Agriculture Victoria‘s expanding education program is enhancing the opportunities for students at all educational levels who are passionate about STEM.
Agriculture Victoria Research Higher Education Manager Kendra Whiteman said a program for PhD students has been running in collaboration with La Trobe University (LTU) and the University of Melbourne (UoM) since 2012.
“We currently have 65 PhD students under supervision as well as a large cohort of Masters students who started this summer. More recently, interest in our partnered PhD program has broadened,” Whiteman stated.
She noted that Agriculture Victoria is now expanding partnerships with several universities to offer industry-based PhD research and internship opportunities, including Federation University, Victoria University, University of Tasmania, Deakin University, and RMIT.
“We have received excellent feedback from everyone involved in the process — students, supervisors, staff, tertiary institutions and our stakeholders,” she stated.
“Supervising students is mutually beneficial. They bring fresh knowledge from their study to our research and in return gain much from working side by side with our expert agricultural research scientists in a multi-disciplinary and hi-tech environment,” she added. “When they finish their study, they leave us with a very practical skillset for working in applied agricultural research, with exposure to modern scientific equipment and techniques, plus professional development opportunities like contract management and scientific communication skills.”
“Many of the students we supervise have had the opportunity to present their research to industry stakeholders, including some national and international events, or have had their work featured in industry publications or the wider media,” she continued.
Whiteman mentioned that the Get Into AgSTEM Program, an in-house initiative for primary and secondary students, runs statewide throughout the school year.
Additionally, through its AgriBio Centre for AgriBioScience in Melbourne and all of its regional SmartFarms, Agriculture Victoria promotes agriculture as a career choice by providing secondary school work experience and placements for TAFE students.
