Dr Karen Massel, Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, is tackling one of the world’s most urgent challenges: securing food supplies in the face of climate change and a growing global population. Traditional crop breeding cannot keep pace with rapidly shifting environments, so Karen applies cutting-edge biotechnology to improve crops for productivity, climate resilience, and sustainability.
Her research centres on sorghum, a vital summer crop in Queensland and a staple for more than half a billion people worldwide. She has developed genetic modifications that double grain protein digestibility, improve water-use efficiency through canopy redesign, and enhance planting density for higher yields. Beyond food, her work includes forage sorghums that reduce methane emissions from livestock and genetic innovations to boost biomass for sustainable aviation fuels.
Karen also works across crops such as barley, wheat, mung bean, faba bean, and forage grasses, broadening the impact of her biotechnology approaches. She is deeply committed to capacity building, training future scientists, and engaging the public as a “Flying Scientist” through school visits and community forums on GMOs and gene editing. Internationally, she collaborates with German universities on accelerating crop genetic gain and leads the International Mungbean Improvement Network to support nutritional security in developing regions.
Through her research, advocacy, and leadership, Dr Massel is helping create a climate-resilient, sustainable, and food-secure future.