CRC for Plant Biosecurity - training

Education and training update

CRICHTONA — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 23:07:12 +0000

This month Matthew Tan submitted his PhD thesis for examination. Matthew completed his PhD on new diagnostic methods for nematodes and amazingly completed more than two months short of the three year mark! Hot on his heels is Rachel Mann (nee Powney) who is also due to submit her thesis on fire blight. Matthew has started working with a diagnostics company in Singapore and Rachel is with the Department of Primary Industries Victoria. Congratulations to Matthew and Rachel.

A happy Matthew Tan following his thesis submission, with his supervisors, David Berryman (left) and Michael Jones (right).

I recently conducted a post-PhD survey of our student cohort. The main purpose of the survey was to determine the satisfaction levels of our current students and to identify areas for improvement in the Plant Biosecurity CRC. It was very pleasing to note that 56% of our students rate their overall experience with the CRC as ‘very good’ and 44% as ‘good’ – the top two categories! Areas of improvement include the need to streamline some processes and more input into the professional development sessions that we provide. Some of the comments received are listed below:

The extra opportunities provided by the CRC were great. I learnt valuable skills through the workshops, was able to make great collaborative links which were fruitful and I finished up with a thesis I am proud of.

Thanks to the CRC's support I obtained a golden chance to gain training in the plant biosecurity field.

The CRC provided excellent opportunities for professional development and networking through workshops, science exchange meetings, and field trips. It was definitely the best way to spend three years.

As the CRCNPB comes to an end I would like to acknowledge the support of all of the PhD supervisors. Wherever possible our students have been supervised by both an academic and an industry supervisor.

The time that supervisors allocate to their students should not be underestimated, with many hours spent planning, analyzing and conducting experiments with the students, as well as plenty of late nights spent editing thesis chapters and manuscripts. And don’t forget the need for several boxes of tissues when the going gets tough!

On behalf of the CRC I would like to thank everyone who has been involved with our student projects and I hope that you have received a lot of enjoyment from working with our students.

Kirsty Bayliss
Education and Training Program Leader

Back to The Leaflet.

Grain Storage and Biosecurity on-line training materials/manual

CRICHTONA — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 03:19:07 +0000

Education and training update

CRICHTONA — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 03:13:30 +0000

In this issue I am pleased to announce that David Savage and Bonnie Vogelzang have submitted their PhD theses. Further, Ashley Zamek has completed her Honours thesis.

Both David and Bonny completed their PhDs on spore-trapping related topics, with David looking at the dispersal of spores and Bonnie focussing on their detection. Ashley investigated native parasitic wasps and their use as a new eradication tool for fruit fly incursion management. All three projects contribute significantly to plant biosecurity science and capacity building.

I would like to congratulate two of our PhD students who won prizes at the recent Australasian Plant Pathology Society (WA) Annual Student Symposium. Matt Tan went home with a $400 cash prize for the best presentation, while Steve Coventry, now an honorary sandgroper, took home $250 and a book for the Scientific Endeavour award. The competition was fierce and both should be congratulated on their fantastic presentations.

Enrolments in the Postgraduate Certificate in Plant Biosecurity are now open for 2012. At the moment enrolments in the postgraduate Diploma and the Masters remain closed whilst some alterations are made to these courses. However, candidates can commence the Certificate and progress to the Diploma and/or Masters, as the first semesters of the three courses are identical. Direct enrolment into the Diploma and Masters should be open soon.

If you wish to take a single unit that is offered by the Plant Biosecurity Program, rather than enrol in a whole degree, you can. To enrol in one unit only, you must apply directly to the university teaching the unit. If you are enrolled in a postgraduate course elsewhere you can apply for a ‘cross-institutional enrolment’ in the unit you are interested in.

If you are not enrolled anywhere else but wish to take the unit for your own interest or for professional development, you should apply as a ‘not for award’ student. In both cases you will receive a grade on completion of the unit. Remember you must apply directly to the university that teaches the unit that you are interested in. This applies to people taking single units only.

Enrolments can be made at Murdoch University.

Once enrolled you can select the unit(s) you wish to take during the semester. The fees for 2012 are $2600 per unit for domestic students and $2813 for internationals, which is very reasonable for a 12 week unit. Please note that enrolments will close 31 January 2012. Questions regarding any of the courses should be directed to Kirsty Bayliss.

Kirsty Bayliss
Education and Training Program Leader

Back to The Leaflet.

Education and training update

CRICHTONA — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 03:49:40 +0000

PhDs
Congratulations to Steven Coventry and Kylie Ireland, both of whom have recently submitted their theses for examination. Steve investigated the biotic factors that affect the dispersal of rain-splashed asexual spores (conidia) and wind-borne sexual spores (ascospores), using Ascochyta of chickpea as a model. Steve has now taken up employment with the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA). Read more about Steven’s PhD project in this edition of The Leaflet.

Kylie’s study had a strong international focus, looking at the susceptibility of Australian plant species, grown and sold as ornamentals within parks and gardens, to Phyophthora ramorum. As this pathogen is not present in Australia, Kylie spent a large part of her PhD based in the USA gaining firsthand experience in the biology, ecology and management of this disease. Kylie has recently taken up a position with the Queensland Government where her focus will be on myrtle rust. More information about Kylie’s research project is available here.

Grains workshop
The CRCNPB – in conjunction with Cooperative Bulk Handling (CBH) and the Crawford Fund – recently supported a workshop in correct grain storage and biosecurity for some of Australia’s near neighbours. Ten representatives from flour milling companies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Vietnam travelled to Perth to gain an insight into the control of grain storage pests, to participate in training exercises to reduce their grain losses, and to improve their biosecurity practices.

The training provided participants with experience in the principles of grain storage and fumigation to control pests and thus avoid losses, estimated at 10% worldwide. The course also explained the need for better grain protection and biosecurity for international import and export trade. CBH – who have strong relationships with grain milling companies throughout Asia – hosted the trainees at their Australian Grain Centre Laboratory and Metro Grain Centre. The participants also received in-the-field experience of on-farm storage and experimental silo trials at Arthur River and Lake Grace, and a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) facilities at Perth airport.

All participants mentioned the value of the training and the importance of viewing the value chain, from the farm to storage. All participants recognised that they have been applying too much fumigant to their stored grain and realised they could save their companies a significant amount of money by using less. A number also admitted that they apply the fumigant incorrectly and do not use sealed silos, which negates the purpose of the fumigation. A number of the participants were going to implement changes to their fumigation programs on their return home.

The five-day workshop was held at Murdoch University and was delivered by Pat Collins, Michelle Chami (DAFWA), YongLin Ren, James Newman, Michael Thompson, Chris Edmeades and Kirsty Bayliss. The ABC interview (podcast) can be downloaded from the ABC website.

James Newman (Murdoch University) introducing participants to the Giant Ram in Wagin. Left to right – James Newman, Hendra Tanumihardja, Elmar Nau, Sultan Ahmed, Yannes Piung, Arief Zakaria, Seymour Magabe, Kelly Lai, Thoa Kim, Imron Tengriano, Rasheen Bappu.

Ms Seymour Magabe and Mr Arief Zakaria, both from Indonesia, identifying stored grain pests under the microscope in the Murdoch postharvest laboratory.

Mobile technologies assist plant biosecurity management

VANMEURSA — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 01:40:17 +0000

In northern Australia and Indonesia, developing robust approaches to the community management of biosecurity includes making meaningful connections from government to small crop farmers and local communities across long distances. Clearly these connections are dependent on effective communication that values and links local knowledge, industry practice, scientific developments and policy directions. The rapid adoption of mobile technologies across urban, regional and remote communities worldwide has the potential to provide a communication network for previously isolated people around issues of common concern.

As mobile technology is integrated more and more into daily life, people’s expectations of their capacity to be available, and fully functioning increases (or tolerance of being non-functionality deceases). Mobile technologies are being integrated into social and cultural practices of a range of societies. Mobile technologies include digital media in common use such as digital cameras, audio recorders, mobile telephones, personal media devices (such as iPods), laptop computers, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), SMS (Short Message Service) text messaging wireless modems, and through sharing audio, visual and text files. Mobile learning utilises these devices to support learning experiences. These core platforms are often enhanced by location-sensing functionality such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), video, audio and image capture and playback functionality. Mobile learning also includes digital cameras and using devices (such as PDAs) to improve data entry functionality.

Mobile technologies are being used to improve plant biosecurity management by Indigenous rangers in remote communities. The rangers include the Thamarrurr rangers from Wadeye, the Yirralka rangers from the Laynhapuy Homelands. Indigenous rangers involved in the CRCNPB project are using digital cameras, laptops and headsets to record their knowledge and skills related to surveillance and management of plant biosecurity incursions. These are being used to develop training materials that use local language, contexts and people to demonstrate the skills and demonstrate the competence of rangers involved in learning activities. The videos developed by rangers while working in the field are being shared across communities to increase awareness of new biosecurity threats and management strategies as DVDs, videos on mobile devices and advertisements on the local broadcasting network. The itracker and Cybertracker system being deployed by the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance are a robust PDA and software that supports rangers to collect accurate data using a sequence of customised questions that are recorded in a spreadsheet and displayed by map. These are supported by images to confirm identification of plant incursions. Government agencies have recognised the power of this approach and are negotiating the integration of mobile technologies and Indigenous led training material development into their biosecurity management and workforce development plans.

In Indonesia, mobile phones are being used to report the incidences of citrus pests and diseases and the sites to the research team who enter the information into a GIS system. The data is then used to analyse the patterns of incidence of the range of pests and diseases that are both officially recognised and not officially recognised. The mapping can be used for decision making by researchers and farmers about which are the most prevalent or important diseases in that region and their locations. Mobile technologies have provided a better way to collect information than relying on government officials to regularly visit each farm across remote areas and collect accurate data by field observations. This approach is reliant on establishing an agreement about who owns or has access to a mobile phone and is able to send an SMS notification, and the research team is still developing that system. The results of the analysis of the GIS data will be reported to farmers, community organisations, government representatives, ministries and researchers to assist in developing more accurate information sets and responses to the incidence of a particular disease or population density of a particular pest. Incidence reporting by people who are daily in the field assists in identifying the importance of a particular outbreak and related conditions of the citrus crops.

Mobile technologies that utilise existing infrastructure reduce the reliance on expensive and site specific connection technologies that are also high maintenance, such as satellites, wireless connections or laptop networks. Accessing SMS and digital cameras embedded in mobile telephones which are cheap and readily accessible, supports individuals’ engagement in communication networks. That the technology is in people’s pockets while they are engaged in daily work and learning activities increases the connectivity between that knowledge and people’s own worlds. SMS and user familiar technologies are simple and cheap. They utilise language that is familiar and draws on simple language in people’s own dialects. The images are of people’s own worlds, representing people’s experience accurately, providing a window to often unrecognised competence and realities. The information is shared in two ways that reciprocate the accountability to local communities and broader systems. One challenge is to ensure the ways information is shared back to community members retains its authenticity, accuracy and simple language or images.

The effective integration of mobile technologies including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into community acknowledgement processes is a tool in itself for improving biosecurity management such as for citrus farming as reported here, particularly for detection and decision-making. Members of local communities who have mobile phones and are willing to voluntarily participate have the opportunity to participate in knowledge transfer processes across geographic, language and knowledge borders. In this way, the coverage of detection will be much improved since mobile communication will solve problems associated with difficult access and lack of staff. Decisions about pest and disease detection and management are becoming easier to make with the advent of computerisation, and it is therefore easier to present a range of concepts to ordinary people, through the use of visual representations by means of maps and graphs.

The use of mobile technologies in work and learning contexts has demonstrated the potential that exists in incorporating new technologies to support community activities. The use of mobile technologies is of particular interest as they are already embedded in people’s daily lives and practices. People who have been traditionally excluded from established institutional knowledge management systems may be distrustful of using institutional resources. The challenge is to identify approaches that are engaging and encourage people to participate in knowledge exchange for common purposes – purposes that are locally prioritised and valued.

Photo caption: Thamarrurr Rangers recording their work to create training videos in the Murrin-Patha language.

Article written by: Ruth Wallace

Post-harvest pests in the laboratory

VANMEURSA — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:03:47 +0000

Complementing the June appointment of Dr Yong Lin Ren as Associate Professor of Stored Grain Research, a new laboratory focused on post-harvest biosecurity was officially opened at Murdoch University on 27 November 2009.

Established at the University’s School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, the new laboratory is the nation’s first research and development facility dedicated to improving the quality of stored grain.

The laboratory team and infrastructure are a joint investment of the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity, Department of Agriculture and Food (WA) and Murdoch University.

The laboratory is strongly supported by CRC grain industry participants – ABB Grain Ltd, Co-operative Bulk Handling Limited, GrainCorp Operations Ltd and the Grains Research and Development Corporation – all who have a vested interest in maintaining trade and market access for Australia’s grain exports.

Principal Scientist, Associate Professor YongLin Ren, said this exciting initiative was timely as post-harvest biosecurity and security of stored grain becomes increasingly important around the world due to the threat of global food shortages.

“The Post-Harvest Biosecurity Stored Grain Research Laboratory will develop new risk mitigation options that will contribute profitably to plant biosecurity, food and trade safety and help maintain the Australian grain industry position as a market leader in domestic and international trade with sound, cost-effective and safe storage technology,” Dr Ren said.

Scientists at the laboratory will undertake biological studies of insect pests and microorganisms that affect stored products, develop pest management strategies and examine stored product management.

The initiative will also increase education and social awareness, providing online information about Australian grain storage, insect management and industry regulations and enhance students’ learning and research in plant biosecurity and food security.

Earlier this year, Dr Yong Lin Ren was appointed as Principal Scientist at Western Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Food to provide leadership and management for its stored grain research team.

To build national capacity in plant biosecurity scientific research, the CRC initiated a project which would allow Dr Ren spend the first three years of his appointment building future capacity as Associate Professor of Stored Grain at Murdoch University.

Photo caption: Murdoch University's Professor Giles Hardy and Dr YongLin Ren hold jars of weevils in the new laboratory.

Thai scientists visit the nation's capital

VANMEURSA — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:33:42 +0000

Due to the increased movement of people and agricultural produce across the globe, international collaboration has become more important than ever to help protect our borders against incursions of exotic pests and diseases and maintain pest-free status within borders to ensure market access for export produce.

Following on from the April edition of The Leaflet when Gary Kong and his project team visited Bangkok, it was now our turn to host. Four CRC scientists from Thailand completed their second residential period in Australia, staying from October to early December.

Dr Nuttima Kositcharoenkul, Mr Alongkot Phodee, Ms Preyapan Pongsapich and Ms Sukhontips Sombat are now half way through a series of six of these training workshops, three in Australia and three in Bangkok. Over three years, this intensive program will provide them with specialised training in molecular diagnostics.

Nuttima and Alongkot have been training in Dr Deb Hailstones’ laboratory at Industry & Investment NSW and working with Ms Michelle Flack, Ms Anna Englezou and Ms Ania Deutscher. Preyapan and Sukhontips spent their time training in Dr Brendan Rodoni’s laboratory at Department for Primary Industries, Victoria, under the care of Miss Linda Zheng and Mr Chris Bottcher.

As part of their 2009 program, the four trainees met up in Canberra in the week of 23 November, accompanied by some of their Australian laboratory colleagues. The group dropped in the CRC office to meet the staff, which was a great opportunity to put faces to names! Research Leader, Dr David Eagling met with the trainees to discuss their areas of work, both in Bangkok and in their current training, and potential collaborative research areas for the future.

During their stay in the nation’s capital the group also visited CSIRO Entomology to meet up with the remote microscopy team. To add further value to their visit, they made some new contacts at the Australian National Insect Collection and Australian National University. Before the group departed there was just enough time to visit some of Canberra's tourist attractions, including the Botanic Gardens, the Thai consulate, Mrs Sawanit Phongprapai and Parliament House.

Each member of the group is specialising in a particular area. Nuttima’s training in Australia has concentrated on molecular diagnosis of phytopathogenic bacteria, particularly the Xanthomonads and Alongkot has been focusing on molecular analysis of fruit flies. Preyapan and Sukhontips are specialising in viruses and viroids, particularly in potatoes. The Thai team have now headed home, with another workshop scheduled for Bangkok in the first half of 2010, they will then return to Australia later in the year.

This intensive training program is one of the themes within the CRC project ‘Increasing the diagnostic capacity in Thailand’, led by Dr Gary Kong of Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries and co-funded by Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). Other themes include remote microscopy, advanced taxonomic training and surveillance.

Photo caption: The group visited the CRC office, from left Ms Preyapan Pongsapich, Ms Sukhontips Sombat, Mr Alongkot Phodee, Dr Nuttima Kositcharoenkul, Dr Deb Hailstones, Dr David Eagling, Ms Michelle Flack, Ms Anna Englezou and Miss Linda Zheng

Article written by: Dr Deb Hailstones, Program Leader, Diagnostics Research Program

Events

K.Scott — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:19:11 +0000

See below for industry related events. If you would like to add an event to this page, email info@crcplantbiosecurity.com.au

Biosafety and Biocontainment Training for BSL-3 Laboratory Workers

10-14 September 2012

Kansas University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA

CRC20093: Increasing diagnostic capacity in Thailand

K.Scott — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:39:20 +0000

Program

Diagnostics

Education and Training

K.Scott — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:05:51 +0000