Publication profiles

Researcher biography

  1. Professor Wade graduated with BAgrSc (Hons) in Crop Agronomy from the University of Queensland, a PhD in Crop Science from the University of Western Australia, and Research Fellowships to the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in India, and Texas A&M University in the USA. Len was based at Emerald with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries from 1974 to 1993, as Agronomist, then Senior and Principal Agronomist. From 1993 to 2002, Len moved to the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, as Agronomist/Physiologist, Rainfed Consortium Coordinator, and Program Leader for Rainfed-Lowland and Flood-Prone Ecosystem Programs across South and South-East Asia. For five years, Professor Wade was GRDC Chair in Crop Agronomy at the University of Western Australia, before joining Charles Sturt University as Strategic Research Professor in Farming Systems, Crop Physiology and Crop Improvement, from 2007 to 2016. Since July 2016, Len has been Honorary Professor at The University of Queensland in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, to facilitate his continuing professional engagement via mentoring of younger colleagues, assistance to international projects, publication in international journals, editorial advisory boards of Field Crops Research and Crop and Environment, and consultant to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Len's paper on perennial rice, which was published in Nature Sustainability in November 2022, was identified as Runner-Up for Science Breakthrough of the Year by the journal, Science. Len presented an invited lecture on this work to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science at the Breakthrough of the Year Celebrations in Washington DC in March 2023. Recently, Len has been included in Research.Com's list of best scientists in Plant Science and Agronomy, with world ranking 1714, national ranking 153, and D = 45.