Education and Training: An update

Our PhD candidates are currently working hard to meet their completion deadlines, with twelve due to submit their theses by April 2011. Alistair McTaggart is on track to achieve this, having delivered his final seminar at Queensland University of Technology on Thursday 2 December. Alistair has been located with Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation throughout his PhD, mainly at the Indooroopilly site and more recently at the new Boggo Road site, which Alistair affectionately refers to as ‘The Bog’. His project has looked at the smut fungi, and has involved a revision of the Ustilago, Sporisorium and Macalpinomyces complex using traditional and molecular methods. We wish Alistair the best of luck during his final stages of writing and submission. For further information on Alistair’s project, see The fastest and smuttiest CRC PhD project

CRC PhD scholarships offer more than just a stipend, we also offer our students support and professional development over the term of their PhD. Since the inception of the CRC we have brought our PhD candidates together annually, to provide training in biosecurity and career-related skills. It is expected that students will attend at least three workshops over the course of their PhD. Workshops that have been held to date include Presenting for Success, Scientific Writing, Networking Skills, Biosecurity Awareness, Project and Intellectual Property Management, Scientific Communication and Statistics. Meeting annually also gives students the opportunity to network and discuss successes/problems they may be experiencing with their PhD projects.

Earlier this year, PhD students went on a site visit to the Queensland government quarantine facility in Brisbane where they were able to view the quarantine glasshouses and plant tissue culture facilities and also met the quarantine dogs that work at the airport. In addition, we have run Q&A sessions with industry and government representatives, so that candidates have a better understanding of what employers expect and the sorts of roles that will be available on completion of their projects. The feedback from students following these workshops is consistently positive. Our next workshop is being held in the two days prior to the Science Exchange in February and will include another site visit to see plant biosecurity in action: protecting our valuable viticulture industry.

To provide our PhD candidates with the knowledge and skills sought after by employees a number of our students are embedded with our government and industry participants, rather than being based at a university. This gives students an insight into the day to day operations of plant biosecurity. Furthermore, all of our students have an academic supervisor and at least one non-university supervisor, again to expose them to real life research. Five of our students have received direct support from industry, including the Grains Research and Development Corporation, Horticulture Australia, and the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, indicating the value of their projects to Australian plant industries.

Photo caption: PhD workshop held prior to the 2009 Science exchange

Photo acknowledgement: Di Harris Photographic

Article written by: Dr Kirsty Bayliss