scopus12022 Watts-Fawkes, S., Gill, A. R., Jewell, N., Brien, C. J., Berger, B., Tran, B. T. T., . . . Cavagnaro, T. R. (2022). Enhancement of sorghum grain yield and nutrition: A role for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi regardless of soil phosphorus availability. Plants, People, Planet, 4(2), 143-156.
Scopus28 WoS72022 Gill, A. R., Loveys, B. R., Cowley, J. M., Hall, T., Cavagnaro, T. R., & Burton, R. A. (2022). Physiological and morphological responses of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) to water deficit. Industrial Crops and Products, 187(A), 1-11.
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I have been awarded the following scholarships and grants:
| 2024 | Graduate Women SA Trust Postdoctoral Grant |
| 2024 | FEMS Early Career Travel Grant |
| 2023 | Crawford Fund Conference Scholar |
| 2022 | Fulbright Future and Fulbright South Australia Scholarships (University of California, Berkeley) |
| 2022 | AgriFutures Australia Emerging Industries Travel Grant |
| 2022 | ASPB Plant Biology 2022 Travel Award |
| 2021-2023 | Tim Healey Memorial Trust PhD Scholarship |
| 2020-2023 | Playford Trust PhD Scholarship |
| 2019 | Aileen and Bert Kollosche Scholarship for the Study of Australian Flora |
| 2018-2019 | AW Howard Honours Scholarship |
| 2015-2018 | Horizon Agricultural Scholarship |
I have been awarded the following awards and prizes:
| 2024 | Dean's Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence |
| 2018 | J.G. Wood Memorial Prize for Level III Plant Science subjects at the University of Adelaide |
| 2017 | Aduchem Prize in Level II Analytical Chemistry at the University of Adelaide |
| 2016 | Ena Orrock Lewcock Prize for Level II Plant Science subjects at the University of Adelaide |
| 2015-2018 | Faculty of Sciences Outstanding Academic Achievement Award |
I have demonstrated in practical classes, marked, and/or helped teach in the following University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food, and Wine courses:
- Agricultural Biochemistry II
- Foundations in Plant Science II
- Food Production in a Future Climate III
- Soil and Water Resources II
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Memberships
Date Role Membership Country 2023 - ongoing Member Australian Fulbright Alumni Association Australia 2021 - ongoing Member American Society of Plant Biologists United States 2021 - ongoing Member Australian Society of Plant Scientists Australia
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External Profiles
