Dr Sean Bellairs

Project Leader

Dr Sean Bellairs

Dr Bellairs’ research specialisations lie in the areas of restoration ecology, seed biology and the commercialisation of Australian native plants. His restoration ecology investigations include assessing vegetation with regard to community development; determining indicators of successful ecological structure and functioning; establishment ecology; and research into the seed biology and dormancy of various Australian native plant species.

Commercialisation of native rice

Commercialisation of native rice

The project aims to lay the foundations for commercialisation of Australian native rice as a high-value, low-volume, culturally-identified, nutritious food, especially for tourism, gourmet food, restaurant markets and value-added products.

PhD progress report: Gehan Abdelghany, ‘Commercialising native rice’ project

PhD progress report: Gehan Abdelghany, ‘Commercialising native rice’ project

Darwin-based FFS PhD scholar Gehan Abdelghany's research is contributing valuable agronomic information to the FFS-backed ‘Commercialising native rice’ project.

Australian native rice is one step closer to appearing on restaurant menus

Australian native rice is one step closer to appearing on restaurant menus

Putting Australian native rice on our plates and in restaurants is one step closer after a successful harvest of three species sourced from Northern Australian wetlands.

Meet Sean Bellairs: native grains and site regeneration expert

Meet Sean Bellairs: native grains and site regeneration expert

Charles Darwin University's Dr Sean Bellairs is a specialist in site revegetation and in breeding and establishing plants indigenous to Australia's north. He's also the research lead on the CRC's four-year, multi-partner 'Native rice commercialisation' project.

Northern Australia’s native rice: ripe for commercialisation

Northern Australia’s native rice: ripe for commercialisation

In stage 1 of this multi-year collaboration, two CRC partner universities, NT Government and three First Nations enterprises have joined forces to collect, analyse and develop protocols for the world's first broadacre plantings of native wild rice in Northern Australia.

Gehan Abdelghany, PhD student: Developing agronomic protocols for the cultivation of Australian wild <i>Oryza</i> species in Northern Australia

Gehan Abdelghany, PhD student: Developing agronomic protocols for the cultivation of Australian wild Oryza species in Northern Australia

For Egyptian academic Gehan Abdelghany, who’s spent much of her career to date finding beneficial uses of indigenous plant species, undertaking a PhD with the FFS-backed ‘Commercialising native rice’ project was a natural progression.

Commercialising native rice for Indigenous enterprise development

Commercialising native rice for Indigenous enterprise development

A four-year, multi-disciplinary project under the CRC’s Research Program 1 will help ‘prepare the ground’ for commercialising Australian native rice, at same time creating new opportunities for indigenous enterprise.