simon says...

Like all years, October is a very busy month for us with the deadline to submit our Annual Report. This has now been completed and submitted to the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research as well as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The Annual Report can be viewed by clicking here.

 

in this issue...

from the arm of the chair

Professor John Lovett discusses trade, travel and tourism and the risks they pose for biosecurity. READ MORE

are plant pests groupies? 

This is one of the many great articles from our new corporate publication Plant Biosecurity: collaborative research initiatives. READ MORE

improving knowledge in the grains industry

Grains Knowledge Networks continues to raise biosecurity awareness through the Grains Biosecurity Officers. READ MORE

farmers on the frontline of biosecurity

Lachlan Dobson recently won the inaugural Biosecurity Farmer of the Year Award. READ MORE

biosecurity in cartoon by Ang

Who says biosecurity can’t be funny and light-hearted!  This month an unwanted guest makes an appearance. READ MORE

postgraduate courses open for enrolment

Postgraduate courses are now open for 2011 enrolment. READ MORE

other news...

Our Education and Training Program continues to grow with two students submitting their theses. But where do our students want to go when they graduate? READ MORE

Climate Change and Potato Late Blight in India and Bangladesh - why Australia should be taking notice. READ MORE

Meet the woman behind the very clever biosecurity cartoons. This month we profile Angela Hagedorn. READ MORE

How the web catches exotic plant pests, Project Leader Gary Kong was recently interviewed on ABC radio READ MORE

Enrol for the new grain storage and biosecurity course. READ MORE

Simon says...

It only seems like a few weeks ago since my previous Leaflet column where I mentioned how frantic things were in the Canberra office as we made the final preparations for our bid submission. We were extremely pleased to get it submitted before the deadline and even more delighted when we were notified that our bid was successful in progressing to stage two – the interview.

This is fantastic news, and a result of a copious amount of hard work by many people. The past two months have seen a number of people across the CRC preparing an ‘Exemplar project’ for each of the four programs. We submitted these projects to the CRC Program last Thursday and they will be independently peer reviewed. The next job on the bid to-do list is to start preparing for our interview which will be held in Canberra on 10 November.

While the thought of moving in to a second phase CRC is quite exciting, I am also cognisant of the fact that we have a very successful foundation to build from. A recent independent review of our CRC found ‘The CRC is the only organisation providing a coherent, comprehensive national approach to plant biosecurity research in Australia’. In essence, the CRC Program was established to bring together organisations that have parallel goals and a requirement for research and development in a key area. With a national issue such as plant biosecurity, we have been very successful in integrating scientific solutions across agencies and jurisdictions.

As we reach our sixth year of operations, I think everyone involved in our CRC can feel proud of what we have achieved. Our success is not just limited to scientific outputs but also the broader outcomes such as building networks of researchers nationally and establishing Australia as a key player in the international plant biosecurity community.

Speaking of international collaborators, our thoughts go out to our colleagues in Christchurch, New Zealand after the terrible earthquake which hit two weeks ago. I have been in contact with a number of people who are all cleaning up debris and broken glass from around their homes. Christchurch is a beautiful city and it is such as shame to see it so devastated. Although it will take some time to rebuild homes, livelihoods and the city, we are sending positive thoughts to our colleagues and their families during this extraordinary time.

Today is also a significant milestone for the CRC with Mark Stanaway presenting his final PhD seminar at Queensland University of Technology. Mark started his PhD with the CRC in 2006 and has been researching the use of hierarchical Bayesian models for estimating the extent of plant pest invasions. Mark has statistically examined large historical datasets for spiralling whitefly and red banded mango caterpillar and has developed tools that will provide a foundation for biosecurity regulators to understand uncertainty about pest extent, for more focused risk-based surveillance. Mark’s thesis is expected to be sent to the examiners next week and we congratulate Mark on this achievement.

As part of an inaugural Farming Ahead Conference being held next week in Sydney, farmers can be nominated for a number of awards. The CRC has entered a submission nominating Lachlan Dobson for the Biosecurity Farmer of the Year Award (sponsored by Plant Health Australia). Lachlan manages the quality assurance and farming processes from produce grown from 120,000 mango trees and 80,000 red flesh grapefruit trees in the Kimberley’s Ord River Irrigation Area. He is a true ambassador for sound plant biosecurity practices and recognises how critical they are to maintain market access. When Lachlan is not implementing biosecurity practices, teaching them, communicating or writing about biosecurity, or even mentoring to share his experiences (he provides industry supervision for two of our PhD students) you can guarantee he is thinking about it. On behalf of everyone from the CRC, I wish Lachlan the best of luck on Tuesday 21 September and hope his commitment to biosecurity is recognised by the panel.

I am very pleased to introduce a new regular feature in this edition of The Leaflet. After some discussion about using the word ‘flat’ in the context of ‘not being enthusiastic’ we have found we have an artist in the office. My Executive Assistant, Angela applied this in a biosecurity perspective and created this wonderful cartoon. Anyone who is doing work on the Flat grain beetle will enjoy this, and I am sure you will look forward to seeing what she is inspired to draw for the next edition.

Until next time…

Dr Simon McKirdy
Chief Executive Officer

in this issue...

from the arm of the chair

Professor Lovett acknowledges the importance of conserving biodiversity to provide genetic resources to meet biosecurity and other needs. READ MORE

biosecurity in cartoon by Ang

Who says biosecurity can’t be funny and light-hearted! Welcome to our inaugural cartoon column by Simon’s Executive Assistant, Angela Hagedorn. READ AND SEE MORE!

improving grain sampling

The Stored Grains Sampling Strategies project team have attended a number of international conferences to present their research. READ MORE

Myrtle rust incursion

CRC researchers aided surveillance in the early stages of the NSW Myrtle rust incursion. READ MORE

recruiting future scientists

Our school education strategy encompasses activities for primary school children right through to high school. READ MORE

worming around Japan

PhD candidate Matthew Tan recently visited Japan to collect potential samples of the pine wood nematode. READ MORE

other news...

Board Director, Ms Christine Campbell has over 30 years’ valuable experience to contribute to the CRC Board, but what does she like to do in her spare time? READ MORE

'Pest risk in a changing world' was the theme for this year’s IVth International Pest Risk Modelling Workshop. READ MORE

East Indonesia holds an inaugural biosecurity forum. READ MORE

CRC modelling project teams get together in WA to discuss their research. READ MORE

Enrol for the new grain storage and biosecurity course. READ MORE

Thank you to all those who contributed to this month's edition of The Leaflet.
If you would you like to contribute to The Leaflet, or provide suggestions for content?
Email us with your ideas.

Simon says...

The leaves on the trees in Canberra are rapidly changing colour and dropping to the ground – a sure sign winter is on its way. Last Tuesday was our coldest day in the past six months!

There’s no chance of getting too cold with the amount of activity in the CRC at the moment. Juggling the preparation of our bid to Government for another term as well as managing our current research activities is very challenging for all involved. It’s rewarding to see the considerable effort being shown by everyone– especially as many staff and science committee members are undertaking their existing roles at the same time.

Support for the bid is continuing to grow and many Participants having signed ‘in-principle’ forms to support the bid, including a number of organisations who are not part of the existing CRC. You cannot have a cooperative research centre without Participants and advocacy for further plant biosecurity research across industry, government, universities, and other R&D corporations is very encouraging.

The research programs are evolving each day with valued input from our Program Taskforce and Participants Taskforce, as well as key end-users of the proposed research outcomes. Similar to our existing CRC, the new CRC’s Participants will mostly consist of end-users which enables greater engagement and the opportunity to actively meet their needs.

May is going to be an extremely busy month with two key meetings for the Participants of the proposed CRC. After these meetings it will be time to knuckle down and finalise the re-bid documentation (much of which is already being written and collated in the background).

While much of our focus is on the re-bid for another term, we are very conscious of the high-level of research still being conducted in this CRC. We have had a number of projects finish over the past few months and the final reports are being reviewed at the moment. I would also like to congratulate two project teams who have published in significant high-impact journals. Dr Owain Edwards, as part of the International Aphid Genomics Consortium recently published ‘Genome Sequence of the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon’ in PLOSBiology and Darren Kriticos, Sue Worner and Paul De Barro for their paper ‘Pest Risk Maps for Invasive Alien Species: A Roadmap for Improvement’ which was published in BioScience earlier this week. As I have said before, publishing of our research outcomes in peer reviewed journals is an outstanding achievement and demonstrates the CRC’s commitment to science excellence.

As some of you may be aware, our Program Coordinator/Project Manager, Ms Carla Tadich left us temporarily before Easter to take 12 months maternity leave. Carla is due to have her first baby any day now and we’re all anxiously looking forward to her exciting news. We wish her much happiness and we’re confident she’ll excel in her new role as a mum. We just hope she’s able to give birth before Mother’s Day, so she receives a present!

Wishing a happy Mother’s Day on 9 May for all the ‘Mums’ reading this column. And to all our readers, enjoy the last month of autumn, or spring if you’re in the northern hemisphere!

in this issue...

from the arm of the chair

Chairman, Professor John Lovett shares his thoughts on the inextricable link between biodiversity and biosecurity. READ MORE

community knowledge assists in biosecurity management

Committing to biosecurity management with Indigenous communities provides economic, cultural, social and environmental sustainability. READ MORE

fruit fly research in Vienna

CRC post-doc, Dr Mark Schutze will spend six months in Austria to conduct ‘live-fly’ experiments as part of his CRC project, and also towards a newly established international effort to better understand these important fruit pests. READ MORE

a look at rare Trogoderma references

Mr Andras Szito recently visited natural history collections in the United States and Europe to take an inventory of the curated Trogoderma specimens. This research will lay the foundation for future work in the revision of the species. READ MORE

other news...

Russian wheat aphid workshop focuses on protecting Australia's crops. READ MORE   

A publication has been released by the National Working Party on Grain Protection which aims to limit the spread and impact of phosphine resistance.
READ MORE

Meet John Austen the Canberra Office Project Officer.
READ MORE

Thank you to all those who contributed to this month's edition of The Leaflet.
If you would you like to contribute to The Leaflet, or provide suggestions for content?
Email us with your ideas.