Our world-class training will skill a cohesive plant biosecurity cohort that is agile, communicative, economically savvy, and socially aware. Our students will undertake a tailored program co-designed with our Partner Organisations, including bespoke mentoring and training opportunities.
Our students and early-career researchers will leave the Centre with enhanced professional skills, ‘job ready’ for the sector and part of a cohort which will facilitate lifelong connectivity and networking across the sector.
– Program Leader, Deputy Director Lori Lach
Details
Training retreats
We are planning annual professional development week-long training retreats at university field stations (e.g., ANU Kioloa campus on NSW coast, and JCU Daintree Rainforest Observatory). All courses will be co-designed and delivered with partners.
Our training retreats will build a solid foundation for PhD students and postdoctoral research fellows to be successful in the biosecurity sector. Drawing on the expertise of Centre academics and partners, we will offer training in professional skills including leadership, cultural awareness and diversity, project management, writing, communication, data management, media training, and entrepreneurship. We will equip people to perform rigorous, robust research that is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and can be translated into industrial and societal benefits.
From Year 3 onward, we will offer bootcamps aimed at increasing scientific outputs and writing a thesis. We will extend our entrepreneurial, intellectual property, and industry-focused training components, and include Career Days with partners.
Short courses and subject-specific training
Subject-specific courses will run in Years 2 to 4 of the Centre to build skills and knowledge in specialty areas. These courses will be delivered either in short-term intensive workshops or half day courses over several weeks.
Courses without a “hands-on” component will be delivered online to ensure that they are accessible to students, postdoctoral researchers and partner organisations in any location.
Proposed training courses include:
- Genomics and nanopore sequencing
- Policy
- Advanced linear modelling and biostatistics
- Programming including R and Python
- Machine learning
- Spatial analysis and remote sensing
- eDNA sampling, portable in-field genomic analysis
- Research-to-impact translation
Diversity and inclusion
The Centre will undertake multiple activities to promote equity, diversity, inclusion (EDI) student and to create a talent pipeline for our partners. Activities will include:
Balanced PhD advisory panels: PhD students will benefit from having advisory panels that include both academics and non-academic partners. These panels will align with students’ career aspirations.
Diversity programs and support grants: The Centre will provide mentoring for underrepresented groups to accelerate their career progression and provide additional travel funding for carers.
Indigenous student supports: The Centre will encourage Indigenous students to apply for PhD scholarships within the Centre in collaboration with James Cook University’s new ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures.
Innovation Ignition grants: A mini-grants program will be available to give opportunities to PhD students and early carer researchers to follow innovative ideas and support the translation of their research. Priority will be given to cross-theme and cross-institution collaborations.
Outreach programs and public engagement: The Centre will participate in outreach through events such as National Science Week and University Open Days. School outreach opportunities that are industry inspired and curriculum aligned will be delivered using the model developed by our Chief Investigator Dr Joyce for She Maps, Australia‘s leading schools’ geospatial education company.