Professor Robert Park completed a PhD in plant pathology at La Trobe University in 1984 and for the past 34 years has conducted research in the pathology and genetics of cereal rust diseases.

In 1995, he was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt research award in Germany, and in 2010, a Fulbright Senior Scholarship to the USA. In recognition of his extensive work in China, he was awarded the Friendship Award of China in 2009. He was awarded the NSW Science and Engineering Award for Excellence in Biological Sciences in 2013, and both the Clarke Medal and Poggendorf Medal by the Royal Society of NSW in 2015. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

Robert holds the Judith and David Coffey Chair of Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Sydney. He is Director of the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program, the world’s largest research group targeting genetic solutions to rust diseases of plants. He has worked extensively in international agriculture and has published two books and more than 160 scholarly research papers.