NSW Department of Primary Industries | CSU Homepage
26 November 2007
PhD opportunity 2008-2010
Researchers at the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (an alliance between Charles Sturt University and NSW DPI) have received funding from the latest ARC Discovery round for a project entitled “Fingerprinting the soil microbial metagenome”.
This innovative project will quantify and benchmark soil biodiversity in Australian agriculture using sophisticated, novel genotyping methods. The results are expected to provide a low cost method of benchmarking soil biodiversity which will lead to enhanced sustainability and profit in Australian agriculture and will place Australia at the forefront of this highly competitive research field.
Soil-based problems cost Australia over $2700 million annually. Many of these problems are man-made. Soil biodiversity is an indicator of soil quality and sustainability. The understanding of the impact of current farming systems on soil biology is in its infancy. Technology previously used to examine soil biology only investigates a very small percentage of all soil organisms. Researchers, in this project, will use an innovative new technology (Diversity Arrays Technology) to rapidly gain an overview of all soil microbial biodiversity. They will then evaluate the impact of agricultural practices on that biodiversity, firstly based on their long term trial site exhibiting common farming practices, and then by a broader regional survey. The longer term goal is to find microbiological indicators of healthy soil through a vastly improved ability to determine a wide range of beneficial and disease organisms and to use these indicators to identify sustainable farming practices.
As part of this project, a PhD scholarship is available for a suitably qualified student. It is essential that applicants should have a strong background in molecular biology, whilst experience in microbiology (or plant pathology) and soil science would be an advantage. The stipend for the project will be $25,000 (tax-free) per annum with a budget for operating costs and travel (with the opportunity to receive top up funding from the Graham Centre).
Prospective students would be expected to have upper second class or first class honours or a Masters degree.
How to apply:
Prospective students should contact:
- Associate Professor Gavin Ash, tel (02) 6933 2765, gash@csu.edu.au; or
- Dr Mark Conyers, tel (02) 6938 1830, mark.conyers@dpi.nsw.gov.au