The University of Newcastle’s Ourimbah campus is now home to the first ever Australian Food & Agribusiness Doctoral Training Centre.
The Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER) centre was launched on March 31 at an event hosted by Regional Development Australia Central Coast and officially opened by Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch.
It will bring together students, academics and industry leaders from the agribusiness arena to achieve better solutions across the globally important sector.
RDACC Chair, Lawrie McKinna, said the opening of the centre highlights the Central Coast as an emerging leader in the agribusiness sector and marks a key milestone of the Central Coast’s Food Innovation Initiative.
“With the increasing pressure on food producers, manufacturers and farmers to deal with population growth, food security and climate change, food innovation and agribusiness development is a focus point for the Central Coast to boost our economic and social outcomes,” McKinna said.
“Back in 2018, RDACC and Central Coast Industry Connect recognised a formal partnership with the University of Newcastle to build on our region’s existing strengths and establish ourselves as a leader in the food and agribusiness sector.
“One of the main objectives of this Food Innovation Initiative was to establish a Centre of Excellence with industry, business and government partners to inspire new ideas, new ways of working and to help find smarter solutions to the challenges this industry faces.
“The opening of this landmark centre here on the Central Coast is another vital step to delivering this aim and gives our region even greater credibility as a central hub of food and agribusiness innovation”.
The new centre will bring together research collaborators to experiment with new technologies, learn new approaches, policy concepts, cultural ideas and commercial innovations.
PhD candidates will work on research projects developed in collaboration with industry partners and supported by a multi-disciplinary academic team.
Source:
Media release, Mar 31
Regional Development Australia Central Coast