Our Council

Tracy Lawson is a professor of plant biology and director of the Plant Phenomics Lab at the University of Essex. She earned her BSc in Applied Biology from Liverpool John Moore's University, and went on to earn her doctorate from the University of Dundee.  

Tracy is a plant physiologist specialising in photosynthesis, stomatal behavior and plant water-use efficiency. She is an expert in infrared gas exchange analysis, chlorophyll fluorescence, and plant imaging techniques. For the RIPE project, she is manipulating photosynthesis via Calvin cycle enzymes. She is also helping with the physiological analysis of transgenic plants. 

Tracy's work has been published in Plant Physiology, Journal of Experimental Botany and other publications.

Tracy Lawson
Plant Phenomics Lab
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park,
Colchester
CO4 3SQ
United Kingdom
Website: https://www.tlawsonlab.co.uk/

John employs a multidisciplinary combination of bioinformatics, biochemistry and synthetic biology to investigate and engineer hydrocarbon production in bacteria, algae and yeast for the industrial production of ‘fourth generation’ biofuels that can directly substitute for fossil petroleum-based products in modern car and jet engines. In addition to his role at the University of Exeter, he held a BBSRC Industry Interchange Partnership with Shell where he led the photosynthetic microbial biofuels research programme. 

His PhD was divided between laboratories at the University of Edinburgh and the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, researching Ca2+ signalling in the early embryo of brown algae. This passion for primitive plants is the foundation of his interest in microalgae as an alternative energy source. He obtained his BSc in Biology from the University of St Andrews. 

John joined the SEB as a postgraduate student. As a biologist he finds the cross-disciplinary reach of the SEB particularly appealing; as a passionate educator, he champions the SEB in its engagement with students and the opportunities it offers to early career scientists. 

Martin Parry is the Professor of Plant Science for Food Security at Lancaster University. His aim is to understand how yield and quality are determined by gene composition and sequences in different environments (e.g. drought and temperature stress). This will enable him to manipulate the appropriate molecular and biochemical controls to increase crop performance in a predictable way for current and future environments. With his group, he has identified and quantified heritable genetic variation that can be exploited in crop breeding and using disruptive biotechnological approaches has explored ways to increase photosynthesis and yield.

Martin is currently involved in a number of international projects, such as Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency and the International Wheat Yield Partnership. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Food and Energy Security, Associate Editor for the Plant Biotechnology Journal and Co-Editor for the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology. In 2014, in recognition of his contributions to the practice, growth and development of applied biology, Martin was made an Honorary Member of the Association of Applied Biologists. In 2014 he was also awarded the China National Friendship Award by Vice Premier Ma Kai in Beijing.

Information will be available soon

Robyn is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, interested in plant epigenetics and environmental responses. Her current work focuses on understanding why mutating some plant epigenetic pathways results in reduced transgenerational fertility.

Robyn obtained her PhD in 2023 from the University of Essex where she investigated how plants respond to naturally fluctuating light at a physiological and epigenetic level.

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Ross Sozzani holds a Ph.D. in genetics and molecular biology and a Master of Science degree in biological science from the University of Pavia, Italy. She is a professor and University Faculty Scholar in the Plant and Microbial Biology Department at North Carolina State University. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that regulate growth and development of multicellular organisms. Her interest is to use large biological data and develop algorithms or models to understand biological systems and relationships at multi-scale level and translate this knowledge to engineering plants with enhanced agronomic function. Currently, she serves as the Director of the Plant Improvement Platform for the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative, she is the Deputy-Director of the NSF Science and Technology Center for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS), and she leads an NSF AccelNet program aimed at accelerate integration of engineering, life science, and agricultural research to prepare the next generation of U.S. researchers for multiteam international collaborations.

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Sheila is an Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, UK, where she currently teaches Neuroscience and Physiology to undergraduate Biology students.