Biography

I am head of Invertebrate Pests and Weeds in Forestry, Agriculture and Horticulture and have 20 years’ experience as a project leader and 13 years as leader of Sections /Departments at NIBIO. My research vision is to develop a future “best of” Integrated Pest/Vector Management (IPM/ IVM) that will lead to sustainable food production by effective control of invertebrate pests and minimal use of synthetic chemical pesticides.

More specifically my goals are to:

  1. Build knowledge on interactions between plants, pests, and beneficials that may be used in innovative pest management strategies
  2. Develop innovative and  effective biocontrol tools
  3. Integrate new technology with biological control tools to develop an innovative and more precise, effective and economically feasible application
  4. Provide knowledge to authorities, farmers, companies and the public that will encourage the implementation, use, sale and acceptance of innovative biological control methods and tools in “best of” IPM/IVM.  

My research is focused within the field of invertebrate pathology and the use and interaction of entomopathogenic fungi in microbial control of plant pests and vectors. I am working with both main groups of entomopathogenic fungi, namely Hypocreales and Entomophtoromycota.

Read more