In this edition I would like to congratulate Alex Rea – who is due to submit his PhD thesis for examination on 16 December – and Kylie Ireland – who had her PhD thesis passed in early December. Both Alex and Kylie studied Phytophthora-related projects – Alex examining the taxonomy of the pathogen and Kylie the epidemiology. Well done to both of you.

The 2012 Grain Storage and Biosecurity Training Program is now open for enrolment at Charles Sturt University (CSU). As you may be aware, the training program offers a certificate of attainment in the competency unit Maintain Grain Quality in Storage (AHCBAC406A). The training program consists of self-paced study plus a hands-on workshop in Wagga Wagga. Enrolment is open until the end of January 2012, with the workshop held from 11-13 April 2012.

For the convenience of participants in the training program who do not have the required certification for farm chemical use, CSU will also be offering an optional one day training program immediately prior to the workshop. Alternatively, participants requiring chemical use training may make their own arrangements. Participants who have already been certified for pesticide use (e.g. via ChemCert, SmartTRAIN, etc.) will have met this requirement and do not need to undergo this training again. You will find detailed information about the training program as well as a registration form here [1]. For further information, please contact Dr Paul Weston [2].

Since the wonderful announcement that the CRC was successful in its rebid I have received many enquiries from people interested in studying with us. Rest assured that new PhD scholarships will be available, and as soon as projects are approved these will be advertised on the CRCNPB website. A number of other exciting new education projects are also on the drawing board, so watch this space for news on these over the coming months.

For those of you who cannot get enough of all things related to biosecurity education, I have also recently launched a Facebook page and Twitter account. These are designed for the promotion of formal qualifications in biosecurity and resources for biosecurity education and awareness. You can follow us @BiosecurityEdu or ‘like’ us on Facebook [3]. 

Kirsty Bayliss
Education and Training Program Leader

Back to The Leaflet [4].