Professor Deli Chen, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor
Seminar Topic: soil-plant C and N dynamics in agroecosystems; agricultural waste management; processbased modelling and decision support systems; enhanced efficiency fertilizers; N footprint and cost-benefit assessment
Professor Deli Chen is the discipline leader in the Soil and the Environment Research Group, School of Agriculture and Food, The University of Melbourne, and Director of the Australia China Joint Research Centre, Healthy Soils for Sustainable Food Production and Environmental Quality. He has expertise in water and nutrient dynamics in plant-soil systems, GIS based agroecosystem modelling and decision support systems for optimal irrigation and fertilizer management, and the measures, models and mitigates greenhouse gas emissions from land sources, enhanced efficiency N fertilizers, agricultural ‘big data’ and sustainable indices. Professor Chen has authored and co-authored over 280 peer-reviewed publications.
He was awarded the JA Prescott Medal for excellence and achievement in the field of soil science by Soil Science Australia in 2012, a Fellow of Soil Science Society of America in 2015, a Fellow of Soil Science Australia in 2015 and a Fellow of American Society of Agronomy in 2017. He has active international collaboration with scientists in China, the US and Europe, and has also worked closely with industry including Incitec-Pivot Fertilisers and other fertiliser producers.
Dr. Shu Kee Lam, Senior Lecturer (Climate Change & Biogeochemistry) Agriculture and Food
Seminar Topic: fertilizer management; mitigation of greenhouse gas emission and N pollution; climate change (elevated CO2) adaptation; data mining and meta-analysis
Dr Lam's research focuses on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in agroecosystems, including soil-plant interactions under climate change (elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration) and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions using urease and nitrification inhibitors. He also has expertise in global data synthesis (including metaanalysis). He is an Editorial Board member of Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment and Plant and Soil, and a recipient of the IPNI Scholar Award, the Publication Medal of Soil Science Australia, and the ICM AgriFood Award.