Expertise Topics

  • Plant and soil science, Environmental science
  • Weed science, biology of invasive plant species
  • Seed science, dormancy mechanisms and establishment
  • Plant tissue culture, somatic embryogenesis

Research Projects

  • Reducing viable weed seed spread
  • Biology, ecology and management of parthenium weed: An invasive alien weed threatening agriculture and natural ecosystems of Pakistan
  • Abating the weed parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) damage in Eastern Africa using integrated cultural and biological control measures’
  • Seeds for life: the collection, conservation and utilization of Australian native seed.
  • Coconut tissue culture for Clonal Propagation and Safe Germplasm Exchange

Research Project Opportunities

  • Allelopathic potential of Australian native plants for sustainable weed management
  • The utilization of Australian native species within land restoration projects
  • Germination of Australian native species used for land restoration
  • Weed seed spread
  • Physiology and biology of the invasive water weed, Cabomba

Key Stakeholder Engagement

  • Kunming Institute of Botany, Kunming, China
  • Grasslands Research Institute, Xining, China
  • NWFP Agricultural University and University of the Punjab, Pakistan
  • Virginia State University, USA
  • Millennium Seed Bank Project, Kew Gardens, UK
  • ICAR-Long Ashton Research Station, UK
  • Reading University, UK
  • CABI Wallingford, UK
  • Groundworks Burnett Mary Regional Group
  • Powerlink Australia
  • Greening Australia Queensland
  • Queensland Murray-Darling Committee
  • Brisbane Botanic Gardens
  • Australian Seed Bank Partnership
  • Centre for Mine Land Rehabilitation
  • AgriTech. Toowoomba
  • AMIRA
  • ACIAR
  • ACMER
  • Heritage Seeds Ltd.
  • Rice Research Institute

Teaching and Development

  • PLNT2002 Plant Physiology
  • PLNT3012 Weed Science
  • PLNT6894 Principles of Weed Science
  • PLNT2011 Crop and Environment Management

Research biography

Professor Steve Adkins is Professor of Plant Physiology at The University of Queensland (UQ). He obtained a degree in Botany and Zoology from the University of London and a PhD in Seed Physiology from the University of Reading (UK). He joined UQ in 1988, founding the Integrated Seed Research Unit. His research has focussed on the dormancy mechanisms of weeds and native plants, the management of invasive plants and the improvement of tropical crops using tissue culture.

Areas of research