People

Centre Leadership Team

Associate Professor Andrew Guzzomi

A/Prof Guzzomi’s strengths and passion are in engineering innovation related to (mechanical) agricultural engineering, ecological restoration, and engineering education. The Founding Director of CEI:AgER, he is focused on using good engineering design to combat issues within the agricultural and environmental sectors and help ensure Australia’s future prosperity and resilience.

Founder and Director

Wesley is an engineer and educator passionate about leveraging technology to create a sustainable future in agriculture and food security. His research spans agricultural machinery design, precision agricultural systems and education of emerging technology. Wesley leads the Agricultural Technology sector of CEI:AgER.

Agricultural Technology Lead

Dr Wesley Moss

Dr Monte Masarei

Monte is an engineer with a keen interest in improving ecosystem restoration. His work focusses on upscaling methods developed in the lab to improve seed germination and emergence through the design and development of seed enhancement and precision seeding machinery. His current work integrates the fundamental underlying biology of native seeds to guide machinery design that can improve restoration outcomes at an industrial scale. Monte leads the Ecological Restoration Technology sector of CEI:AgER.

Ecological Restoration Technology Lead

Key Collaborators

CEI:AgER collaborates closely with researchers and academics from external organisations and universities across Australia, several of whom also hold adjunct positions at UWA.

  • Dr Merritt is a principal research scientist at Kings Park Science, specialising in seed ecology, physiology, and technology. His work contributes to the conservation of wild plant species seeds and enhances ecological restoration outcomes.

  • Dr Ritchie is an adjunct research fellow at the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment and a research scientist at Kings Park science. She is currently investigating methods to improve ecosystem restoration under climate change.

  • Professor Walsh is part of the Gulbali Institute at Charles Sturt University. He is a weed scientist, interested in the research and development of novel weed control technologies.

  • Dr Erickson has an extensive background in seed biology and restoration ecology for rehabilitation of mining-intensive degraded landscapes.

    He is the principal restoration ecologist at Biologic Seed Pty Ltd and the CEO of Emergence Ecotech.

UWA Academics and Staff

CEI:AgER works closely with a diverse group of academic experts across the University. Our collaborations span the School of Engineering — including Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic and Computer, and Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering — as well as the School of Agriculture and Environment (SAgE). By bringing together this breadth of expertise, CEI:AgER highlights and supports world-class research capacity in engineering, agriculture, and environmental sciences, driving innovative solutions for sustainable agriculture and ecological restoration.

  • Prof Ghisalberti is an environmental scientist specialising in environmental fluid mechanics. His area of focus is on flow, turbulence, transport and biophysical coupling in critically-important ecosystems.

  • Prof Kragt is part of the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment and the Director of the Centre for Agricultural Economics and Development. Her interests include climate change mitigation in agriculture, values and preferences for land management and integrating non-market values of environmental goods and services into decision making.

  • Professor Siddique is the Chair and Director of the Institute of Agriculture. He has made outstanding contributions to agriculture in research, education and industry development.

  • Professor Ryan leads a large research team focusing on sustainable farming systems, and specialising in crop and pasture species nutrition, rhizosphere processes, and root morphology and physiology.

  • Dr Vercoe is an animal scientist in the School of Agriculture & Environment. His research interests are in ruminant production systems and finding ways to balance productivity with biodiversity in extensive grazing systems.

  • Prof Thompson is part of the UWA School of Engineering and leader of the Surface and Eco- Hydrology Research Group. She is interested in water cycling, the impacts of ecosystem changes on water, and the impacts of humans on natural systems.

  • A/Prof Silva is part of the School of Electrical, Electronic, and Computer Engineering, and the Microelectronics Research Group.

  • Dr Alckmin is a lecturer for the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment. He is an agricultural engineer working in the areas of remote sensing, drones and machine learning.

  • Dr Xie is a geospatial scientist and senior lecturer at the UWA School of Engineering. Her research involves using geographical information systems and remote sensing technologies to monitor vegetation dynamics and its interactions with climate.

  • Associate Professor Fogarty is an educator within the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment. His research spans water use economics, in both urban and agricultural settings; alcohol markets, externalities, and alcohol policy; consumer food demand; and horticulture sector economics, with a particular focus on the wine grape sector.

  • Professor Bräunl is a faculty member in the UWA School of Engineering. He directs the Robotics & Automation Lab as well as the Renewable Energy Vehicle Project (REV). His research interests involve robotics systems, electric drive and charging systems for automotive systems, and is developing AI solutions for autonomous driving

  • A/Prof Pardo is part of the UWA School of Engineering and is the Laboratory Head of the Translational 3D Printing Laboratory for Advanced Tissue Engineering (T3mPLATE), at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. Her research interests include tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and in vitro modelling. She is passionate about bringing the latest advances in biomaterials, 3D printing and bioprinting to the clinic for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

  • Dr Pool is a lecturer for the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment. Her research focuses primarily on understanding how the environment impacts reproduction, through both multigenerational drosophila melanogaster models and sheep and cattle production systems.

  • Associate Professor Blache is a part of the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment. His research investigates behaviour, emotions and welfare in animals.

  • Dr Lichtenzveig is a senior lecturer for the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment. Their research interests include Genetics and evolution of grain crops and their wild ancestors, molecular plant-pathogen interactions, co-evolution of plants and microbes, genetics of environmental effects on plant response to pathogens and plant reproductive phenology.

  • Gillian is a Innovation and Commercialisation leader for the University of Western Australia, working with researchers, industry partners, and investors to identify, protect, and translate innovative research.

Our research and technical staff

The CEI:AgER team brings together postdoctoral researchers and technical staff from diverse backgrounds, working collaboratively across common interests of agriculture and ecological restoration.

  • Stuart is a physicist and software engineer with interests in machine learning, software development and general science.

    He is currently involved in the control systems and electrical design of the Mechanical In-Crop Targeted Tillage Project.

  • Luke’s research focuses on development of seedling enhancement technologies that are tailored towards enhancing seedling development, tolerance to abiotic stress, and seedling recruitment for ecological restoration efforts.

Technical

  • Harrison is an engineer with a background in computational modelling, image analysis and mechanical design, with interests in investigating improvements to ecosystem restoration efforts.

    He is currently involved with improving upscaling methods and the mechanical design of machinery for the Ecological Restoration Technology Theme of CEI:AgER.

  • Trent is the CEI:AgER Workshop Lead Technician. As a multitalented fitter and machinist with a background in R&D, engine development, and oil and gas, Trent is responsible for bringing the team’s projects to life in CEI:AgER’s very own prototyping workshop facilities.

  • Yuval is a prototyping workshop technician, with over 30 years’ experience as a mechanical engineer and tradesperson, with skills in fabrication and manufacturing.

  • Lee is a Research Assistant supporting research infrastructure and field programs. He is responsible for the renovation and ongoing management of our research nursery.

    He is studying Agricultural Science, and has a keen interest in plant medicine and the intersection between agriculture, pharmacology, and medicinal plant systems.

Researchers

Current PhD Candidates

  • William is a PhD candidate interested in material properties and investigating new materials to work towards a more sustainable future.

    His research aims to provide sustainable alternatives for existing building products through the use of underutilized natural materials.

  • Steph is a PhD candidate interested in understanding the systems and biological processes that influence environmental restoration outcomes.

    Her research aims to explore engineering principles and techniques to improve seedling emergence from depth.

  • Ruby is a PhD candidate passionate about improving the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural systems.

    Her research aims to develop and evaluate prototype technology for harvesting subterranean clover seed.

  • Eve is a PhD candidate interested in engineering for sustainable ecological restoration.

    Her research aims to understand the influence of mechanical equipment on erosion in mine site restoration for more stable rehabilitation outcomes.

Completed PhD Candidates

  • Graduated 2022: The development of novel approaches to sustainably harvest subterranean clover seed

  • Graduated 2021: Engineering Seeding Mechanisms to Restore Mined Landscapes

Completed Masters and Honours Students

  • Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours)

    Ruby Wiese: Peanut digger as a non-inversion tillage weed control technology

    Caleb McKenna:

  • Master of Professional Engineering (MPE)

    Adrian Tsoi:

    Antony Bondietti: MECH5551/2 Industry Perspectives

    Audrey-Anne Morin: Failure Analysis of "Weed Chipper" Hydraulic Cylinder for Wear Mitigation

    Benjamin Ong: Design of a safety enclosure for the safe fatigue testing and demonstration of a Weed Chipper module

    Damien Piccin: Adoption of Automation in the Australian broadacre grain industry

    Kate Miller: Education in Innovation in Agriculture

    Kurt Crudeli:

    Wenxuan Bi: Upgrading OWL for in-crop Weed Detection

  • Master of Professional Engineering

    Enyong Zhao: Weed Mapping for Machine Vision based Weed Management Systems in Digital Agriculture

    Environmental Science

    Jake Tepass: