DrVirginia Williamson

I’m a plant physiologist with a PhD in plant water stress and microbiology. What particularly interests me are plants’ physiological and anatomical responses to limited water. I work in alpine ecophysiology, where I examine the impacts of climate change on plants and have recently completed a three-year alpine plant research project with Associate Professor Susanna Venn. Our grant was from the Hermon Slade Foundation and entitled “High and Dry: Understanding alpine plant water stress in a drying climate”. This project used rain-out (drought) shelters built by the Australian Mountain Research Facility at four locations across two States: two sites in Kosciuszko National Park (NSW) and two sites on the Bogong High Plains (Vic). I am also interested in the untapped horticultural potential of Australian alpine plants and have a couple of small research grants aimed at bringing an ancient Gondwanan subalpine plant into cultivation and examining its genetic diversity across widespread locations. Basically, I love plants and also love teaching students about plants and microbiology!