Q & A with Tong Lei

We wrap up our current round of meet-the-team interviews with Tong Lei, a postdoctorate researcher who has just completed his work with Brian Bailey. We wish him all the best on his future endeavours!

Please introduce yourself: who are you, where are you from, and what is your educational/professional background?
TL: Hi, I’m Tong Lei. I’m from China and currently a postdoctoral scholar working with Prof Brian Bailey. My background is in agriculture and engineering, and I earned my PhD working on AI applications in optical sensing-based measurement. Over the years, I’ve had the chance to work in Ireland, France, and the United States, collaborating with amazing colleagues to create digital tools that help improve agricultural productivity.

What is your role within GEMINI?
TL: Within GEMINI, my work focuses on creating computational frameworks for quantifying photosynthesis of cowpeas and beans and generating synthetic data to train robust phenotyping models for challenging agricultural environments.

How did you end up working with GEMINI and what interests you most about this project?
TL: I was looking for a postdoctoral position as I was nearing the end of my Ph.D. studies. Brian posted the position that focused on digital plant systems and AI applications in agriculture, which I found really exciting. So I decided to join GEMINI. The part of GEMINI that attracts me most is its vision of bringing advanced technologies as low-cost solutions for smallholder farmers. The opportunity to work with multidisciplinary teams to bridge gaps in plant breeding has been especially meaningful to me.

Is there anything particularly exciting you are working on now or in the near future that you would like to share?
TL: 3D Gaussian Splatting opens many new possibilities in 3D plant simulation with AI models. Incorporating this state-of-the-art technique into our current pipeline will allow us to create fully controllable, physics-consistent, and high-fidelity digital twins of agricultural systems.

What do you like to do outside of work (personal hobbies and interests)?
TL: I like playing video games and reading the news. I also enjoy working out and running in the gym.