Lumen Winter 2023 - Flipbook - Page 26
Re-engaging
with the world
By Jess Gallagher
Now that COVID has subsided, and the
world is once again open for business, the
University of Adelaide has been able to
resume its strong engagement around
the world.
This work continued virtually and online
throughout the pandemic. Now, happily,
our students, staff, alumni, and University
partners are once again able to re-enter the
world and meet each other in person.
The links we share as a University span
every continent. The University of Adelaide,
as a top 100 university, is a true global
citizen with students and staff drawn from
around the world – and partnerships in
dozens of countries.
These partnerships include linkages with
business, governments, researchers and
universities with whom we share our
expertise, and from whom we learn. Of
course, we also have our family of thousands
of alumni scattered around the world as our
ambassadors.
In recent years, our Adelaide campuses have
suffered, along with the rest of the world,
from this lack of interconnectivity. Without
our international students – indeed for a
while without any students – our University
was a very different place.
Now, gladly, all of our students are back,
and life is getting back to normal.
The connections we forge are at every
level, each of them important, with many
leading to lifelong academic and business
partnerships.
A recent example of this is PhD candidate
Alison Gill from our School of Agriculture,
Food and Wine. Ali has recently returned
home after her time at the University
of California, Berkeley, as a Fulbright
Scholarship recipient.
Her study is particularly pertinent for
this issue of Lumen with its focus on
sustainability.
26
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
Ali wrote about her “privilege” to have
been able to spend nine months living
and studying in the USA, describing it as
“transformative, both professionally and
personally”.
Vietnam – carbon removal
“My project investigated the effect of soil
management and variety on the productivity
of dry-farmed tomatoes,” she wrote.
Biochar is a durable form of permanent
carbon storage which can also be used as
soil conditioning, water filtration and as an
animal feed that lowers emissions.
“Dry farming is a method of growing crops
without irrigation during a dry season,
historically used by Indigenous groups and
Mediterranean farmers.
“My time as a visiting researcher in the
Agroecology Lab was an incredible learning
experience that expanded my technical and
research skills.
“I am confident that my new networks will
be important as I navigate my future career.”
No doubt many readers - staff, students,
faculty, alumni - will understand what she
means from their own experiences, and the
vital importance of these linkages.
I have little doubt Ali’s experiences and
new academic relationships will continue
to evolve – and her research in the field of
arid farming has obvious applications to our
own State as we learn how to adapt to our
changing climate.
Forming face-to-face bonds like these are
exactly why the Vice-Chancellor, senior
leaders, faculty heads and I will undertake
five missions this year – to countries
including India, China, Indonesia, Vietnam,
USA, UK, France and Germany.
These missions are a critical way for us to
continue to strengthen our relationships
with our alumni as well as attract research
and funding, and forge ongoing and new
linkages with universities.
This ongoing relationship development
has already created numerous fruitful
partnerships and collaborations which are
ongoing and significant.
Some snapshots include:
The University is an active partner in a
project to establish a facility in Vietnam’s
Mekong Delta to turn waste biomass from
agricultural activities into biochar.
This work, led by Dr Nam Nghiep Tran,
Associate Dean, International Strategic
Partnerships (South East Asia), within
the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and
Technology, aims to create green jobs,
improve livelihoods and reduce air and
water pollution in the area.
Separately, the University recently took
a group of students on a study tour to
Vietnam, funded under the Australian
Government’s New Colombo Plan.
They investigated sustainable water
management, hosted by key partners
including the Hanoi University of Science
and Technology, Can Tho University and
the Ho Chi Minh University of Technology.
Global collaboration - Plants for Space
Our University now has a new research
centre – the Australian Research Council
(ARC) Centre for Excellence in Plants for
Space (P4S).
P4S is a major global collaboration
comprising 15 academic institutions,
five space agencies, five controlledenvironment agriculture companies, six
education providers and seven government
and technology partners across the US,
Switzerland, Germany, France the UK
and Australia.
The centre, led by Professor Matthew
Gilliham, will focus on channelling
international expertise to find ways to
provide the next generation of space
explorers with nutritious foods, and ondemand materials and medicines.
The P4S mission is to re-imagine plant
design and bioresource production to
enable off-Earth habitation – and improve
sustainability of life on Earth.
