Peter Franks

Peter Franks is an Associate Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, at the University of Sydney. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) and PhD in plant sciences from the Australian National University in 1998. Previously, he served as a Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in plant environmental physiology at James Cook University. He joined the University of Sydney as an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and Associate Professor in biosphere–atmosphere interactions. Peter has been awarded distinguished research fellowships from Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (Boulder, CO, USA).

Peter Franks studies the interaction between plants and climate, with a special interest in how plants control photosynthesis and transpiration in response to environmental signals through stomatal pores on the leaf surface. His current work aims to integrate geological, molecular, and plant physiological information to understand the co-evolution of Earth's climate and vegetation through deep geological time. This research applies to Earth System Models to predict how CO₂ forcing will affect vegetation in the future. Key publications include “Stomatal Function across Temporal and Spatial Scales” (Plant Physiology, 2017), “Passive and active stomatal control: either or both?” (New Phytologist, 2013), “Megacycles of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration correlate with fossil plant genome size” (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2012), and “Stomata: key players in the earth system, past and present” (Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 2010). With more than 11,300 citations according to Google Scholar, his contributions have had substantial impact in plant science and climate research. He joined the New Phytologist Advisory Board in 2014 and became an Associate Editor in 2018. In 2022, he was ranked among Sydney researchers in the global elite.

Professional Email: peter.franks@sydney.edu.au