Kate Delaporte

Biography

Kate is the Acting Curator of the Waite Arboretum and Waite Conservation Reserve, a position that enables her to implement her knowledge of trees and Australian native plants, her skills in working with volunteers and community groups, and grow her various research interests. Kate’s main interest is improving Australian native plants for horticulture by research into propagation, cultivation, and breeding and selecting new varieties and species. She also has interests in renewing the Urban Forest, sustainable agriculture and the environment; amenity horticulture (nursery, cut flower, garden design), general horticulture (in particular small fruits and new crops such as essential oils, herbs, spices and Asian vegetables); re-forestation and plant genome conservation. Kate grew up on a mixed farming rural property in the South East of South Australia. After finishing High School, she completed studies in Horticulture at TAFE and worked for various floricultural and horticultural enterprises before enrolling at the University of Adelaide in 1992 to study Agricultural Science. Her Honours project investigated postharvest vase life and genetic relationships between different Banksia species. In 1996, she was awarded a PhD scholarship to investigate Ornamental Eucalypts, sponsored by the Playford Trust. In 2000, she was awarded her PhD for her thesis entitled “Eucalypts for Ornamental Horticulture – selection, interspecific hybridisation and postharvest testing”. Also in 2000, she travelled to Europe and California on a Churchill Fellowship to investigate the use of Australian Plants in regions with a Mediterranean climate. Dr Delaporte was employed at the University of Adelaide as a Postdoctoral Research fellow on the Ornamental Eucalypts Development Program, with Professor Margaret Sedgley, from 2000-2007. This research was funded by RIRDC grants with further support from industry collaborators and the Playford memorial trust. During this period, Dr Delaporte also lectured in various horticultural and plant breeding subjects: Production Horticulture, Horticultural Science, Postharvest Horticulture and Marketing, and Principles of Plant Breeding

Research Interest

Medicine,Medical Education,Research,etc