2007 Annual Report - Central Queensland University

2007 Centre for Plant & Water Science Annual Report(14) of volunteers who spent time learning research techniques and supporting our staff andstudents. These included Jo-An Barnes, Elizabeth Aitchison, Lynda Painter, Rajani Kumar,Michael Law, Michael Fleming, Lucia Dixon, Rita Subedi, Arjun Ashwath, Sousan Firoozi,Reshan Kumeri, Roshan Subedi, Bhima Bhattarai, and a number of high school students -Kaitlyn Duthie one was of these.The core staff of Prof Midmore, A/Prof Walsh and A/Prof Ashwath, with the very competentadministrative support of Mrs Linda Ahern provided the stability for the Centre. Mrs Ahernwas justly recognised by her winning one of the Vice Chancellor’s CQU Customer ServiceAwards for 2007. Well Done! These staff were supported by other academics (Harrower,Heath, Newby, Sinclair) and casual administrative staff, the Centre running on 1.95 EFTAcademics, 2.65 EFT Research Officers, 4.6 EFT technical and 1.6 EFT administrative staffand 17.5 EFT postgraduate students (15 FT, 5 PT).Our staff and students did the Centre proud with their attendance and participation at nationaland international conferences, congresses and workshops. At 20 of the 27 events attended staffor students gave presentations, eight of which were invited. Staff and students also took part ina number of training activities such as GenStat, and Qld Women’s Leadership Forum to up-skillthemselves.One staff member, Dr Surya Bhattarai, gaining a Federal Government Endeavour FoundationFellowship allowing him to work at the World Vegetable Centre in Taiwan for six months onaquaporin research. One of our new PhD students, Ms Karuna Shrestha, also gained anEndeavour award to work on compost teas as an input to the organic food production industry.This included a PhD scholarship covering stipend and fees. Ms Ria Reyes kept up our traditionof gaining one of the CQU International Postgraduate Research Scholarships for 2007, alsocovering her stipend and fees to work on the physiology and biochemistry of the naturalsweetener Stevia rebandiana. Other new scholarship students included Kim Bedwell (Masterson eucalypts as Koala feed), Noel Sammon (PhD on microfungi in drinking water), JayDhungel (PhD on oxygation at the field scale), Subhash Hathurusingha (PhD on biodiesel), andRebecca Jolley (PhD on physiology and pathology of Wasabia japonia).On the research and development front, staff cooperated national and internationally, includingone-on-one visits wherever possible. Phul Subedi conducted NIR training for DPI&F staff atNambour in March. He was also sponsored by the Crawford Fund (ACIAR) to visit Nepal todeliver a training course to the Nepal Agricultural Research Council on various aspects of fruitquality assessment and to advise the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce andIndustry on the same topic. This follows the successful Crawford funded 13-week visit to theCPWS by Tek Gotame which finished in February 2007. Prof Midmore followed up onresearch cooperation in the Philippines in late January sponsored by ACIAR, taught on atraining course on small-scale drip irrigation at Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia inMay funded by the USAID/SANREM CSRP, was quoted extensively in the Sydney MorningHerald on sustainability of coffee production in May, and interacted with DNR&W staff on atwo-day meeting on the Queensland Brigalow Research Site in September. He also did someproject reviews for the CGIAR and continued with editorial responsibilities for ExperimentalAgricultural and the Journal for Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, and participated onthe committee planning the 2014 International Horticultural Congress for Brisbane.Associate Professor Walsh attended the ‘Queensland Science meets Parliament’ in August,paired with the Honourable Robert Schwarten.2