Prior to starting her Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with CSIRO Plant Industry, Megan Hemming undertook her PhD studies in the Plant Cell Biology group at the Research School of Biological Sciences (RSBS - now part of the School of Biology) under the supervision of Dr David Jones. During this time she studied a tomato disease caused by the fungus ‘Fusarium oxysporum' with the aim of isolating the resistance gene.

After completing her undergraduate and Masters Degrees at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, Megan chose to do her PhD at RSBS due to its high quality of plant research and the excellent reputation of the academics undertaking the research projects.

Choosing to move to Australia and live in Canberra was an easy decision for Megan and she now reflects that she "loved studying in Canberra. RSBS was a great place to do a PhD. The quality of the academic, practical and emotional support provided to PhD students was excellent. The student social life was also great. I made many wonderful friends among the other PhD students - most of whom came from other countries like myself but have remained here in Canberra as we love the city and the lifestyle".

Studying at RSBS not only provided a great study environment, but was pivotal in providing academic opportunities to improve her scientific communication skills. Megan attended scientific conferences and was able to network with world leaders in plant research. In 2002 Megan received $2000 to spend on her own professional development as a Special Award for Excellence in Science Communication, from the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Plant Protection.

Now at CSIRO, Megan is working on agricultural crops that are worth up to $4 billion annually to Australia. As part of a research group, Megan works on the molecular basis of flowering time in wheat and barley with the aim of determining "how cereal plants sense seasonal cues, such as temperature and day length to synchronise flowering and grain production with optimal conditions during spring. To do this, we are identifying the genes that control these processes and determining how the genes function."