Dr Saoirse Tracy

Dr. Saoirse Tracy is Assistant Professor in Applied Plant Biology in the School of Agriculture and Food Science. She is a soil and plant scientist and her research centres around understanding plant root and soil interactions. Her research interests include using X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) to understand the response of roots to the soil physical environment and she uses her skills and experience of X-ray CT, soil science, hydrology, plant biology and image analysis to answer further questions about the rhizosphere and plant function. In 2017 she set up the UCD X-ray CT facility after securing >€2M funding. She has been Assistant Professor at UCD since 2015, prior to that she studied and worked at the University of Nottingham, U.K. She is Programme Director for the Taught Masters Programme in Environmental Resource Management. In 2019 she was appointed as the President of the Soil Science Society of Ireland. She is an active member of her School’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee and has a keen interest in mentoring researchers in STEM.