University of Queensland researchers Sabrina Morrison and Brendan Fu have been awarded Crawford Fund Student Awards, which will see them conducting important agriculture research overseas.
The Crawford Fund supports student visits to developing countries, so they can gain valuable experience and expertise overseas both on-site and via supported engagement with overseas work.
Sabrina and Brendan shared some information on what they’ll be working on, the implications of their work, and what they’re most excited about when it comes to their opportunities.
Sabrina Morrison, who studies plant diseases at UQ’s Aitken Lab, is heading to Uruguay to conduct research on a fungal disease named net form of net blotch (NFNB), which causes massive yield losses and reductions in grain quality in barley.
“Breeding for resistance against this disease is a priority for both Australian and international barley industries,” Sabrina said.
“Through my collaboration with the National Agriculture Research Institute of Uruguay, I’m hoping to identify new genes in barley that confer resistance against exotic strains of NFNB.
“These findings will be integrated into a larger project funded by the Grains Research & Development Corporation, which aims to breed durable resistance into Australian barley cultivars and protect our industry from NFNB in the future.
“I’m excited to meet and work alongside international researchers in the same field as me, and to experience research in a whole new culture and environment.
“Barley is such an important cereal to Australia and Uruguay and having the opportunity to conduct research that will impact both local and overseas industries is really exciting.”
Brendan Fu, who is currently completing his PhD in plant physiology and breeding at UQ, will be heading to Malaysia as part of his research opportunity.
“The project I’ll be working on is about establishing best practices for soil analytics for integration into an analytics platform,” he said.
“The objective is to optimise fertilizer management in plantation holdings in Malaysia.
“Fertiliser use and its unintended consequences is a major bottleneck for large scale plantations.
“This project will bring together major industry players and research institutes in Malaysia to come together for the application of novel technologies to target longstanding production bottlenecks in conventional plantation holdings.”
Brendan believes the collaboration of different organisations and researchers from across the globe will play an important role in addressing any potential areas of improvement for collaborators and their organisations.
“I think the collaboration will enable both parties to build capacities in areas that they don’t usually specialise in,” he said.
Sabrina also believes that collaboration with a more global outlook will ultimately provide more holistic solutions to issues that impact the entire world.
“It provides a great opportunity to share knowledge and develop new technologies, which is particularly important for tackling global challenges, such as crop diseases and food security,” she said.
“I’m hoping that this opportunity will help me make life-long connections with other people in my field, and strengthen the relationship between Australia and other countries, so that we can continue facilitating these collaborations in the future.”
