CRCNPB farewells Program Leader

CRICHTONA — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 05:47:59 +0000

The CRCNPB would like to thank Dr Paul De Barro for all his work associated with the CRC over the past six years as Program Leader from the Preparedness and Prevention Research Program. Paul has resigned from his CRC role to allow him more time to spend in his Theme Leader role in CSIRO and in helping develop CSIRO’s Biosecurity Flagship.

Paul was one of the longest standing members of the CRC and the time and dedication he has put towards his role will be sorely missed. The CRCNPB would like to wish Paul well in his future endeavours.

In a tribute to Paul’s time with the CRC, the photo caption competition in this edition of The Leaflet uses an image of Paul.

Paul’s departure opens the door for one of his CSIRO colleagues, Dr Rieks van Klinken.

Rieks has extensive experience in the field of entomology, including the past 15 years working with the CSIRO Entomology tropical weeds program.

The CRC would like to welcome Rieks and wish him well in his new role.

Better models – better assessments: the use of models in plant health and biotechnology risk assessment

CRICHTONA — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:01:55 +0000

Paul De Barro was invited to attend the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) organised workshop by Philip Macdonald of the Plant and Biotechnology Risk Assessment Unit, CFIA.

Paul was asked to deliver a presentation that he had presented at the CRCNPB sponsored Pest Risk Mapping workshop that was held at Port Douglas in 2010. This presentation considered the problems surrounding communication between modellers and end-users and was jointly prepared with Sharon Taylor, from Plant Health Australia and Mike Cole from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Paul's presentation explored the reasons behind apparent miscommunication between end-users and model makers which lead to mission creep and failure to meet end-user expectations. The presentation suggested ways both end-users and modellers can better work together to ensure that the end product meets expectations.

It was apparent at the workshop that the issues which have been experienced in the CRC are alive and well in CFIA and that the same solutions to address the problem were applicable.

Paul had the opportunity to meet up with Dick Mack from Washington State University and Mike Wilkinson, University of Aberystwyth, Wales. Mike is about to take up a position at the University of Adelaide and may be a very useful link in the area of biosecurity preparedness.

CRC for Plant Biosecurity - Paul De Barro

CRCNPB farewells Program Leader

Better models – better assessments: the use of models in plant health and biotechnology risk assessment