UniSQ researcher secures prestigious fellowship to tackle critical soil constraints
A rising star in agricultural science, University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) researcher Dr Yunru (Chloe) Lai is turning soil challenges into solutions – and now, her groundbreaking work has earned her a highly competitive grant.
Dr Lai, a Research Fellow in Soil and Crop Modelling, has been awarded a $600,000 Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Early Career Researcher Fellowship.
The fellowship will support the development of the Sodicity Management and Remediation Tool (SMART) – an APSIM-based decision support platform designed to tackle sodic soils, one of Australia’s most pressing constraints affecting soil structure, water infiltration, and nutrient availability.
Since joining UniSQ in 2019, Dr Lai has become a leader in developing data-driven, spatially explicit tools to diagnose and manage soil constraints.
She has played a key role in several Soil CRC projects, delivering impactful innovations, such as enhancements to the Gypsy tool for managing sodic soils in the sugar industry and LinkP – a tool designed to quantitatively initialise soil phosphorus parameters in APSIM using common soil test values.
Dr Lai said the fellowship would allow her to enhance our understanding of how to model the movement of salt and water through soil, offering valuable insights into the behaviours of sodic soils.
“By turning these complex models into practical tools, it will allow grain growers across Australia’s diverse agricultural landscapes to manage sodic soil problems more effectively and sustainably,” she said.
Soil CRC CEO Dr Michael Crawford praised Dr Lai’s achievements and said the fellowship would help advance sustainable soil health management for growers.
“Chloe’s expertise in soil constraint modelling and the development of decision-support tools makes her a valuable asset to the field,” he said.
Dr Lai’s mentor, Professor Keith Pembleton, Director of UniSQ’s Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, said it had been rewarding to watch her grow into a leadership role.
“It has been a pleasure to witness Chloe’s rapid growth from postdoctoral researcher to project leader, and we are exceptionally proud of her achievements,” he said.
Dr Lai’s award highlights UniSQ’s strategic focus on industry-aligned research and its reputation for pioneering work in soil health, agricultural systems, climate resilience, and environmental sustainability.
Learn more about research at the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Systems.