research focus area - la trobe university · dr aniruddha (ani) desai holds a bachelor’s degree...
TRANSCRIPT
RESEARCH FOCUS AREACAPABILITY STATEMENT
latrobe.edu.au/research/research-focus-areas/securing-food-water-environment
2
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
3
Capability Statement
SFWECAPABILITY STATEMENT
RFA: “Securing food, water and the environment for a sustainable future.”
FOOD: “From production to consumption, providing research-driven solutions.”
ENVIRONMENT: “Promoting understanding, conservation and sustainable use of the environment.”
WATER: “Providing essential understanding for the management of our most valuable asset.”
‘There is in fact no distinction between the fate of the land and its people…’ –WENDELL E. BERRY, AMERICAN NOVELIST, POET, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST, CULTURAL CRITIC AND FARMER
CONTENTSOverview: La Trobe University Research Focus Areas P 5
About us: Securing Food, Water and the Environment RFA P 7
Our investment in achievement P 9
Competitive advantage and key expertise P 9
Our people P 10
SFWE research strengths and priorities P 14
SFWE Research Clusters: P 15 Food Water Environment
Laboratories and Research Platforms: Overview and capabilities P 25
Value-added services P 27
Education P 27
Working together: Nurturing research, industry and community partnerships and engagement P 28
Index (SFWE research members) P 31
Contacts and further information P 32
4
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
5
La Trobe University Research Focus AreasLa Trobe aims to be known for excellence and innovation in addressing the big issues of our time, for leading the way in developing creative and innovative responses to the fundamental challenges facing the world today.
To support this vision, five cross-disciplinary Research Focus Areas (RFAs) have been established. These RFAs identify and build on our strengths and address some of the most pressing issues affecting the future of human societies and their environment.
They are:
n Securing food, water and the environment
n Sport, exercise and rehabilitation
n Understanding disease
n Building healthy communities
n Transforming human societies.
The RFAs act as a coordinating lens, and are emblematic of our multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to research. The RFAs also inform our investment and research choices, including graduate research degree scholarship priorities (up to 200 scholarships per year), and reflect our ambition to be at the centre of important social, economic, political and scientific developments.
The RFAs are led by recognised academic leaders responsible for engaging researchers across disciplinary boundaries. The critical mass of expertise and capability in the RFAs broadens the opportunities for collaboration and partnerships.
La Trobe is investing $3.75 million over five years (2013-2017) in each of the RFAs. These five RFAs contribute significantly to our research goals and continue to provide the opportunity for enlightened and innovative investigations in areas of global importance.
$3.75 millionLa Trobe investment in each RFA over five years
latrobe.edu.au
6
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
7
Capability Statement
About usSECURING FOOD, WATER AND THE ENVIRONMENT RFA
Securing Food, Water and the Environment (SFWE) aims to foster research that finds solutions and implements processes that address the global challenge of securing food, water and environmental integrity. The use of our environment to provide food and shelter for humans needs to be balanced with maintaining environmental health in order to secure a sustainable future for all living things.
Identified challenges include:
n food security
n drought
n land degradation and desertification
n climate change and variability
n water scarcity
n irretrievable loss of biodiversity
n stressed and dysfunctional ecosystems
n agricultural and food supply-chain losses
n waste
n sustainable agriculture
n food and health.
SWFE’s research focus is at the intersection of disciplines including science, sociology, planning, policy development, economics, law, education and communication. We see the collaborative sum of our specialties and expertise as being far greater than its parts. The expertise in science spans from agriculture production, water and enviromental sustainability to food, nutrition and diet in the modern world.
The expertise in science spans from agriculture production, water and
enviromental sustainability to food, nutrition and diet
in the modern world.
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
EXISTING RESEARCH FOCUSES WITHIN THE RFASWFE aims to support:
n thriving communities in ways that also deliver healthy and resilient ecosystems
n ecosystems that are able to provide food, nutrition, energy, water and other products and services
n products and services essential for human wellbeing, and the wellbeing of the organisms with which we share the planet.
Food
EnvironmentWater
Soil science
Plant improvement
On-farm extension
Livestock improvement
Economic modelling
Decision theory
Urban and environmental water
management
Strategic communication
Creative arts and creative thinking
Livestock protection
Plant protection
Behaviour change
Peri-urban development
Fire ecology
Restoration ecology
Evolution and population genetics
Taxonomy
Environmental education
Environmental flows
8
9
Capability Statement
Our investment in achievementThrough the SFWE RFA, La Trobe is investing in research leadership and research teams, building on existing strength areas including life sciences, water management and policy, and planning and communication.
We are capitalising on the significant investments we have made with AgriBio, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, the Research and Development Park, the Northern Biosciences Precinct, the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre and the La Trobe Rural Health School.
Over the next 25 years, $1 billion will be invested with our partners in the Centre for AgriBioscience (AgriBio) to provide the research and innovation that will be required to underpin sustainable agriculture in the coming decades.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND KEY EXPERTISEOur reputationLa Trobe is recognised nationally and worldwide for delivering high-quality teaching and research. In the 2015 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment, La Trobe ranked:n the best university in Australia for Biological Sciences (equal with Australian National University)n the best university in Australia for Agricultural and Veterinary Studiesn top rated with only two other Australian universities in Veterinary Sciences, Animal Production, Biochemistry
and Cell Biology, and Other Medical and Health Sciencen top rated with three other Australian universities in Archaeology, Analytical Chemistry, Crop and Pasture
Production, and Microbiology.
La Trobe is among the top 10 universities nationally, and one of the big three in Victoria, when it comes to the number of fields rated well above world standard, and ahead of some smaller Group of Eight universities on this measure. We are also among the top 10 most improving universities since 2012.
Our world-class facilities and personnelThe Centre for AgriBioscience (AgriBio) – a joint initiative of La Trobe University and the Victorian Government’s Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR) – brings together more than 400 government and university scientists, researchers, students and support staff, making it the largest agricultural research and development venture in the state. The co-location of resources within AgriBio allows for unique work partnership opportunities and a central location for companies to access world-class research conducted in state-of-the-art facilities.
10
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
Our peopleOur research capacity consists of more than 400 professors, senior research fellows, post-doctoral research fellows, research associates and HDR students.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEProfessor Jim Whelan, Director of Securing Food, Water and the Environment RFA, and Co-Director of AgriBio Highlights of Professor Jim Whelan’s long and successful career include international awards such as the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (recognised as one of the most highly cited and influential authors by the American Society of Plant Biologists), and more than 10,000 citations for his hundreds of published articles focusing on his research work in plant energy metabolism. Professor Whelan was instrumental in establishing the highly regarded Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, for which he is currently Chief Investigator. He also heads a team of professional scientists and students who are at the cutting edge of research within the Securing Food, Water and the Environment RFA, and is the La Trobe Co-Director, Centre for AgriBioscience (AgriBio).
Associate Professor Paul Brown, Senior Research Scientist, Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre (MDFRC)Associate Professor Brown began work at MDFRC in 2014. His main research area of responsibility is ecological responses to flow manipulations. His research topics of special interest include: fish population dynamics, pest fish biology and population control, recreational fisheries science, and fish-habitat rehabilitation. Prior to commencing at MDFRC, Associate Professor Brown held positions at NSW Fisheries, the Narrandera Fisheries Centre, Fisheries Victoria, the Snobs Creek Research Centre, and the Department of Primary Industries, Queenscliff. His academic qualifications include: M.Phil. from University of Wales at Bangor, under the supervision of Professor C. Rankin; Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Statistics and Computing from University of Wales at Bangor (1989); and B.Sc. (Hons) (Zoology with Marine Zoology) from University of Wales at Bangor (1985). He is also a member of Fisheries Victoria’s Future Fisheries Resource Allocation Working Group.
Dr Aniruddha Desai, Director, Centre for Technology Infusion (CTI) Dr Aniruddha (Ani) Desai holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Electronics, a Master’s degree in Micro-electronics and a PhD in Computer Architecture. He is currently the Director of La Trobe University’s Centre for Technology Infusion, a research and innovation centre specialising in delivering technology-based commercial innovations to industry and government clients. Dr Desai has successfully led several high-profile multi-million-dollar R&D programs at La Trobe University in application areas including intelligent transportation systems, energy management systems, and logistics/supply chain solutions. His work has resulted in several innovative designs and patent applications which have underpinned a number of new start-up companies. Dr Desai has received industry awards recognising excellence in R&D innovation at state, national and international levels. Nearly every major project delivered by Dr Desai has involved live field use of the new technology or solution, and many of his projects have been profiled on TV, radio and in print media. Dr Desai has been invited to serve on technical and advisory groups and expert panels for a number of government departments and institutions. He is currently also the Chief Technology Officer of Sensadata Pty Ltd, an innovative technology company partnering with the Centre for Technology Infusion to develop and commercialise a new intelligent RFID (radio frequency identification) technology-based solution for supply-chain application.
11
Capability Statement
Professor Nick Bond, Director, Murray-Darling Basin Freshwater Research CentreProfessor Bond’s primary interests are in the effects of flow variability on riverine ecosystems, especially the landscape scale effects of floods and droughts. His research combines empirical field studies with innovative quantitative modelling approaches. Professor Bond has extensive experience working on river management and environmental flow issues in Australia and internationally, and has authored or co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and numerous peer-reviewed technical reports. His research focus is supported by active engagement with regional, national and international water and natural resource management agencies to support evidence-based planning and decision making.
Dr Travis Beddoe, Senior Lecturer, Animal, Plant and Soil Sciences Dr Beddoe completed a BBiolSc (Hons) at La Trobe University and then PhD at the University of Melbourne, in 2003. He moved to Monash University to undertake post-doctoral studies with Professor Jamie Rossjohn in the area of structural and biophysical analysis of immune receptors. In 2008 he started his own independent laboratory at Monash University in the area of structural biology of host-pathogen interactions, in particular, an emphasis on glycan specificity in bacterial physiology and pathogenesis. In 2014, he commenced a teaching-research role at La Trobe University with broad research interests ranging from animal disease diagnostics to using plants to found new drugs against malaria. Dr Beddoe’s research has been recognised with a number of international and national fellowships and awards, including an NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellowship, NHMRC CDA Fellowship, Pfizer Australia Fellowship, Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function Young Investigator Award, Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Applied Biosystems Edman Award, Monash University Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research by Early Career Researchers, National Association of Research Fellows of NHMRC Post-Doctoral Investigator Award, and Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biologists Young Investigator Award.
Professor Andrew Bennett, Professor of Ecology in the Department of Ecology, Environment and EvolutionProfessor Bennett completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne, and worked in wildlife research at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (Victorian State Government). In 1996 he moved to Deakin University and in 2008 was awarded a Personal Chair in Landscape Ecology. In 2015, he commenced a joint appointment as Professor of Ecology at La Trobe University and a Science Leadership role at the Arthur Rylah Institute. He has broad interests in landscape ecology and conservation biology, with a particular focus on understanding how human land-use and landscape change affect native wildlife and ecological processes. Together with colleagues and research students, he has investigated factors that influence wildlife conservation in agricultural landscapes, the effects of fire on biota (in ecosystems ranging from semi-arid mallee to box-ironbark and foothill forests), and the conservation biology of numerous species of birds and mammals.
Dr Ashley Franks, Reader/Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and MicrobiologyDr Franks completed his PhD in marine microbial ecology at the University of New South Wales. During his PhD, Dr Franks received an Adrian Lee Fellowship and conducted collaborative research at Exeter University, UK. He was awarded a Government of Ireland Fellowship in Science, Technology and Research for research conducted at the National University of Ireland, University College Cork, regarding microbial interactions in the plant rhizosphere. During this time, he was also part of the European Union Pseudomics project, a collaboration across Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal. Dr Franks then gained a position within the Geobacter Project at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he leads projects in the Extracellular Electron Transfer Group, and was involved in collaborations with research groups at the Naval Research Laboratories, Cornell University, the University of Toronto, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Harvard University. Since joining La Trobe, Ashley has established the Franks Lab for Applied and Environmental Microbiology, which investigates microbial community structure and functions at interfaces. Together with colleagues and students he has active research projects looking at the interactions of mixed microbial communities with plants, soils, microbiome, electrodes, sewer systems and submarines. For his research he has received a number of awards and funding from national and international sources.
12
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
Associate Professor Heloise Gibb, Future Fellow in the Department of Ecology, Environment and EvolutionAssociate Professor Gibb completed her PhD in 2003, at the University of Sydney. She conducted post-doctoral fellowships at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Umea, Sweden (2003-2005) and CSIRO Entomology, Canberra (2006-2008). In 2009, she moved to La Trobe University to take up a lecturing position in insect ecology, and in 2013 was awarded a Future Fellowship. She has broad interests in invertebrate ecology and conservation, with a particular focus on understanding trait-environment interactions. Her current key projects focus on the impacts of mammal extinctions on invertebrate biodiversity and function, drivers of the structure and function of ant assemblages at local and global scales, and feedbacks between fire litter consumption by invertebrates.
Professor Catherine Itsiopoulos, Head of School of Allied Health, Professor of Dietetics and Human NutritionProfessor Itsiopoulos has more than 25 years of clinical, academic and project management experience. Her recent positions include Associate Professor and Head of Discipline, Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Canberra; Accreditation, Recognition and Education Services Manager with the Dietitians Association of Australia; and Fellow of the Centre of Clinical Research Excellence – Clinical Science in Diabetes at the University of Melbourne. Professor Itsiopoulos has extensive experience and a strong research interest in dietetic training, dietetic competency evaluation and implementation, and international benchmarking of dietetic examination systems. In her role at the Dietitians Association of Australia, Professor Itsiopoulos led projects in international benchmarking of dietetic systems and was instrumental in establishing the formal mutual recognition agreement with the New Zealand Dietitians Board. In this role she also championed the review of the examination systems for dietetic skills recognition and credentialling, and led the development of an enhanced model of examination utilising an online multiple-choice questionnaire format. Professor Itsiopoulos’s major research interests include randomised controlled clinical intervention studies in diabetes, cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome utilising the Mediterranean diet as a model of intervention. Professor Itsiopoulos is also investigating the positive health and mortality profile of Greek-born migrants to Australia who have retained their positive CVD mortality profile despite more than 50 years since immigration.
Dr Suzanne O’Keefe, Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and FinanceDr O’Keefe’s research interests centre on the challenges of water policy in both urban and environmental settings. In this context, her work has recently focused on the creation and deployment of knowledge, the communication and dissemination of best practice and the use and impact of various incentives. Dr O’Keefe has published in journals such as Agenda, Public Policy, Ecological Economics and Economic Papers. She has extensive contract research experience and has worked on issues such as the economic and social implications of water policy and pricing initiatives for various consumer groups, the challenges of managing environmental water flows, the role for private individuals in the management of environmental water, and the issues surrounding the management of the water resource across jurisdictions.
13
Capability Statement
SFWE ADVISORY BOARD
Dr Michael Looker (Chair)Dr Looker is The Nature Conservancy’s Director of Regional Strategies, Infrastructure, Asia Pacific. He is a botanist and conservation leader, a former director of Trust for Nature, and was a senior lecturer in environmental horticulture at the University of Melbourne, and superintendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne.
Dr Tony Gregson AM FTSEDr Gregson is a past chair of Plant Health Australia, and a former chair of the Board of Trustees, Bioversity International. Dr Gregson is a grain grower from Victoria’s Wimmera region with an extensive science and corporate research management background. He is Chairman of the Victorian Committee of the Crawford Fund and a board member of the Crawford Fund, and a Commissioner for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Professor Barbara Howlett (Honorary, Botany, University of Melbourne)Professor Howlett’s main research interests are fungal genetics and fungal diseases of plants. Most of her research involves Leptosphaeria maculans, the fungus that causes blackleg disease of canola. She also studies sclerotinia stem rot of canola. Many of her findings are of major significance to fungal biology and plant disease. Professor Howlett has previously sat on a regional panel for the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).
Emeritus Professor Barry Hart AMProfessor Hart is Director of Water Science Pty Ltd, a member of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, and member of the board of Alluvium Consulting Pty Ltd. Professor Hart chairs the Victorian Environmental Flows Technical Audit Panel, and is a member of the Independent Technical Panel for the Stockman Mine in Victoria, and the PNG Hidden Valley Gold Mine External Stakeholder Advisory Panel. He is regularly involved with science review committees as chair or a member, most recently in reviews of the surface water management and monitoring associated with the Ranger Uranium Mine in the Northern Territory, the science at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research in Victoria, the CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, the current and future management of water assets in the Geographe Catchment, WA, and the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities.
Greg WarrenMr Warren is Business Manager at BMEET (Barkindji Maraura Elders Environment Team Ltd). Mr Warren is the project manager for its training program, liaising with communities, elders and various government agencies to ensure programs continue effectively.
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
SFWE research strengths and prioritiesThe research questions addressed within the SFWE RFA fall under three major themes, which reflect our strengths and priorities:
1. Raising the efficiency and efficacy of agricultural production: enhancing productivity and sustainability through innovation in bioscience.
2. Safeguarding and improving environmental integrity and the provision of ecosystem services: looking at evolutionary processes and how species and populations cope with global change.
3. Enhancing the communication and application of knowledge to influence policy, planning and decision making when resolving competition over natural resources and their allocation: improving the incorporation of science into planning, policy and decision making, influencing positive human choices and improving our understanding of environmental variability.
14
15
Capability Statement
SFWE Research ClustersResearch conducted under the banner of SFWE is grouped into clusters led by senior staff members within La Trobe’s School of Life Sciences. The overall RFA is overseen by the Director, Securing Food, Water and the Environment.
FOOD RESEARCH CLUSTER The Food Research Cluster’s vision is to improve and secure all aspects of food production, from ‘paddock to plate’, spanning all food from plants, animals (meat and dairy), fisheries and aquaculture, and to improve food nutritional value and quality.
An important aspect of the food cluster is to assess health and beneficial aspects of food beyond the basic calorie content, to address major health priorities such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, thereby adding value to the products for primary producers. A theme that runs across the Food Research Cluster is analytics, which allows optimisation of food production from primary producers, management of natural resources, and profiling contents to provide safety, nutrition quality and provenance information for manufacturers and consumers.
Researchers in the Food Research Cluster collaborate with primary industry to provide food crops with enhanced yield and nutrition to add value for primary producers and assure quality for consumers. They also collaborate with the food-manufacturing sector to design foods with enhanced nutritional properties, targeting the prevention and management of chronic disease (e.g. obesity, diabetes, CVD), and in the design of novel functional foods that target niche markets, such as specific food allergies (e.g. gluten free), or fortified foods to prevent and manage nutritional deficiencies or enhance performance (e.g. growth, cognition and sport).
Researchers collaborate across a broad range of scientific disciplines and health expertise to validate health attributes of primary produce and functional foods in human clinical trials. The food product outcomes are then taken to market using expertise in nutrition education and food marketing.
Research capabilitiesn Advanced agricultural science: animal and plant breeding, plant and
animal health, and producing nutritionally enhanced animal and plant products and allergy-friendly products.
n Food analysis and food engineering: evaluating food and ingredients to identify health-promoting compounds and embedding them into the supply chain.
n Clinical trials research (at-risk populations and community-based interventions): demonstrating the health benefits of new foods using clinical trials, working collaboratively with our Academic Research Networks (hospital/health service collaborators).
n Sensor technologies: food distribution tracing, food safety and biosecurity.
Cross-disciplinary collaborationThe Food Research Cluster fosters an integrated, multidisciplinary and translational approach to nutritional and healthy food production, bridging primary industries, manufacturing, and supply of safe food to markets.
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
16
Underpinning academic disciplinesThe multidisciplinary focus of the Food Research Cluster is underpinned by strengths in academic disciplines that have an impact on all aspects of the food supply, including plant and animal biology, molecular profiling, systems biology, omics, human physiology, human nutrition bioscience, dietetics, food technology, marketing, and biostatistics.
Project examples
Novel functional foods for heart health: A focus on lupins
La Trobe researchers are actively working with the lupin industry in Australia to formulate novel functional foods for health.
Context Australia produces close to 80 per cent of the world’s lupin crops, most of which have been used for stockfeed until recently. There is now considerable evidence that incorporating lupin flour into human diets can directly improve health. Lupin kernel flour from Australian sweet lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) has a unique macronutrient composition of 45 per cent protein, 30 per cent dietary fibre, negligible available carbohydrate, minimal starch, and is gluten free. Incorporating lupin flour into baked foods can increase protein and fibre, which are linked to increased satiety, while also reducing the refined carbohydrate content of the food. Currently less than 4 per cent of the world’s lupin production is consumed as a human food. In Europe, however, about half a million tonnes of foods containing lupin ingredients are consumed each year.
ProjectDr Regina Belski, a senior lecturer and researcher at La Trobe University, has previously been involved in research demonstrating the positive effects of regular lupin food consumption on heart health, through a large randomised controlled trial. A team at La Trobe is now working with industry to support the development of food products incorporating lupin flour to enable broader access to these healthy foods for the Australian and international populations. This is likely to have a considerable impact not only on health outcomes, but also improve the per-tonne cost for farmers and increase the regularity of crop rotation, leading to healthier soil. The team is also aiming to investigate the effect of regular lupin intake on the microbiome and to determine the true benefits of lupin for high-risk groups.
17
Capability Statement
Using traditional diets to reverse the diabetes epidemic
La Trobe researchers have been investigating the traditional Indian diet and its potential to treat and prevent the high prevalence of diabetes in India and among populations of Indian descent around the world. Currently 62 million people, 7.1 per cent of the population in India, live with the condition. The project has funded research into what is known about traditional Indian diets and current cultural trends. Two studies are detailed here. The first centres on characterising the traditional diet of a healthy, diabetes-free Indian tribe in Ooty, and applying this diet in a community-based intervention to prevent and better manage diabetes.(Researchers: Croxford S, Smith N, Jois M, and Itsiopoulos C, La Trobe University)
Context Traditional diet may be important in the maintenance of health for Toda peoples. The Toda are traditionally buffalo herders and embroiderers. Tribes in the Tamil Nadu region, including the Toda, maintain aspects of their traditional diets and lifestyle and are free of common chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. A geographical move away from the village, or an encroachment of urban sprawl towards a village, are likely to result in changes to traditional diet and health status.
People of Indian descent suffer from higher rates of diabetes when they move away from traditional lifestyles into large cities in India, and when they migrate to countries like Australia. Researchers from La Trobe are working collaboratively with researchers at JSS University in Ooty and Mysore in India to characterise traditional Indian diets, including Ayurvedic herbs and spices, and apply these diets in the management of diabetes.
Project Food anthropological study: The aim of this short project was to explore differences in dietary habits between an elder Toda living in a village within an urban environment and another living in a village in a rural environment. Elders of the Toda tribe from two villages were interviewed to understand their health, lifestyle and dietary habits. One village sat at the top of the botanical gardens in the town of Ooty (population approximately 700,000), a short drive or walk from the town centre. The other village was a 50-kilometre drive or 40-minute walk through hillside forest from Ooty. There was no road access to this village.
FindingsThe study found that: n buffalo milk (a traditional food) and related products were consumed more frequently in a rural setting n fewer processed foods were consumed by elders living in a rural setting n local herbs were more likely to be incorporated into the diet in a rural setting n the tradition of embroidery was maintained in both urban and rural locations.
Researchers will use the traditional diets of the Ooty tribes to design dietary intervention trials targeting diabetes management.
Impact of culinary herbs and spices on CVD risk factors: In a randomised double-blind clinical trial, La Trobe researchers investigated the impact of traditional South Asian herbs and spices on blood pressure, lipids and body composition in overweight Australian men and women. After six months on the trial, the herbs and spices amla, cinnamon, cloves and oregano demonstrated a lowering effect on blood pressure. (Researchers: Jessica Radcliffe, Catherine Itsiopoulos, Richard Weisinger, Mark Jois)
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
18
Reducing phosphate fertiliser wastage in crops: Lessons learnt from a weed
Using the molecular model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress), La Trobe researchers are seeking to improve plant fertiliser use.
ContextPlants need phosphate to grow. As part of the green revolution in the early 20th century, chemical fertilisers have been applied to boost crop yields. Currently, global phosphate fertiliser demand increases by about 2 per cent per annum, driven by growing demand for food and a decline in land available for agriculture. Australia, a major exporter of wheat, is a net importer of phosphate fertiliser, with farmers using about three megatonnes of phosphorus each year. Significant increases in nutrient-use efficiency – that is grain production per unit of added phosphorus, nitrogen and water – are needed to achieve the growth rates in cereal crop yields needed to feed a growing world population. Modern crop varieties use only 30 to 45 per cent of the phosphate that is applied to the field. This is an unacceptable wastage for this precious, non-renewable resource that deserves our best stewardship.
ProjectA team of researchers in Professor James Whelan’s group at La Trobe University aims to increase phosphorus efficiency in plants. Applying molecular techniques, they have identified central regulators of phosphate uptake in root cells that act as gatekeepers for nutrient flux. They are studying phosphate sensors inside the plant that act as a ‘fuel gauge’. The two projects aim to understand the function of these regulators and sensors, so that their activity can be altered to boost phosphate uptake and its use within the plant. This work has led the team to investigate why plants impose restrictions on phosphate uptake in the first place: If phosphate is a limiting factor for growth, then why is it not taken up?
To further explore this puzzling observation, the team is taking advantage of more than 1,000 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions that have been collected from their natural habitats across Eurasia and whose genomes have been sequenced to allow in-depth evolutionary studies. Accessions from habitats differing in their soil phosphate levels are currently screened for their response to phosphate availability. Genome-wide association studies will identify genes that have been altered to increase tolerance to low soil phosphate. These gene sequences can be used as molecular markers in plant breeding to improve phosphate efficiency in close relatives of the Brassicaceae family, such as canola. Professor Whelan’s group is also collaborating with researchers at Zhejiang University in China, where he is a visiting professor, to transfer these traits into cereals such as rice and wheat.
19
Capability Statement
20
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
Capability Statement
21
WATER RESEARCH CLUSTERThe Water Research Cluster focuses on water’s role as a fundamental requirement for human survival, and key input to ecological and man-made production systems. Research is themed around water’s inherent scarcity, environmental uses and management. Large variations in water availability are a fact of agriculture in Australia. We need stable and sufficient water supply for sustainable and productive agricultural systems. Novel techniques in a range of areas could achieve this goal within the limits of our resource capabilities.
Research capabilitiesBringing together several groups that research specific elements of water, the Water Research Cluster encompasses experts in:n water ecology, biodiversity and ecosystem managementn hydrological dimensions of surface and groundwater resourcesn water extraction, distribution and transportn water as an input in both man-made and ecological production systemsn agricultural development, crop and pasture watern remote sensing, systems modelling and irrigationn economics of water use policy across jurisdictionsn social analysis of water use, including the allocation of water resources
among competing users.
The University supports a variety of large research groups, including the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre, which has laboratories at two of our campuses located in the Murray-Darling Basin: Albury-Wodonga and Mildura.
Cross-disciplinary collaborationThe Water Research Cluster spans a wide and diverse set of expertise for agricultural, environmental, recreational and social use of water resources. It looks into how these competing uses can be sustained, and the economic impacts of water use. Archaeologist Professor Susan Lawrence, environmental chemist Dr Ewen Silvester and a group of co-researchers are investigating the ways in which gold mining has shaped Victoria’s river systems (see Water and gold example).
Underpinning academic disciplinesWater research at La Trobe University is multidisciplinary and dynamic, including disciplines such as ecology, economics, engineering, history, archaeology, policy, sociology, law and legal studies, creative arts, and chemical, mathematical, physical, environmental, agricultural and soil sciences.
Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre: 30 years of freshwater ecologyResearch at the MDFRC focuses on freshwater ecology in the Murray-Darling Basin and generating knowledge to aid in the protection and improvement of the health of rivers, floodplains, wetlands and water storages. The MDFRC has uniquely located research facilities at Wodonga and Mildura along the Murray River, on the land of the Wiradjuri and Latje Latje peoples. It provides:
n credible research knowledge for Murray-Darling Basin communitiesn ecological advice and solutions for better management interventionsn design, assessment and review of approaches to aquatic ecosystem managementn specialised environmental and water-quality testing capabilitiesn teaching and capacity building, from degree students to secondary school events.
22
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
Research projects include diverse investigations of freshwater ecology: environmental flows in rivers and wetlands, effects of salinity, wetland acidification and rehabilitation, and microbial, fish, vegetation and invertebrate ecology.
The MDFRC provides research and monitoring systems both for short-term solutions and spanning a considerable timeframe. In addition, the laboratory at Wodonga provides specialised environmental and water-quality testing capabilities and tailors environmental and water-monitoring programs to meet the needs of key partners and corporate organisations within the basin.
The synthesis and communication of the knowledge generated by these projects is fundamental to the development of monitoring programs, which enable robust assessment of ecosystem management strategies. Through considered evaluation and adaptation of management programs, we will be better placed to protect and enhance the natural assets of the Murray-Darling Basin while supporting sustainable use of the basin.
The MDFRC is a partnership between CSIRO and La Trobe University, with additional collaboration agreements with the Murray-Darling Basin joint governments and University of Canberra.
Project examples
Rivers of Gold: the Legacy of Historical Gold Mining for Victoria’s Rivers
We know a lot about how gold mining helped fuel Victoria’s prosperity and rapid population rise during the 19th century, but little is known about the impact goldmining has had on our rivers.
La Trobe University archaeologist Professor Susan Lawrence, environmental chemist Dr Ewen Silvester and a group of co-researchers are evaluating how goldmining has shaped Victoria’s river systems. This will be the first systematic study of the impact of historic mining on Australian rivers.
Their previous research indicates that 75 per cent of Victoria’s catchments were affected by mining waste.
Ovens River not so ‘natural’Goldmining has led to extensive and long-lasting changes to waterways across the state; for example, the Ovens River is often perceived as one of Victoria’s few remaining ‘natural’ rivers because it hasn’t been dammed. Yet it has one of the catchments most severely affected by mining.
Using a wide range of scientific techniques, from landscape archaeology, physical geography and geomorphology to environmental chemistry, the team is identifying and mapping the extent of the changes, including increased sedimentation, erosion caused by altered water flows, and contaminants still remaining from mining.
Impacts to this dayFor 50 years, from 1851 to 1914, gold mining was Victoria’s biggest industry, producing 2,500 tonnes of gold. Mines used a great deal of water, which was discharged as polluted sludge directly into rivers and streams.
Despite considerable public discussion at the time, the impact of mining on Victoria’s rivers has since been largely forgotten. A major focus of research in many countries overseas, it is an area in which Australia lags behind.
Documenting the types of landscapes that existed before and at the height of the mining boom can contribute to the way our catchments and reservoirs are managed into the future.
Hume Dam, on the Murray River. The
Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre focuses on
generating knowledge to aid in the protection and improvement
of the health of rivers, floodplains, wetlands and
water storages.
ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CLUSTERThe Environment Research Cluster works to promote understanding, conservation and sustainable use of the environment.
The environment is the sum total of all livings things and natural forces that shape the physical world. It provides the conditions required for growth and development, while simultaneously being hazardous and capable of causing major damage. Environmental mismanagement can lead to disease, fire, storms, drought, loss of diversity, extinction and famine, and can range from minor to massive, physical to abstract, with local and international consequences.
This cluster examines soils in great depth, and views them as a fundamental basis for all land-based life. Productive soils are essential for agriculture, are the basis for forests and grasslands, contain a huge diversity of life, and harbour a large range of natural resources.
Soils can be affected by over-use, pollution, contamination, corrosion and depletion. To prevent environmental harm, research and innovative ideas based on solid foundations and strategic application across a wide range of areas – including fire management, protection from pollution, waste management and environmental reservoirs – contribute to safeguarding a sustainable future.
La Trobe has recognised expertise in research that benefits primary producers, natural resources management and environmental sustainability. In particular, our strengths in agricultural biotechnology, ecological science and water can be applied to help shape the future.
Research into securing the environment provides us with an understanding of what is present, how this changes over the long term, and what can be done to minimise harm. The work carried out ranges from single atoms to global systems.
Research capabilitiesThese include:n climate change, carbon trading and greenhouse gas emissionsn fire ecologyn land resource managementn salinity, land degradation and rehabilitationn conservation of flora and faunan landscape change, habitat loss and deforestationn energy and mineral depletionn air and water pollutionn soil health, soil erosion and groundwater contamination n population genetics and phylogenetics.
Cross-disciplinary collaborationEnvironmental research requires a multidisciplinary approach to understand and solve complex problems. It is based on an understanding of the main underpinning academic disciplines of Ecology, Environmental Sciences and Social Policies.
Other disciplines, including studies in Energy, Ethics, Geography, Chemistry, Physics, Policy, Planning, Politics, Law, Economics, Philosophy, Environmental Sociology, Environmental Justice, Planning, Pollution Control and Natural Resource Management, are also invaluable to work conducted within the Environment Research Cluster.
Environmental research requires a
multidisciplinary approach to understand and solve
complex problems. It is based on an understanding of the
main underpinning academic disciplines of Ecology,
Environmental Sciences and Social Policies.
23
24
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
Project example
Unravelling the evolutionary history of an iconic Australian plant genus
(Researcher: Dr Susan Hoebee)
Context Understanding genetic diversity and how it is structured within and among species is critical for both the conservation and utilisation of wild resources. Underpinning such research is an expectation that species’ taxonomies are unambiguous and evolutionary relationships of congeneric taxa are well defined. For Grevillea, Australia’s third-largest plant genus, these relationships are often ambiguous; many species display considerable phenotypic variation across their ranges and frequently hybridise.
Project In 2013, a genetic investigation of evolutionary relationships (macroevolution) among the Floribunda subgroup of Grevillea was supported by the Australian Plant Society (Victoria, Maroondah Group). In the same year, this was augmented by a SFWE RFA grant and in 2015 by an ARC Discovery Grant. This expanded the study to allow a more comprehensive macro-evolutionary analysis including the Arenaria subgroup, and an exploration of hypothesised pollinator-driven diversification in three focal species (microevolution). Specific to the RFA funding, the aim was to produce an NGS-based molecular phylogeny for species within the Floribunda subgroup. This subgroup was chosen as it contains species that display a wide variety of floral morphologies, potentially as a result of pollinator-mediated diversification.
Using a reduced-representation genomic method (ddRAD-seq), we have generated high-quality DNA sequence data for all species within the subgroup and other closely related taxa (circa 87 per cent of reads Q>30). Assembly of our data against the nearest available chloroplast reference genome (Macadamia) indicated 5 to 20 per cent is chloroplastic in origin. Preliminary phylogenetic analyses of this cpDNA data showed that G. alpina, G. rosmarinifolia and G. polybractea are closely related, forming an unresolved clade that is distinct from the remaining species.
The research to assess species relationships based on the nuclear genome sequences is ongoing. Incongruence between phylogenies generated from the maternally inherited chloroplast and biparentally inherited nuclear DNA will be useful for identifying species of likely hybrid origin. This has relevance for conservation as many taxa within the subgroups are recognised as rare or threatened and have managed to ensure their genetic uniqueness is maintained.
FIGURE 1Examples of morphological diversity within the Floribunda subgroup of Grevillea. L-R: G. alpina (Northern Victorian form) G. celata and G. chrysophaea (Brisbane Ranges). PHOTOS: SUSAN HOEBEE
FIGURE 2A selection of floral visitors to Grevillea alpina. L-R White-eared honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill and Silvereye. PHOTOS: JULI ATKINSON
25
Capability Statement
Laboratories and Research Platforms:OVERVIEW AND CAPABILITIESCentre for AgriBioscience (AgriBio) AgriBio is one of the largest agricultural research hubs in Australia. The building has an area of more than 30,000 square metres over five levels, and contains:n PC2/QC2 and PC3/QC3 laboratories and Australia’s largest PC3/QC3 containment facilityn 13 glasshouses (two on the main building’s roof), 12 screen houses and two polyhousesn 78 controlled-environment rooms and controlled-atmosphere rooms n DAFF Biosecurity and Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) accredited facilitiesn next-generation sequencing (NGS) accredited facilities, and specialised support areas including a nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR) suite.
La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS)LIMS’ research agenda is supported by a state-of-the-art facility where scientists from various disciplines work together in well-equipped, shared work-spaces to achieve research outcomes that would not be possible in traditional academic settings. LIMS has on-site facilities for bioinformatics, flow cytometry, microscopy, genomics, nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass spectrometry. It also houses inductively coupled plasma (ICP) equipment, an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) and X-ray diffractometer, crystallography and laser research. See www.latrobe.edu.au/lims/facilities
Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre (MDFRC)MDFRC is a NATA-accredited chemistry laboratory providing specialised environmental and water-quality testing services. The laboratory conducts water, sediment, effluent and biota analysis by classical, FIA, AAS (flame) and UV-Vis spectrophotometric techniques for a range of determinations. For more detailed information, go to www.mdfrc.org.au/services
La Trobe University Research Platforms La Trobe University has invested in research platforms that bring together capabilities, expertise and equipment under a defined governance and management structure to support areas of research strength within the university. Coordinated through the Office of Research Infrastructure, the platforms optimise the use of research infrastructure, accelerate research outcomes and enhance the university’s capacity to engage with industry and build research collaborations.
Research platforms relevant to SFWE: Genomics Platform: provides investigators with the latest in next-generation sequencing equipment and complementary bioinformatics assistance while facilitating wide-ranging research projects requiring highly detailed global DNA and RNA sequence analysis. It includes:n Next-generation sequencing: MiSeq, NextSeq 500 and HiSeq 1500n Bioinformatics services: n General bioinformatics advice: software usage, basic QC, read-mapping, variant calling,
R (statistics) etc. Differential expression: RNA-Seq/transcriptomics, microarrayn Analysis: go term/pathway, gene set testing, ChIP-Seq, variant calling, etc.n Data processing: scripting, parallel computing etcn Software tool and pipeline development: bio-computing, CLC genomics, high-performance computing
(LIMS-HPC)n Software install: software packages on LIMS-HPC
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
The platform also has access to a range of other areas via the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI).
Proteomics platform: offers a suite of synergistic capabilities for the characterisation of proteins of interest to academic and industry researchers in the agricultural, health, life, molecular, pharmaceutical, population and psychological sciences. The specific capabilities offered by this unique platform are enabled by a multidisciplinary team of experienced researchers and professional staff.
The workflow of capabilities and expertise enables the identification and quantitation of biomolecules from complex mixtures through to structure determination and analysis of interactions, kinetics and thermodynamics. Core expertise in advanced experimental design, informatics and data analysis underpins the three main capabilities of the platform.n Capability A: protein identification and quantificationn Capability B: protein structure determinationn Capability C: protein interactions, kinetics and thermodynamics
A full list of instrumentation available can be viewed online at www.latrobe.edu.au/research-infrastructure/research-facilities/proteomics-platform
26
27
Capability Statement
Value-added servicesWe apply the skills, knowledge and expertise within our RFA to facilitate and/or inform our members of seminars, conferences and international visits, with the goal of advancing and sharing knowledge in food, water and environmental research.
Membership of the SFWE allows for regular networking opportunities and connections, industry links, invitations to events, and information on grants, funding and scholarship opportunities available through La Trobe and beyond.
For more information and to apply for membership, contact [email protected]
EducationSFWE acknowledges the role education plays in its whole-university approach to research. Our commitment to expanding our research facilities, and our ongoing focus on sustainability and social responsibility, underscores our reputation for creating opportunities for all who can benefit from higher education.Related study options for this RFA are offered at La Trobe through undergraduate, honours, post-graduate, research and short courses. Accessible educational opportunities are enhanced by the number of grant, funding and scholarship opportunities available. Further information on these can be viewed in detail on La Trobe’s website.
Our commitment to expanding our research
facilities, and our ongoing focus on sustainability
and social responsibility, underscores our reputation
for creating opportunities for all who can benefit from
higher education.
28
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
Working together NURTURING RESEARCH, INDUSTRY AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS AND ENGAGEMENT
Higher Degree Research student engagement With the development of partnerships, Higher Degree Research (HDR) students will have an opportunity to work in industry and further develop their employability. HDR students have access to tuition that assists with publication preparation and grant writing, funding through scholarship top-ups, as well as cross-disciplinary seminars and conferences. Work will be undertaken with La Trobe’s Indigenous Student Service Units and Executive Director of Indigenous Strategy to ensure Indigenous HDR students within Securing Food, Water and the Environment are nurtured.
Regional engagement La Trobe is well represented across four Victorian regional campuses: Bendigo, Albury-Wodonga, Shepparton and Mildura.
Students who enrol and complete a degree, including those whose degree incorporates a masters component, at one of La Trobe’s regional campuses are entitled to the Regional Reward Initiative. This includes Work Integrated Learning, where students have the opportunity to participate in a work placement program in the second or third year of their degree, and Student Exchange Mobility Grants, whereby all regional campus students who are eligible for international exchange are guaranteed to receive funds towards a semester overseas. Smaller scholarships are also available for shorter international programs.
Regional partnershipsFour members of the executive are based in regional centres (two in Bendigo and two in Albury-Wodonga). This enhances good regional representation and engagement with the RFA. MDFRC has bases in Albury-Wodonga and Mildura, assisting with SFWE’s links to agriculture and water management in rural and regional communities.
Government and industry engagementOur researchers have many partners and collaborators across the world in government, universities, business and NGOs. Some of the key partners are listed on the following page:
29
Capability Statement
Federal government or agencies Australian Research Council (ARC)Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
(CSIRO) Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and
Communities (SEWPaC) Murray-Darling Basin Authority National Environmental Water Holder National Water Commission Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
State government or agenciesDepartment of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and
Resources (DEDJTR) Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Biosciences Research Centre Catchment Management Authorities (e.g. North East CMA, North
Central CMA, Mallee CMA) Future Farming Systems Research Land and Fire Division, Biodiversity Division Department of Environment and Natural Resources (SA DENR) Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW Goulburn-Murray Water Lower Murray Water Murray Catchment Management Authority, NSW Government Museum Victoria NSW Office of Environment and Heritage NSW Parks and Wildlife Parks Victoria SA Dept for Environment and Heritage South Australian Museum South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) Victorian Environmental Water Holder Zoos Victoria
Local government Darebin City Council Albury City Council City of Wodonga City of Greater Bendigo Greater Shepparton City Council Mildura Rural City Council Nillumbik Shire Council
Australian universities and institutes
Charles Sturt University Deakin University Edith Cowan University Griffith University Goyder Institute (SA) Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (UTAS) Monash University University of Adelaide University of Canberra University of Melbourne University of NSW University of South Australia Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI)
International universities and institutesBangalore University Indian Institute of Management, India International Water Management Institute, India Iwate University (Japan) Nanjing Agricultural University, China NOFIMA (the Norwegian food research institute) Ocean University of China Punjab University Rural Development, India Tel Aviv University, Israel Texas Tech University, US University of Copenhagen University of Moratuwa (Sri Lanka) University of Science and Technology (Hefei, China)
Companies Virbac (Australia)
OtherAustralian Wildlife Conservancy Birdlife Australia Greening Australia The Trust for Nature
Membership of the SFWE allows for regular
networking opportunities and connections, industry
links, invitations to events, and information on grants, funding and scholarship opportunities
available through La Trobe and beyond.
30
Securing Food, Water and the Environment
Existing centres and concentrations of expertise that could potentially contribute to the RFA, the departments in which they reside and their formal relationships with external partners.
Centre for Water Policy and
Management
Centre for Sustainable
Regional Communities
Strategic Communication
and Creative Arts
Public Health and Rural Health
School
Environmental Outdoor
Education
Community Planning and Development
Program
AgriBio
Biodiversity, Ecology and
Evolution Group (BEEG@L)
Murray-Darling
Freshwater Research
Centre
Departments Department of Animal, Plants and Soil Science
Department of Economics and Finance
Department of Creative Arts and English; Department of Communication and Media
Department of Education
Department of Social Inquiry
Departments of Communication and Allied Health, Dentistry and Oral Health, Rural Nursing and Midwifery
ADVISORY BOARD
GOVERNING BOARD (LTU/CSIRO)
RESEARCH COLLABORATION
ADVISORY BOARD (LTU/DEDJTR)
NORTHERN BIOSCIENCES
PRECINCT
FOOD PRECINCT
31
Capability Statement
SFWE research membersAccari Jessica [email protected] Mitochondrial genetics, transcription, transcript processing
Adair Robin [email protected] Animal plant soil sciences
Adda Chris [email protected] Research infrastructure
Agbinya Johnson [email protected] Electronics, sensing systems, sensors, engineering,
Ahmed Awais [email protected]
Aitken MaryAnne [email protected] Streamlining strategic and operational processes, management and leadership
Al Zahrani Zarah [email protected] Synthesis of hydrogels used in biomedical and environmental applications
Al-Adhab Ahmed Abass Najim [email protected] Environment, chemistry
Allen Patrick [email protected] Plant biochemistry, molecular biology
Allen-Ankins Slade [email protected] Physiological mechanisms underlying fish distributions along altitudinal gradients
Amir Lisa [email protected] Infant feeding, breastfeeding, infant formula, food security for infants
Anderson Marilyn [email protected] Plant innate immunity proteins
Angleton Alison [email protected] Industry engagement, psychology
Angove Michael [email protected] Colloid, environmental and pharmaceutical science
Aracic Sanja [email protected] Molecular biology, extracellular polysaccharides, biosensors, heavy metals
Arhatari Benedicta [email protected] Tomography lab manager, microfocus laboratory X-ray source
Armitage Katie [email protected]
Atkins Zak [email protected] Alpine ecology, reproductive biology, conservation
Aye Nang Seng [email protected] Soil chemistry and biochemistry, soil nutrient management
Balakrishnan Deepa [email protected] Grants and funding, strategic advisor for ARC schemes
Baldwin Darren [email protected] Environmental management, ecology, biogeochemistry
Bartoli Paul Joseph [email protected]
Basser Lee Ann [email protected] Human rights, laws in lives for people with disabilities
Bathje Caroline [email protected] Biosensing, electrochemistry, innovation and commercialisation
Beaven Lisa [email protected] Antiquarianism and the history of collecting
Beddoe Travis [email protected] Host-pathogen interactions, parasitic and bacterial diseases
Bedon Frank [email protected] Melatonin, mistletoe
Beebe Sarah [email protected] Wildlife, conservation, dog, citizen science, behaviour, scent detection, ecology
Belski Regina [email protected] Dietetics
Bennett Pauleen [email protected] Development of canine partners for SFWE
Bennett Andrew [email protected] Wildlife conservation, landscape change, agricultural land-use, fire ecology
Bereza-Malcolm Lara [email protected] Microbial sniffer dogs
Berkowitz Oliver [email protected] Genomics, transcriptomics, computational biology, arabidopsis, phosphate, mitochondria
Bleackley Mark [email protected] Fungi, antifungal, cell wall, yeast
Bodin Oonagh [email protected] ARISA, microbiota, gastrointestinal
Bogenhuber Deborah [email protected] Freshwater Ecology, Cultural Science
Bond Nick [email protected] Ecology, hydrology, climate change, water management, water policy
Bramley Andrea [email protected] Diabetes nutrition, obesity, cognitive decline
Brammar Cara [email protected] Birds, land-use, landscape ecology, novel ecosystems
Braun Shannon [email protected] Predator interactions, predator prey, trophic cascades, mesopredator release
Brennan Andrew [email protected] University ombudsman, environmental philosophy
Brett Judith [email protected] Australian studies, international relations, politics
Broome Richard [email protected] Aboriginal history, colonial Australia, Australian immigration
Brown Paul [email protected] Fish population dynamics, pest fish biology, fish-habitat rehabilitation
SFWE research members
32
Browne Richard [email protected] Wheat, anthers, abiotic stress
Brueggemeier Jan [email protected]
Bryceson Susanna [email protected] Grasslands, C4 grass, extinction, invasion, CO2, climate change, arid, semi-arid
Budge Trevor [email protected] International development, planning
Burns Edgar [email protected] Sociology, social enquiry
Busuttil Rosie [email protected] Governance and knowledge officer, MDFRC
Butler Nicole Emma [email protected]
Butt Andrew [email protected] Peri-urbanisation, food systems, land use change
Butterly Clayton [email protected] Soil-plant interactions, soil science, agricultural sciences, soil ecology and nutrient cycling
Buxton James [email protected] Insect ecology, colour biology, ecomorphology, functional morphology
Calopa Shelley [email protected] Bequest adviser
Campbell Cherie [email protected] Aquatic plant ecology, dispersal, diversity and structure, flow regimes
Carey Mark [email protected] Short-tailed sheerwater, bird migration, environmental management, ecology
Caruana Nikeisha Jean [email protected]
Celestina Corinne [email protected] Soil microbial ecology, soil biology, agriculture, grains industry
Chalasani Gowtam Chowdary [email protected]
Champion Robert [email protected] Mathematics, statistics, mathematical models in health care
Chan Chee [email protected] Molecular and human genetics,
Chen Yi-Ping Phoebe [email protected] Bioinformatics and biometric security, artificial intelligence,
Cheng Miaomiao [email protected] Heavy metal, hyperaccumulator, soil
Chong Rob [email protected] Research, projects and collaborations
Clark Gary [email protected] Soil conservation of alpine vegetation, subsoil constraints, agricultural sciences
Clarke Harry [email protected] Economics, climate change, water policy and infrastructure
Clarke Michael [email protected] Wildlife and conservation biology, behavioural ecology, fire ecology
Cocks Benjamin [email protected] Applied systems biology
Congues Janet [email protected] Drought, women, farming, policy, agriculture, community, feminism
Conn Emma [email protected] Administration, AgriBio
Connell Jemima [email protected]
Cooke Ira [email protected] Life sciences
Cosgrove Richard [email protected] Archaeology, indigenous impacts on landscape, fire ecology
Croxford Sharon [email protected] Food, culinary cultures, food production, food analysis, health
Custovic Eddie [email protected] Electronics, sensing systems, sensors, engineering
Daetwyler Hans [email protected] Applied systems biology
Dangerfield Fiona [email protected] Food, public health
Daniele Laura [email protected] Project co-ordination, marketing and publicity, events, AgriBio
Davies Hugh [email protected] Communications, creative arts, television, online production
De Groef Bert [email protected] Hormones, gene expression, histology, brain, pituitary, stress, reproduction, evolution
Debrett Mary [email protected] Media, television, video production
Decker Orsolya [email protected] Soil ecology, soil processes
Deng Dennis [email protected] Digital signal processing, engineering
Dennis Christina [email protected] Pharmacy practice
Desai Aniruddha [email protected] Management accounting
Devlin John [email protected] Engineering, communications and radar systems
Dingle Gregory [email protected] Sports management, education for sustainability, sustainability for sports organisations
Dragwidge Jonathan [email protected] Arabidopsis, protein trafficking
Drake Leigh [email protected] Financial economics
Drijfhout Margreet [email protected] Koala, eucalyptus, public perception, values, beliefs, vegetation survey
Durant Rebecca [email protected] Wetland ecology, primary production,
33
Capability Statement
Dworkin Seb [email protected] Craniofacial, brain, stem cells, zebrafish, mouse models, genetics
Eddy Pennie [email protected] Psychology, counselling, regional research
Edwards Jacqueline [email protected] Applied systems biology
Edwards Trevor [email protected] Behavioural ecology, plant ecology, systematic and evolutionary biology
Edwards Phillip [email protected] European and Middle Eastern archaeology, origins of farming and village life
Edwards Debra [email protected] Special education, primary teaching
Egidi Eleonora [email protected] Metagenomics, microbial ecology, plant microbes, molecular ecology
Ellenberg Ursula [email protected] Ecophysiology, behavioural ecology, conservation biology, ecotourism
Emmerling Michael [email protected] Biology, biotechnology, botany
Erbas Bircan [email protected] Environmental health, consumer participation
Everingham Penny [email protected] Project management, freshwater ecology, MDFRC
Fahey James (Charles) [email protected] Australian studies, Australian farming, Victorian goldfields
Fayezi Sajad [email protected] Supply chain, supply network, multi-tier supply chain, business responsiveness
Fernando Denise [email protected] Manganese, plants, manganese toxicity, climate change
Ferrier Asa [email protected] Archaeology
Fisch Eva [email protected] Collection development, research management, libraries
Flavel Matt [email protected] C. elegans, microfluidics, obesity/diabetes
Ford Ruth [email protected] Australian history, gender, social justice,
Forster John [email protected] Applied systems biology
Forsyth Adrienne [email protected] Nutrition, sport, community
Fox Jennifer [email protected]
Frankel Theresa [email protected] Animal nutrition, agricultural science
Franks Ashley [email protected] Bioremediation, biotechnology, microbiology, synthetic biology
Fraser Iain [email protected] Economics
Freestone Fiona [email protected]
Fussell Martin [email protected] Environmental management and ecology
Fyffe Jeanette [email protected] Research education
Garvey Jillian [email protected] Archaeological science, zoo archaeology, vertebrate morphology, extinctions
Gaspar Yolanda [email protected] Molecular cell biology, plant innate immunity proteins, OH&S
Gawne Benjamin [email protected] Aquatic ecosystems, environmental management, ecology
Gendall Anthony [email protected] Biology, plant development and stress biology, seed proteins, ion homeostasis
Gerdts Jody [email protected] Chalkbrood, hygienic behaviour in bees,
Gibb Heloise [email protected] Community ecology, conservation, restoration, fire, macroecology
Gillett Susan [email protected] Creative writing
Gohil Sejal [email protected] Grants advice, strategic advice on funding
Gouil Quentin [email protected] Transcription, plant epigenetics, systems biology
Grant Warwick [email protected] Genetics, parasitic nematodes, genomic technologies, parasite evolution
Graves Jennifer [email protected] Animal genomics, evolution, sex
Green Peter [email protected] Wildlife and conservation biology, plant ecology, population genetics and phylogenetics
Griffiths Steve [email protected] Bats, nest box, conservation, wildlife behaviour, hollow-dependant fauna
Grommen Sylvia [email protected] Endocrinology, growth, fertility, development, neurobiology
Grover Samantha [email protected] Soils, fluxes of carbon, water and nutrients through soils and plants to the atmosphere
Grubb Joshua [email protected] Detritivores, fire, phylogeography, gene flow, refugia
Guarino Rosemary [email protected] Biochemistry, molecular biology
Gyan Ernest [email protected] Onchocerciasis, water research, environmental research, blackflies, simulium
Hamilton Jane [email protected] Corporate disclosure, corporate governance, financial accounting
Harding Don [email protected] Economics
Harris Clayton [email protected] Environmental management, ecology, organic nitrogen
34
SFWE research members
Harrisson Katherine [email protected] Molecular ecology, landscape ecology, landscape genetics/genomics, conservation
Hart Adam [email protected] Biochemistry, molecular biology, biomedical science, genetics
Harvey Adela [email protected] Marine algae, ecology, biodiversity
Haslem Angie [email protected] Wildlife, conservation biology
Hatley Jude [email protected]
Hayden Matthew [email protected] Agricultural bioscience, applied systems biology
Hayden Catherine [email protected] Grants advice, health, medical
Hayes Ben [email protected] Applied systems biology
He Zhen [email protected] Computer intelligence, multimedia technologies
Hedtke Shannon [email protected] Disease-causing filarial nematodes in India
Helbig Karla [email protected] Viruses, innate immunity, interferon, oysters, crocodiles, evolution of immunity
Herd Angela [email protected] Ageing, aged care, healthy ageing
Herries Andrew [email protected] Archaeology, human evolution, migration
Hill Andrew [email protected] Genomic and DNA sequencing , molecular cell biology , neurodegenerative diseases
Hodgens Naomi [email protected] Canine, ecology, anthrozoology
Hoebee Susan [email protected] Plant population genetics, genetic diversity, molecular ecology
Hogan Conor [email protected] Molecular nanoscience
Hogan Trevor [email protected] Social and cultural anthropology, urban sociology
Holland Greg [email protected] Conservation, ecology, fire, biodiversity
Hoque Zahirul [email protected] Accounting, organisational change
Horvath Dora [email protected] Research focus areas development management
Howell Tiffany [email protected] Dog behaviour, dog cognition
Hoye Russell [email protected] Sports management, research development
Hulett Mark [email protected] Biomedical science
Hunt James [email protected] Wheat, water use efficiency, weeds, production
Huynh Dzung [email protected] Arabidopsis thaliana, ion homeostasis, salinity tolerance, protein-protein interactions
Iacuone Sylvana [email protected] Life sciences
Isaza Daniel Espinosa
Itsiopoulos Catherine [email protected] Dietetics
Jacob John Jubin [email protected] Organic food supply chain
Jobling Earl [email protected] Finance, accounting, social capital
Jois Markandeya [email protected] Physiology, metabolic syndrome, chronic diseases, animal nutrition
Jost Ricarda [email protected] Nutrient stress, cell-specific phosphate signalling networks
Juma Almas Ramadhani [email protected] Life sciences
Kapoor Shilpa [email protected]
Kappen Peter [email protected] Physics
Keane Philip [email protected] Botany, fungal disease, crop disease
Keays Kate [email protected] Governance services
Kellow Alison [email protected] Botany, systematics, herbarium
Kelly Fiona [email protected] Family law, law and medicine
Kennedy Melissa [email protected] Slow food movement, rural creative economies, qualitative research methods
Kennedy Elizabeth [email protected]
Khan Nicola [email protected]
Khoo Tseen [email protected] Research education and development, Asian - Australian studies
Khosroshahi Saeideh [email protected] Conservation tariff, customer engagement, switching barrier
Klein Anna [email protected]
Kucuktepe Serpil [email protected] Captopril (synthetic anti-hypertensive drugs), body-composition, body fat
Kurup Premnadh [email protected] Education of climate change and scientific literacy
35
Capability Statement
Kustrin Nena [email protected] Biopharmaceutics
Kvansakul Marc [email protected] Crystallography, protein interactions, host-pathogen interactions
Lamb Peter [email protected] Business, strategic marketing
Larsen Amy [email protected] Physiology
Lauricella Dominic [email protected] Agricultural sciences
Lawler Susan [email protected] Conservation, ecology, evolution
Lawrence Ruth [email protected] Environmental education
Lawrence Susan [email protected] Water, mining, archaeology, heritage
Lay Fung [email protected] Biochemistry, molecular biology
Leggat Sandra [email protected] Public health, health administration, health policy
Legge Katherine [email protected] Physics
Leonard Steven [email protected] Fire, biota, fire management, vegetation, fauna
Lesku John [email protected] EEG and spectral analyses, circadian rhythms
Lewsey Mathew [email protected] RNA silencing, DNA methylation, seed, plant, big data, systems biology
Lexis Louise Physiology
Li Song [email protected] Tapetum, programmed cell death, heat stress, gene network, transcription factor
Li Shuai Shuai (aka Alice) [email protected]
Liew Lim Chee [email protected] Barley, seed biology, gene expression, chromatin sequencing
Linklater Danielle [email protected] Agricultural sciences
Linn Josh [email protected] Agricultural sciences
Lo Norva [email protected] Ethics, environment, population, animal welfare
Lopez Natalia [email protected] Intellectual property
Lowe Rohan [email protected] Plant pathogen, transcriptomics, proteomics, genomics
Lubanga Umar Kombo [email protected]
Lugg Alex [email protected] International, government and philanthropic grants
Lugg Alison [email protected] Secondary teaching
Lyu Wenhui [email protected] Agricultural sciences
Macfadyen Alyx [email protected] Creative arts, media, strategic communication
Madigan Andrew [email protected]
Malipatil Mallik [email protected] Applied systems biology
Marques Mathew [email protected] Social psychology
Martin Dona [email protected] Community-based research
Martin Susan [email protected] Environmental humanities, representation of the (Australian) environment
Martin John [email protected] Sustainable regional development and communities
Mason John [email protected] Applied systems biology
Mathivanan Suresh [email protected] Exosomes, secretome, systems biology
Matthews Elizabeth [email protected] Microbiology, sewer corrosion, microbial fuel cells, sulfate-reducing bacteria
Mayr Hannah [email protected] Nutrition science, clinical education, dietary patterns, cardiovascular disease
McDougall Keith [email protected] Pharmacy
McGaw Brian [email protected] Analytical chemistry
McInerney Paul [email protected] Salix, willows, macroinvertebrates, food web, primary production
McLaren David [email protected] Applied systems biology
McMahon Peter [email protected] Botany
McMichael Celia [email protected] Anthropology, international development
McNamara Patricia [email protected] Social work
Meathrel Catherine [email protected] Environmental management, ecology
Mechler Adam [email protected] Biophysics, membrane, antimicrobial peptide, lipid, nano biotechnology
Mee Wendy [email protected] Sociology, gender, culture sexuality, migration
36
SFWE research members
Mele Pauline [email protected] Applied systems biology
Merton Eve [email protected] Strategic interactions research focus areas
Michalis Michael [email protected] Modern Greek history, society, politics
Michelle Morris Jacqueline [email protected]
Minchin Olga [email protected] Administration, transforming human societies
Mitchell Robert [email protected] Ecological genetics
Mohommad Ahmed Jasim [email protected] Polymer solar cell, conductive polymer
Mom Simon [email protected] Environmental management, ecology
Morgan John [email protected] Plant ecology, long-term dynamics, fire, threatened species, climate change
Morse Marcus David [email protected] Outdoor, environment, education, dialogue, facilitation, phenomenology, hermeneutics
Morton David [email protected] Chemistry of soil systems, planar chromatography
Mroczek Katelyn Haley [email protected]
Muhammad Adnan Syed [email protected] Research focus area development management
Murphy Nicholas [email protected] Environmental management, ecology
Murphy Robyn [email protected] Healthy ageing, muscle-cell physiology
Murphy Jason [email protected] Research communications
Murray Neil [email protected] Genetics
Muscat Joanne [email protected] Project management, AgriBio
Mwakalesi Joel Alinanuswe [email protected] Environment, chemistry
Mynott Julia [email protected] Plecoptera, gripopterygidae, thaumatoperla, aquatic insects, species delimitation
Nanere Marthin [email protected] Marketing, consumer behaviour
Nankoberanyi Sheila [email protected]
New Timothy [email protected] Emeritus professor
Nielsen Daryl [email protected] Dormancy, dispersal, plants, seeds, zooplankton, eggs
Noy Ellyse [email protected] Corticotrophin-releasing hormone, type 2 corticotrophin-releasing hormone receptor
Nugent Keith [email protected] Deputy Vice-Chancellor (research), laser physics,
Ojelabi Lola Akin [email protected] International law, access to justice
Oke Graeme [email protected] Learning, teaching, research
O’Keefe Suzanne s.o’[email protected] Water policy, management
O’Mallon Simon s.o’[email protected] Education
Opie Rachelle Sara [email protected] Dietetics, human nutrition
Orian Jacqueline [email protected] Cell biology and molecular pathogenesis, neurodegenerative diseases
Osorio Marina [email protected] Phosphorus, arabidopsis, signalling, stress
Pakay Julian [email protected] Biochemistry, genetics
Pakes Chris [email protected] Graduate studies, research,
Papamiltiadous Elena [email protected] Mediterranean diet, liver disease, dietary interventions
Papst Warwick [email protected] Life sciences, ecology
Parish Roger [email protected] Botany, cell and molecular biology
Parsons Robert [email protected] Botany
Paul Warren [email protected] Statistics, data analysis, modelling
Pawsey Nicholas [email protected] Accounting, business
Peasley Jennifer [email protected] Learning, teaching,
Peele Andrew [email protected] Physics
Perani Fabienne [email protected] Administration, understanding disease
Perez Diana Teresa [email protected]
Perrone Sabine [email protected]
Perugini Matthew [email protected] Dihydrodipicolinate synthase, enzyme, herbicide, protein structure & function
Peters Richard [email protected] Behaviour, signalling, motion analysis, noise
37
Capability Statement
Petrie Rochelle [email protected] Science program leadership
Petrovski Steve [email protected] Wastewater microbiology, filamentous bacteria, bacteriophages
Phillips Alistair [email protected]
Pigram Paul [email protected] Nanotechnology, physics
Plummer Kim [email protected] Effectors, pathogenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics
Poon Simon [email protected] Antifungal, transgenic plant, cyclotide, plant molecular biology
Poon Ivan Cell biology and molecular pathogenesis
Porter Ian [email protected] Botany
Potter Ian [email protected] Membranes, polymers, sensors, bioreactors
Poyago-Theotoky Joanna [email protected] Environmental and resource economics
Premaratna Shirmila [email protected] Life sciences
Price Amina [email protected] Aquatic ecology
Pridmore Peter [email protected] Environmental management and ecology
Pryce Jennie [email protected] Applied systems biology
Puthalakath Hamsa [email protected] Biochemistry, molecular biology
Quintana Beatriz Paulina Ayala [email protected]
Radcliffe Jessica [email protected] Diet intervention, obesity, CVD, herbs and spices
Radfar Mohsen [email protected] Micro and nano-electronics - low-power electronic circuits, ASIC design, neuromorphics
Radford Bridget
Raedts Pieter Johannes [email protected] Reemen, cow’s milk, grazing behaviour
Raulings Elisa [email protected]
Read Elizabeth [email protected]
Rees Gavin [email protected] Rivers and wetlands, nutrients, anaerobic processes, sulphur biogeochemistry
Reid Christine [email protected] Fresh-water ecology
Robert Kylie [email protected] Anthropogenic disturbance, conservation biology
Robertson Margaret [email protected] Geographical and environmental education
Robertson Evan [email protected] Infrared and raman spectroscopy, lasers, aerosols, greenhouse gases
Roche Christopher [email protected] International aid and development
Rochford Francine [email protected] Law, learning and teaching
Rochfort Simone [email protected] LCMS, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance
Rodoni Brendan [email protected] Applied systems biology
Rogers Sue [email protected] Research learning area development management
Rose Miranda [email protected] Speech pathology, rehabilitation
Ross Robert [email protected] Sensors, robotics, low-power remote monitoring, microcontrollers
Roura Alvaro [email protected] Molecular trophic ecology, biological oceanography, zooplankton, biodiversity
Rowles Alexei [email protected] Conservation biology
Rudner Julie [email protected] International aid and development
Russell John [email protected] Engineering, global warming and change
Ryoo Heajin (Heidi) [email protected] Empirical econometrics, international finance
Sale Peter [email protected] Subsoil, agronomy, soil water
Salisbury Fiona [email protected] Learning and teaching
Sanchez-Urribarri Raul [email protected] Crime, justice and legal studies
Sarker Subir [email protected] Innate and adaptive immunity, viral pathogenesis, host-viral interaction, viral evolution
Sawbridge Tim [email protected] Applied systems biology
Scasni Rose [email protected] Administration research focus area, business processes
Semenec Lucie [email protected] Microbial fuel cell, electrogens, electric bacteria, syntrophic interactions, biofilms
Sephton Michael Gordon [email protected]
Seviour Robert [email protected] Microbiology
38
SFWE research members
Shackleton Michael [email protected] Genetic, DNA barcoding, aquatic Invertebrates, macroinvertebrates, biomonitoring
Shepherd Susan [email protected] Dietetics
Sheridan Linda [email protected] Partnerships, libraries
Shield Jennifer [email protected] Biology, parasitology
Silvester Ewen [email protected] Alpine ecology, fresh water biogeochemistry
Simsion Daniel Dennis [email protected]
Singh Jugdutt (Jack) [email protected] Technology, infrastructure, communications
Skabar Andrew [email protected] Computer science, artificial intelligence
Slade Bret [email protected] Emergency management, disaster management, resilience
Smith Colin [email protected] Bimolecular archaeology
Smith Dorothy [email protected] Science education
Smith Nicholas [email protected] Social and cultural anthropology
Soares da Costa Tatiana P. [email protected] Diaminopimelate pathway, lysine, herbicide, bacteriology
Sohi Rajneet Singh [email protected]
Spangenberg German [email protected] Plant genetics and genomics
Spithill Terry [email protected] Liver fluke, Fasciola, vaccine, molecular parasitology, drug resistance
Stanisich Vilma [email protected] Microbiology, molecular genetics
Steinbauer Martin [email protected] Insect-plant interactions, chemical ecology, Psylloidea, entomology, plant physiology
Stewart Alistair [email protected] Environmental education, outdoor education
Stirling Emma [email protected] Nutrition, food production and processing, nutrition composition and profiling
Stoffels Rick [email protected] Environmental management and ecology
Supski Sian [email protected] Sustainability and social justice
Suter Phillip [email protected] Taxonomy, DNA, morphological characteristics, thermal conditions, alpine spring
Tabacco Jamie Lucas [email protected]
Tang Caixian [email protected] Soil management, crop nutrition, rhizosphere, soil constraints
Tatucu Oana [email protected] Critical care nutrition, gastrointestinal system
Tay David [email protected] Big data analytics, signal processing
Tegegne Surafel Melaku [email protected] Micronutrients, c. elegans, axenic media
Tenorio Pedro [email protected] Biodiversity conservation, ecosystem resilience valuation, tropical forests
Thomas Colleen [email protected] Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, myocardial ischaemia, gene therapy, micro RNA
Thomas Philippa
Tisdall Judith [email protected] Viticultural science and soil science
Toet Hayley [email protected] Animal and veterinary bioscience, liver fluke
Torabi Torab [email protected] Software engineering, mobile development, system modelling, simulation
Tran An [email protected] Engineering, broadband communication networks and systems
Triadis Dimetre [email protected] Mathematics, statistics, differential geometry
Truscott Kaye [email protected] Biochemistry, molecular biology, mitochondria biogenesis, neurodegenerative diseases
Tucci Joseph [email protected] Microbiology, bacteriophage alternatives to antibiotics
Turnbull Jodi [email protected] Victorian goldfields
Uren Nicholas [email protected] Soil chemistry, agricultural science
Van Der Weerden Nicole [email protected] Biotechnology, biochemistry and molecular biology
Vassiliadis Simone [email protected]
Vaux David [email protected] Biochemistry, molecular science, cancer, cell death
Veneer Prem [email protected]
Venn Susanna [email protected] Plant ecology, alpine ecology, community ecology, snow ecology
Villacorte Cecilia [email protected]
Walker David [email protected] Forest and agricultural economics, climate change
Walker Lyn [email protected] Administration
39
Capability Statement
Wang Yan [email protected] Mitochondrial retrograde signalling, plant stress resistance, mitochondrial respiration
Wang Xiaojuan (Juan) [email protected] Soil organic carbon, soil acidification, rhizosphere priming effect, phosphorus acquisition
Warren Anne [email protected] Zoology
Watanabe Yugo [email protected] CRH, TSH, pituitary, thyroid hormone, life stage transitions
Watson Simon [email protected] Threatened species, conservation management
Watson Garth [email protected]
Weaver Debbie [email protected] Learning, teaching, online learning
Webb John [email protected] Hydrogeology, hydrogeochemistry, geomorphology
Webster Kate [email protected] Sport, exercise and rehabilitation
Wells John [email protected]
Westerman Michael [email protected] Phylogenetics, biogeography, dasyuridae, peramelemorphia, kangaroos
Weston Ross [email protected] Biochemistry, molecular biology
Wheeler Melanie [email protected]
Whelan James (Jim) [email protected] Arabidopsis rice, phosphate, abiotic stress, retrograde signalling, genomics
White Lloyd [email protected] Human anatomy
Whiteman Kendra [email protected] Agribioscience, visitor and student coordination
Wilkens Sabine [email protected] Soil, water, ecology
Wilmsen Brooke [email protected] Social policy, migration, sustainable livelihoods
Wilson Jessica [email protected]
Wiltshire Jen [email protected] Soil, ecology, environment
Wishart David [email protected] Intellectual property, corporate law
Woelkerling William [email protected] Taxonomy, ecology, biodiversity
Wood David [email protected]
Woodings Laura [email protected]
Woolley Patricia [email protected] Reproductive biology of dasyurid marsupials of Australia and New Guinea
Wright Joanne [email protected] Administration, building healthy communities
Wright David [email protected] Research performance
Xu Jianming [email protected] Soil, biology, biochemistry
Yen Alan [email protected] Applied systems biology
Contacts and further information
Securing Food, Water and the Environment RFA
La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086
T: 03 9032 7463
W: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/research/research-focus-areas/securing-food-water-environment