Professor Roger Parish

Roger Parish took his first degree in Agricultural Science and received his PhD at the University of Melbourne in 1968. After a year at the CSIRO Division of Protein Chemistry he moved to Switzerland, working at the Federal Institute of Technology and the University of Zurich. He was awarded an Habilitation (University of Zurich) in 1973 and was appointed a professor at the University of Zurich in 1977.
He returned to Australia in 1987 to take up the Chair of Botany at La Trobe University. He has an international reputation in the area of plant science (in particular cell and molecular biology), has published one hundred research papers in international journals and received significant research funding throughout his career. He has trained approximately forty PhD students, many of whom work at eminent institutions around the world. Professor Parish has served as Dean of the School of Biological Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering. He has been a Pro Vice-Chancellor (1990-92 and 2001-07) and has been Acting Vice-Chancellor on a number of occasions. He currently chairs the Academic Board. Professor Parish was Acting Vice-Chancellor until Professor Paul Johnson took up the position of Vice-Chancellor in April 2007.