If you enjoy living in houses, wearing clothes and eating, you should probably give thanks to plants – and their human helpers – for turning sunlight, water and air into wood, fibres and food.

Madeline is a professional plant appreciator whose broad interests in agriculture and food have taken her from the lab to the field and from industry-focused research to agrifood tech investing. She is currently an Investment Principal at Tenacious Ventures, a company whose mission is to unlock impact at scale in agrifood systems through investing in early stage startups alongside insights and advisory work.

She has a PhD in plant sciences from the University of Cambridge and her previous roles include developing novel biotechnology crops at CSIRO, leading the carbon and natural capital program at Food Agility CRC/RMIT University and looking after the agrifood portfolio at Breakthrough Victoria.

Madeline enjoys mentoring and connecting with the next generation of scientists and is excited about the growing support for commercialisation and impact of their research. She is also a Director of Cambridge Australia Scholarships and chairs the PhD selection panel. In her spare time, she can often be found growing and planting trees on her partner’s family farm.

Dr Madeline Mitchell is a Superstar of STEM.