[IPPS2022 Keynote] Lee Hickey -Breaking the nexus:Breeding technologies to improve sustainability...

Breaking the nexus: Breeding technologies to improve the sustainability of future crops


Associate Professor Lee Hickey is a crop geneticist within the Queensland Alliance for
Agriculture and Food Innovation at The University of Queensland, Australia. He leads a diverse
research team that specialises in plant breeding innovation with a focus on understanding the
genetics of above- and below-ground traits that underpin drought adaptation. The Hickey Lab
research program spans from lab to field, where designer plant materials are created through
speed breeding or engineered in the lab using genome editing, and then evaluated under
controlled and field environments using state-of-the-art UAV phenotyping technology. Lee is
passionate about training the next generation of crop scientists and currently mentors 13 PhD
students, while 12 of his previous graduates now work for leading plant breeding companies
and high-profile research institutes around the globe.