Professor Bob Furbank

Professor Furbank is an internationally renowned plant scientist working in the Research School of Biology on improvement of crop yields by enhancing photosynthesis.

At ANU he leads the Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis and a large international project on improving rice yields called C4 Rice. C4 Rice is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and aims to increase rice yields by 50 per cent using synthetic biology. He is also a Champion in the Centre for Entrepreneurial Agri-technology (CEAT), an Innovation Institute at ANU.

Professor Furbank works across scales from the gene to the globe, using cross disciplinary approaches to improve photosynthesis and crop yields and translate his research to impact in agriculture. His work focuses on grain crops, primarily the C3 crops rice and wheat and the C4 crops millet, maize and sorghum.