PhD student assists with agricultural education in Africa

(L-R) Dr Samia Gargouri, Noel Knight, Dr Gharbi Mohamed Salah and Phillip Davies collecting wheat samples

Centre for Systems Biology PhD student Noel Knight recently returned from North Africa where he assisted some of Australia's leading plant disease experts to deliver a two week Master Class on ‘Soil-Borne Pathogens of Wheat'.

The Master Class was delivered to 20 young scientists from Tunisia, Algeria, Iran, Kazakhstan, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Turkey.

The class was partially sponsored by the Australian Government's Crawford Fund which is dedicated to international agricultural research aimed at reducing poverty and hunger, enhancing regional security, sustaining the natural resource base for agriculture and providing benefits to Australian farmers.

'The Master Class featured a mix of lectures, laboratory workshops and field trips,' Noel said.

Noel's role was to act as a technical assistant during laboratory and field sessions.

'It was a privilege for me to work alongside world experts in soil-borne cereal diseases.'

Noel said his travels represented a unique opportunity to experience the application of agricultural research in one of the world's fastest growing regions.

Leaders of the Master Class were drawn from University of Sydney, University of Adelaide, SARDI (South Australian Research & Development Institute), CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, Turkey), ICARDA (International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Syria) and INRAT (National Agricultural Research Institute of Tunisia).

Following the Master Class, Noel travelled to Turkey with CIMMYT's Dr Julie Nicol to visit field trials in her disease screening program.

'The networks I have established will enhance the reputation of the Crop Improvement Group within CSBi and provide us with very valuable collaborations in the future,' he said.

CSBi Centre Director, Mark Sutherland, said the organisation worked hard to give its research students a global perspective on the work they were involved in.

The CSBi was formally launched in February 2007. It facilitates research in understanding complex biological functions.

Media Contact: Ally Martell, USQ Media +61 7 4631 2092