Keynote speakers
The 17th Australasian Weeds Conference Organising Committee is proud to announce the following Keynote Speakers for the 2010 conference.
Prof. Fred Yelverton
Fred Yelverton is Professor of Crop Science and Extension Specialist at North Carolina State University, and is also Co-director of the Center for Turfgrass Environmental Research and Education (CENTERE). His specialist research interests are weed management systems in turfgrasses and forage crops; weed biology and ecology of turfgrass weeds; ecological and physiological effects of plant growth regulators on turfgrasses; and invasive plants.
Among other projects Prof. Yelverton has led research into seed head suppression, new herbicides, vegetation management under guardrails, and low maintenance turfgrass systems. He has also consulted with many prestigious American golf courses including The Augusta National Golf Club, Desert Mountain, and Pinehurst Golf Resorts.
Fred will be addressing the conference on the subject of the importance of
roadside weeds.
Dr Stephen Moss
Stephen Moss, one of Britain's leading researchers on herbicide resistance and how to avoid it, has worked at Rothamsted Research, an institute of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for the past 19 years. In July 2009, he was presented with the prestigious RASE Technology Award for the development of the Rothamsted Rapid Resistance Test, which provides a simple method of diagnosing resistance to herbicides in arable weeds. It has been used extensively in practice in the UK and overseas and has had a major impact on weed control in agriculture.
Stephen will be speaking on the subject of 'Non-chemical methods of weed
control: benefits and limitations.'
Prof. Tom Brooking and Dr Neil Clayton
Tom Brooking is a Professor in History at the University of Otago, where he specialises in New Zealand and comparative rural and environmental history, a subject on which he has published several books and many book chapters, essays and articles. He is currently working on Seeds of Empire: The Environmental Transformation of New Zealand, to be published shortly, and a biography of Richard John Seddon, New Zealand's longest serving Prime Minister.
Neil Clayton recently completed a PhD thesis entitled 'Weeds in Colonial New Zealand'.
Tom and Neil will be speaking on the human and environmental history of weeds
in New Zealand.
Prof. Philip Hulme
Phil Hulme is Professor of Plant Biosecurity at Lincoln University, and was previously Head of Ecosystem Dynamics at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology at Aberdeen University. His primary research interests relate to understanding the ecology of invasions by introduced plant species, assessing the subsequent consequences for natural and managed ecosystems and developing tools to help prevention or management. Current research addresses our ability to predict which plant species may become invasive and examines the roles of habitat characteristics, plant species traits and human behaviour in the risk of invasion.
The working subject of Phil's keynote address is 'Our next major weed – how
predictable is it?'