NCEA forum to attract industry leaders

A forum held by the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA) at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) is expected to attract industry leaders to the University's Toowoomba Campus next week (Monday 18 June 2007).

The forum, which is the first of its kind to be hosted by the NCEA, is a chance for the industry to get an insight into different areas in which the centre is currently active.

'The forum is an opportunity for us to showcase the different programs and projects that we have here at the NCEA,' Director of the NCEA Erik Schmidt said.

'This is the first time that we will hold the forum in this format and it will give our research partners an overview of what we do.'

Local, state and national organisations from a variety of research areas will be represented at the forum.

'There will be people from cotton and sugar groups and Dairy Innovation Australia as well as from Natural Resources and Water (NRW) and State Development,' Mr Schmidt said.

'The Queensland Murray Darling Committee (QMDC) and the Condamine Alliance will also be in attendance and some officials from the Commonwealth Government have also accepted our invitation.

'Some of the USQ's other research groups will also be at the forum.'

Leading research in areas such as irrigation and water, mechatronics and machine vision and precision ag and machinery systems, the forum is the NCEA's chance to be in the national spotlight.

'This is all about marketing for us and also giving people a better understanding of our role.

'We want our research partners to get a good feel for what we do.

'This is the first time that we have done something like this but we want to do it annually.'

The NCEA forum will be held in the USQ Toowoomba Council Chamber Room between 10am and 5pm.

Media are welcome to attend the event.

Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 1628