PlantSciCV

BOROKA KISS

Known as: Juniper Kiss

Nationality: Hungarian              
Residency: United Kingdom (since 2014), Australia (since Aug 2022)

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PROFILE

Trained plant scientist with extensive experience in ecological research and agricultural extension in Australia, UK, Europe, USA, Namibia, Nepal, Philippines, Costa Rica, and Papua New Guinea. Passionate about putting research into practice, data, stakeholder engagement, agricultural extension and science communication.

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Skills briefly: Team leadership, Stakeholder engagement, Project planning and management, Writing progress reports and tender applications, Budget management, Out-of-the-box thinking, Meeting strict deadlines, Science communication, Graphic design, Podcast production, Plant identification, Epidemiology, Ecology, Lab and greenhouse experiments, Advanced statistical skills and spatial analysis in R, Social surveys related to food security and health, Literature reviews and meta-analyses, HPC and Linux systems, Remote sensing

 

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

• 2020 - 2022: University of Southampton - NERC-funded INSPIRE Doctoral Training Program.
  Running title: Enhancing ecosystem functioning to improve the resilience of subsistence farming in Papua New Guinea.  Suspended in June 2022 due to getting malaria in PNG. 
   

• 2019-2020: University of Exeter - BBSRC-funded SWBio Doctoral Training Program:
  Running title: Preparing for Fusarium wilt of bananas in Latin America. Exited with MRes with Distinction in Sept 2020.

Rotation project titles:

• The impact of extreme weather events spatially differs for banana yields and prices in the Philippines

• A theoretical modelling framework for investigating the suitability of biological controls against a soilborne pathogen: a case for Panama disease (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense) control in the Philippines 

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• 2017-2019: Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK – BSc (Hons) Plant Biology (full-time, transferred into the second year). Graduated with First Class and as Top Student within the university and amongst the Royal Society of Biology-accredited courses in the UK.
   

• 2014–2017: Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), Cambridge, UK – BSc (Hons) Marine Biology with Biodiversity and Conservation (three years part-time)
   

WORK EXPERIENCES

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Technical Advisor - Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) Dar es Salaam Node, based at Geospatial Health and Development, The Kids Research Institute Australia (Perth, WA, Australia)
● Constructed scalable geospatial workflows using Posit Workbench (AWS) and GitLab CI/CD pipelines, which automated malaria risk mapping, reducing model run time and improving data accuracy, built robust RShiny apps using asynchronous programming and EC2 deployment
● Standardised access to cleaned, georeferenced health facility data using Google MAP APIs, ensuring standardised data for spatial analysis for a team of 5 data analysts, directly supporting the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and National Malaria Programs; improved program efficiency in 5 countries
● Lead the first, hybrid cohort of the MAP Dar ECR Training and Mentorship Program to increase research capacity (coding and leadership)

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Extension Group Leader - Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Northern Territory Government (Darwin, NT, Australia)

• Strategically aligned research and extension activities to help meet the Agribusiness Strategy 2030 targets in plant and livestock industries in the NT

• Led a dynamic team of 7 extension officers in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs, and developing extension capacity by all researchers and supporting approximately 38 projects

• Co-developed research proposals (e.g., GRDC, MLA, HortInnovation), carried out consultations and surveys, managed projects and delivered milestones, organised Field Days and international conferences

• Personally engaged with the producers and operators of the plant-based and livestock industries of the NT for identifying prospects of improving productivity and profitability in their agribusinesses

• Managed staff and maintained active professional development pathways

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Research Officer, Geospatial Health and Development, Telethon Kids Institute (Perth, WA, Australia)

• Implemented database updates and 8 modelling steps, including treatment seeking and PfPR cube, as part of the global mapping of malaria prevalence, incidence, and mortality estimates for the Global Burden of Disease study with IHME (using INLA models)

• Led novel data analysis with Swiss TPH and Novartis for developing a predictive model to map anti-malarial resistance gene distribution

• Created data visualisations and RShiny apps in RStudio Pro for three research projects (e.g., Bill and Melinda Gate’s Foundation’s Goalkeeper’s project)

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Agricultural Extension, Research and Development Officer - Liebe Group (Dalwallinu, WA, Australia)

• Coordinated and monitored 17 crop trials funded by different agencies (e.g., DPIRD, NRM, GRDC, GGA) on farmers' lands in collaboration with researchers (e.g., Curtin University, UWA, Murdoch, SoilWest)
• Wrote progress reports, coordinated with consultants, and wrote successful GRDC tenders (approx. totaling up to $1.5 million)
• Developed and executed a comprehensive outreach plan to disseminate research findings to growers, policymakers, and researchers; presented findings at three workshops, two Field Days, published articles in Farm Weekly and authored 6 articles in Liebe’s annual R&D book
• Led 20 grower surveys regarding data collection and usage around farms, collected detailed information from 18 paddocks in collaboration with CSIRO

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Field Trials Technician and Team Leader - NIAB (Cambridge, UK)

• Implemented crop variety Distinctiveness Uniformity and Stability (DUS) field and glasshouse trials (e.g., oilseed rape, cereals, pulses, grasses) according to EU standards

• Coordinated the daily off-site data collection and evaluation of plant characters from 5,000 plots and image analysis of oilseed rape petals, pods, and cotyledons on a £1.2 million budget project. By optimizing the sample processing pipeline and motivating the team, the project was delivered 3 weeks ahead of the set deadline

• Trained new staff and supervised 10 temporary technicians, liaised with the project, technical and farm managers

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Social Media and Digital Communications Assistant - ASPB (remotely)

• Managed multiplatform social media channels (e.g., Plantae, ASPB, Taproot Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels) using Buffer and met targets (e.g. reached 2-4 million impressions on Twitter and Facebook within 6 months)

• Developed the in-house ASPB and Plantae graphic templates in the online design software (Lucidpress)

• Initiated digital community engagement on the new online Plantae platform to build up a digital community for plant scientists by writing blogs, running competitions (e.g., logo design, plant puns, infographics for Fascination of Plants Day), engaging with online members through workshops, webinars, and podcasts

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Summer Research Technician - CABI (Egham, UK)

• Facilitated technical support for multiple-choice experiments to test potential arthropod biocontrol agents against invasive plants (e.g., Fallopia japonica, Hydrocotyle ranunculoides, Azolla filiculoides) and carried out multiple-choice experiments

• Maintained daily over 1,000 invasive and native plants, and arthropod populations (e.g., psyllids, weevils) in greenhouse facilities for research experiments

• Performed general maintenance of Level 2 and Level 3 quarantine facilities, including discarding, or moving planting materials according to standard operating procedures

 

ARU (Cambridge, UK) and Aberystwyth University (Wales) as an Undergraduate Student
working on an independent research project

• Designed and carried out an independent research project on British bramble taxonomy

• Collected bramble leaves from contrasting ecosystems the UK and used image analysis (ImageJ software) for geometric morphometrics (MorphoJ and R software)

• Extracted leaf tissue DNA and carried out three-loci PCR at Eotvos Lorand University (Budapest, Hungary) for phylogenetic analysis

• Completed Introduction to Geometric Morphometrics intensive course by Transmitting Science.

• Developed a bramble cane propagation protocol using woody canes.

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C. Roy Adair Scholar at the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville, USA)

• 10-week internship within the Plant Pathology Department working on downy mildew resistance in baby spinach, including primer designing, Virus-Induced Gene Silencing and tissue culture management.

• Isolated and identified plant pathogens from California, carried out pathogenicity testing, DNA extraction, PCR of downy mildew strains and carried out VCG testing of Fusarium isolates of cilantro and celery

• Diagnosed spinach and cilantro fields in California and visited blackberry and raspberry breeding stations.

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Masters by Research at the University of Bristol (based at the University of Exeter, UK)

• Enrolled in the SWBio Doctoral Training Program but exited after one year due to harassment. 

• Designed and carried out in vitro and greenhouse experiments to understand the lifecycle of Panama disease (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense TR4) on bananas and investigated the effect of banana root exudates on TR4 germination. 

• Carried out spatial modelling and economic analyses of local banana price shocks in the Philippines due to extreme weather using economic (TV-STAR model) and spatial modelling (using Empirical Orthogonal Teleconnections approach).

• Developed a theoretical mathematical model (SIXA model) to estimate the reliability of microbial biological control agents against Panama disease (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense TR4) in the Philippines, suggesting the application of different species and strains at different times of the year, at different locations.

• Carried out Bayesian multi-level meta-analysis (in Stan) of all biological control agents against banana pests and diseases, suggesting that in vitro and in vivo trials report much larger effect sizes compared to field trials. 

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PhD at the University of Southampton (NERC-funded INSPIRE DTP)

• Designed and self-funded PhD project to address practical challenges in PNG (e.g., soil and land management) by the combination of different data sources (e.g. Planet satellite imagery, GBIF occurrence data, soil shotgun metagenomics, social surveys, nutritional analyses) and estimated the effect of slash-and-burn agriculture on local biodiversity by using high-resolution remote sensing in Google Earth Engine (in Java) and Python, combined with a stacked species distribution model (using 5 different algorithms). 

• Designed sweetpotato x soil management field trials combining slash-and-burn soil inoculations, bokashi biofertiliser, intercropping and fertiliser treatments to shift soil functioning. 

• Applied mixed-effects GLMs in R to link functional gene shifts (N- and P-cycling) to yield responses.​​​

 

WORK HISTORY

Technical Advisor - The Kids Research Australia (Perth, AUS)                                9/2024 - currently

Extension Group Leader – NT Government (Darwin, AUS)                                    9/2023 – 4/2024

Research Officer - TKI (Perth, AUS)                                                                            1/2023 – 9/2023

Agricultural R&D&Extension Officer - Liebe Group (Dalwallinu, AUS)                 8/2022 – 12/2022

Blogger - BotanyOne (UK)                                                                                           4/2020 – 1/2022

Social Media and Communications Assistant – ASPB (USA)                                  2/2018 – 9/2019
Administration Assistant – Powdery Mildew Summer School
(Eszterházy Károly University, HU)                                                                             8/2017 – 9/2017
Field Trials Technician and Team Leader - NIAB (Cambridge, UK)                        8/2015 – 12/2016
Summer Research Technician – CABI (Egham, UK)                                                 6/2015 – 8/2015
Catering Assistant – National Trust (Anglesey Abbey, UK)                                     9/2014 – 6/2015
Administration Assistant – Powdery Mildew Summer School

(Eszterházy Károly University, HU)                                                                              6/2014 – 8/2014

Summer Technician – CABI (Egham, UK)                                                                    6/2013 – 8/2013

 

VOLUNTEERING EXPERIENCE

Friends of Kings Park Volunteer – Plant Development Team (AUS)                      6/2024 – currently

Committee Member and Secretary of Society of Chemical Industry’s Horticulture

and Agrifood ECR groups (UK)                                                                                    9/2019 – 6/2021

ASAPbio Ambassador                                                                                                   8/2019 – 8/2020

eLife Community Ambassador                                                                                    4/2019 – 5/2020

ASPB Conviron Scholar                                                                                                 2/2017 – 2/2018

Steering Committee member – New Networks for Nature (UK)                            7/2017 – 8/2018

Executive Committee member – Cambridge Conservation Forum (UK)               2/2017 – 8/2017

Executive Committee member – ARU Wildlife Society (UK)                                     9/2016 – 6/2018         

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SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS

• AMMNet Small Event Award, 2025, ($3,000) – Hosting “From Data to Decisions: Empowering Early Career Researchers in Spatial Modeling and Malaria Control” Symposium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

• Royal Society of Geography - IBG Postgraduate Research grant, 2022 (£500) - Swidden agriculture meets new soil metagenomics approach in Papua New Guinea

• Judith Heath Explorer for Botany and Research by the Scientific
  Exploration Society, 2021 (£5,250) - Go on a "sweet potato hunt" along Mt Wilhelm in Papua New Guinea

• NEOF Early Career Pilot Scheme, 2021 (£10,000) - Soil shotgun metagenomic sequencing of the swidden agricultural cycle and experimental sweet potato gardens to explore soil functioning (functional gene abundances)

• Heredity Fieldwork Grant by the Genetics Society, 2021 (£1,500) - 
  Investigating soil functioning during the swidden agricultural cycle in Papua New Guinea

• British Society of Plant Pathology's Junior Fellowship, 2021 (£3,000) - For
  PhD fieldwork to investigate the relationship between community plant pathogen load and crop species richness in Papua New Guinea.

• Tropical Agriculture Association, Standard Award, 2021 (£2,000) - For PhD fieldwork
  (establishing experimental gardens) in Papua New Guinea.

• Nelson Yield-Limiting Factors Graduate Student Scholarship, 2020 ($3,000) by American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science and Soil Science 

• The Royal Society of Biology 'Top Student Award' (2019)

• The Royal Society of Biology 'Top Project Award for a BSc Student on an RSoB Accredited Scheme' (2019)

• Stapledon Society Prize' for the Highest Mark of any IBERS Bachelor of Science Degree (2019)

• David Miller Award (£500) by the Society of Chemical Industry - Attended the CORBANA International Banana Congress in Miami, FL

• Travel Award, 2019 - To present at Plant Sciences Symposium at Minnesota University ($500), sponsored by CORTEVA 

• 'Best Presenter' Award by the Young Systematics Forum, Natural History Museum, London - presenting "Phylogenetic signal in subgenus Rubus (brambles, blackberries) leaflet shape using geometric morphometrics" about undergraduate research.

• Agronomic Travel Study Undergraduate Scholarship, 2018 ($5,000) by American Society of Agronomy – 3-week intensive Rice: Research to Production course at IRRI (Los Banos, Philippines)

• Adair Scholar by University of Arkansas, 2018 ($5,600) – a 10-week internship with Prof Jim Correll, working on downy mildew resistance in spinach, plant-pathogen diagnosis 

• Phenome Travel Grant, 2018 ($2,000) – Attending and presenting poster and lightning talk about independent research, ‘Revisiting subgenus Rubus (blackberries) taxonomy with the combination of geometric morphometrics and molecular methods’ at Phenome Conference in Tucson, AZ organised by ASPB

• Conviron Scholarship, 2017 by ASPB - hands-on virtual learning program
  that includes career seminars, round-table discussions, and workshops
  that help develops skills for success. Mentored by Prof Sarah Wyatt.
  Built website www.whystudyplants.com part of the scholarship.

• Anglia Trust Foundation Scholarship (£750), 2017 – four weeks visiting the Plant Protection Directorate (Ministry of Agricultural Development) and CABI in Nepal to learn about
  agricultural extension programs.

• The Big Pitch, 2017 (£1,000) by Anglia Ruskin University – competition for
  start-ups consisted of one-year mentorship, leadership coaching and presentation, and business planning boot camp.

• Be the Change’ grant, 2017 (£1,000) by the Global Sustainability Institute – 
  Incorporating GOES magazine’s structure into the curriculum.

• Andy Wilson Bursary, 2017 (£1,000) by Anglia Ruskin University – start-up
  costs for GOES magazine https://www.goesmagazine.org)

• John Ray Summer Research Grant, 2017 (£500) by John Ray Trust – carried out independent research on blackberry taxonomy by combining image analysis with molecular methods.

• Golden Opportunities Scholar, 2016 ($2,200) by American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science and Soil Science – Travelled to ASA, ASCS, ASSS’s AGM in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

• Anglia Trust Foundation Scholarship, 2016 (£560) – two weeks at Konnevesi
  Research Station at Jyvaskyla University, Finland. Completed Boreal Winter
  Methods in Community Ecology course.

• Anglia Trust Foundation Scholarship, 2015 (£750) – 10 weeks in the Namib Desert at Kuzikus Nature Reserve, completing vegetation surveys, animal population counts, and small mammal trappings.

 

 

MAIN PRESENTATIONS ​

• Second place in student poster and 5-minute rapid-fire presentation during ASA-CSSA-SSSA AGM 2020: "Biocontrols Against Banana Pests and Diseases: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis”

• Second place in student presentation during Sustainable Agronomy Conference by ASA-CSSA-SSSA 2020:

• "Biocontrols Against Banana Pests and Diseases: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis”

• ‘Best Presenter’ award (£100) by the Systematists Association, Young Systematists Forum, Natural History Museum, London, 2018 –Presented "Phylogenetic signal in subgenus Rubus (brambles, blackberries) leaflet shape using geometric morphometrics"

• Phenome Travel Grant ($2,000) for Phenome Conference in Tucson, AZ, 2018 – Presented poster and lightning talk titled "Revisiting subgenus Rubus (blackberries) taxonomy with the combination of geometric morphometrics and molecular methods"

• Poster presenter at XIV. Hungarian Plant Anatomy Symposium, 2017, Eotvos Lorant University, Budapest, Hungary – Title: “Can bramble taxonomy rely on leaf morphology?”

• Speaker at “Megadiverse communities - from patterns to explanations” international workshop at the Konnevesi Research Station, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, 2016 – Title: “Three-way systems and their application in biological control agent testing at CABI”

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WRITING EXAMPLES​

Publication summaries

• BotanyOne - 2 blogs/week

• Ethnobiologists consider their impact during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

• Volatiles as inducers and suppressors of plant defense and immunity — origins, specificity, perception, and signaling (Current Opinion in Plant Biology)

• Large-scale phylogenomic analysis resolves a backbone phylogeny in ferns (GigaScience)

• New study sheds more light on mycoparasitic interaction between powdery mildew and Ampelomyces

Interviews, Plant Day infographics, Taproot podcast and GOES magazine editing and designing:

• Fascination of Plant Day: Collection of Planty-y Infographics

• Taproot S4E1: Identifying the Principle Components: Gender Dimorphism in Flowers and Consciously Building a Happy and Rewarding Career in Science

• GOES magazine issue 5 (October 2017)

• Science journalism career path: Story of features editor at Nature