Curtin University’s Centre for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM) has welcomed an internationally renowned epidemiologist, modeller and data scientist to improve data-driven decision making for Australian grain growers.
Professor Adam Sparks has been appointed as the technical lead of the Curtin Biometry and Agricultural Data Analytics initiative, a major CCDM research area that aims to build statistical, data science and modelling capability for Australian agriculture.
Within this research area, Professor Sparks will contribute leadership to a large research team to carry out projects relating to biometry, sampling, experimental design, bioinformatics, spatial modelling, machine learning, computer vision, artificial intelligence, econometrics, optimisation and more.
Initially his key focus will be on Curtin’s involvement in the Analytics for the Australian Grains Industry (AAGI) program – a recently announced five-year strategic partnership involving a co-investment from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) with strategic partners Curtin, The University of Queensland (UQ) and University of Adelaide.
CCDM Director Professor Mark Gibberd said as the centre expands through greater emphasis on agricultural data analytics, Professor Sparks will fill a leadership gap using his plant pathology background along with well-established skills in biometry, modelling and data analytics.
“Over the past 24 months, our centre has expanded to now more than 100 research staff and students and part of this has been due to the success of our new direction to find data-driven solutions for the grains industries,” Professor Gibberd said.
“Professor Sparks will work with growing team of biometricians and data analysts to ensure CCDM research can help growers turn raw data into meaningful knowledge for improved profitability, and I look forward to working with him in bringing Australian agriculture to the future.”
Hailing from the USA and having completed a PhD at Kansas State University, Professor Sparks is known internationally for his research at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines where he led his own research group investigating rice disease management strategies for Asia and south-east Africa.
More recently he was positioned at the Centre for Crop Health at the University of Southern Queensland where he led research on sorghum, mungbean and tropical rice pathology before moving to Perth to take up a position with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) as a bioeconomic modeller, leading DPIRD’s Systems Modelling team’s work in ag systems modelling, climate and weather and biometry.
Professor Sparks said he was greatly looking forward to taking up the role as technical lead of a research area that is so crucial to the future of Australian agriculture.
“There are so many challenges and opportunities in this space and CCDM is a centre that is well-known for its ability to respond to industry needs, so I’m really excited to be part of a team that will make a difference and find solutions to improving food production across the country,” Professor Sparks said.
For more information about CCDM visit www.ccdm.com.au.
