Sergey commenced his career in Australia in 1995 as a post-doctoral Research Fellow in Biophysics at the University of Tasmania. In 1998 he was offered a teaching and research position in the School of Agricultural Science (level A appointment). Since then he has received three early promotions, and has reached the top level (level E), becoming a Full Professor in January 2011; all within the same university. Over the last 10 years he has built a highly productive world-class research laboratory working at the forefront of stress biology and membrane transport research. During this period, he has revolutionised this field by introducing and demonstrating the power of the MIFE technique for non-invasive microelectrode ion flux measurements into stress biology research.

In collaboration with colleagues at UWA, he has done seminal research on the role of nutrient transport activities in the acclimation of model, crop and native plants to flooding and salinity stress.