Russell is a rice breeder with significant experience developing varieties for the NSW Rice Industry in the Riverina region of south-west NSW and northern Victoria. He has a particular interest in developing highly productive varieties while matching grain quality to market requirements. Russell spent three years as IRRI's representative in South Korea, conducting breeding related research focused on developing varieties suitable for temperate rice production environments, specifically to discover and characterize new genes and QTLs for agronomic traits, grain quality, disease and insect resistance, and cold tolerance in japonica and indica backgrounds. During this time he also coordinated the activities of the Temperate Rice Research Consortium.  His current responsibilities are in rice biofortification, leading a breeding program for high zinc rice varieties, and the breeding component for the Golden Rice project. He has a PhD in Plant Science, Australian National University, Australia (2001), MAgrSc in Crop Science, University of Melbourne, Australia (1994) and BAgrSc in Plant Breeding, University of Queensland, Australia (1982)