Soil Sciences, Botany and Plant Pathology at The University of Western Australia have been crowned top in the country by The Australian newspaper’s 2025 Research magazine.

The publication also listed nine researchers from UWA as being the leaders of their field – four of whom work in agriculture, plant and environmental sciences.

The annual magazine looks at the best researchers and the best research institutions in Australia across 250 fields of research.

Image: Top researchers Hackett Professor Kadambot Siddique, Professor Sergey Shabala, Professor Nanthi Bolan and Professor Martin Barbetti.

The awards are based on the number of citations for papers published in the top 20 journals in each field over the past five years.

The UWA Institute of Agriculture Director Hackett Professor Kadambot Siddique was named the top researcher of Agronomy and Crop Science.

Professor Siddique said this recognition was among several significant accolades that agriculture and related areas at UWA had received in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities 2024 listed Agricultural Sciences at UWA as ninth in the world and number one in Australia.

Last week, six researchers working in agriculture, plant science and related areas at UWA made the annual Highly Cited Researchers 2024 list from Clarivate.

“I am very thankful to be counted among highly respected research leaders across the country and at this University by The Australian magazine,” Professor Siddique said.

“I am especially heartened and proud to see outstanding multidisciplinary research at UWA consistently celebrated on a national and worldwide scale.”

UWA Chair in Plant Physiology Professor Sergey Shabala from the School of Biological Sciences was named the leading researcher in the field of Botany.

Professor Nanthi Bolan from the UWA School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (SAgE) was named the top researcher in the field of Environmental Sciences.

Professor Martin Barbetti from SAgE was named the leading researcher in the field of Plant Pathology.

From outside agriculture and plant sciences, the leading UWA researchers to make the list were Professor Mark Spackman in the field of Crystallography & Structural Chemistry, Adjunct Professor Jiake Xu in the field of Physiology, Clinical Professor Dieter Weber in the field of Surgery, Professor Thomas Wernberg in the field of Marine Science and Fisheries, and Associate Professor Kristin Gainey in the field of Academic & Psychological Testing.

The Australian's annual Research magazine is available online.