Rate My Professor Margaret Barbour

Professor Margaret Barbour serves as Professor of Plant Physiology and Dean of Te Aka Mātuatua - School of Science at the University of Waikato. She obtained her BSc in Biology and Earth Sciences and MSc in Biology from the University of Waikato, and her PhD in Plant Science from the Australian National University. Barbour's career trajectory includes employment at Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research from 2001 to 2009, during which she led a research programme on plant carbon and water relations. In 2010, she joined the University of Sydney's School of Life and Environmental Sciences as Professor of Plant Physiology. There, she also held the position of Associate Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Science and an Australian Research Council Fellowship. She commenced her role as Dean of Science at the University of Waikato on 18 November 2019.

An experimental plant physiologist, Barbour pioneered novel stable isotope techniques to measure isofluxes between plants and the atmosphere and developed the underlying theory to explain variations. Her research elucidates plant regulation of carbon and water dynamics, with applications in crop production, plant ecological physiology, and paleoclimatic reconstruction from tree rings. She is an internationally recognised expert in stable isotope effects during photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration in higher plants. Barbour received the 2006 Roger Slack Award from the New Zealand Society of Plant Biologists for her work on stable isotopes and plant carbon-water dynamics. At the University of Waikato, she co-led the development of the world's first Bachelor of Climate Change degree. Her scholarly impact is evidenced by over 10,000 citations and an h-index of 50 on Google Scholar. Notable publications include 'Sites of Evaporation within Leaves' (Plant Physiology, 2017), 'Mesophyll conductance exerts a significant limitation on photosynthesis at low intercellular CO2 concentrations' (New Phytologist, 2022), and 'Can hydraulic design explain patterns of leaf water isotopic enrichment in C3 plants?' (Plant, Cell & Environment, 2021).