With climate change and carbon trading high on the national agenda, Border organisation will look at the opportunities for local farmers and land mangers to take advantage of the proposed carbon trading system. Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS), in collaboration with Australian Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Forum, will host a forum on Wednesday 17 September to discuss carbon trading and its implications for rural businesses and wider communities, including the genuine and ‘other’ entrepreneurs who are expected to offer environmental services to them. The panel of carbon trading and environmental experts will include Martijn Wilder, head of Baker & McKenzie's global change and emissions trading practice, and Professor Max Finlayson, ILWS director and internationally recognised wetland ecologist and advisor to the Australian Prime Minister on carbon trading, as well as Professors Mark Morrison and Allan Curtis from ILWS. Other partners in the event are the Victorian North East Catchment Management Authority, the Victorian Department of Primary Industries and Plantations North East.

The recent decision by the Federal government to reduce the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) loan repayments for science and mathematics programs offered by Australian universities is a positive message for young Australians, especially those in inland areas, says the Dean of the Faculty of Science at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Professor Nick Klomp. “The move recognises the importance of science for Australia’s future in the knowledge world,” he says. “Although total university enrolments have increased in recent decades, enrolments in science courses have not. This recent federal announcement will help Australia obtain the science graduates it needs to meet the scientific, environmental and technological challenges of the 21st century.” CSU offers science courses in such diverse areas as agricultural, veterinary and wine sciences, dental, biomedical and health sciences, environmental and water sciences, and science teaching.

Spring has definitely sprung with daffodils blooming and bees buzzing, which also announces ‘Buzz Day’, a Diabetes Australia initiative raising funds into diabetes research. Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Dr Herbert Jelinek supports the day, saying “Events like Buzz Day are essential to raise funds for research into diabetes," he says. "Without these funds, research projects like the studies we are conducting at CSU in the Border region could not happen.” A diabetes expert, Dr Herbert Jelinek is concerned at the rapid growth of diabetes on the Border and around Australia in recent years. “Diabetes is the fastest growing disease in Australia, a trend reflected in regional areas including Albury-Wodonga,” he said. An annual fundraising event, Diabetes Buzz Day is the biggest appeal by Diabetes Australia and aims to raise $400 000 for diabetes awareness, education, research and advocacy programs.  

A keynote address by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic to a national conference in Melbourne on Monday 22 September will advocate that the concept of ‘cultural competence’ is necessary as a teaching framework for university-trained professionals because social attitudes and the services professionals provide to Indigenous Australians remain powerful barriers to achieving social justice. Ms Wendy Nolan, lecturer and Deputy Director of the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Centre for Indigenous Studies at its Dubbo Campus in NSW, will speak on Changing Paradigms, Changing Practices: A Cultural Competency Approach at the Indigenous Australians: Safe and Competent Counselling Practices Conference. “Australia’s professionals must have the skills to increase their professional capacity to work effectively to achieve social justice for Indigenous Australians,” Ms Nolan said. “Australian universities have a significant role to ensure that all graduates have a sound knowledge and understanding of Indigenous cultures, histories and issues.”

Special recognition has been given by Charles Sturt University (CSU) to several staff for their commitment to developing their leadership and management skills. CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, attended a special presentation for the staff in Wagg Wagga on Monday 22 September for the seven staff who completed the Graduate Certificate in University Leadership and Management. The qualification is offered through the CSU Faculty of Business as part of a CSU objective to provide a range of learning opportunities and resources for current and future leaders. The staff are Mr Peter Jones, Manager of Campus Services in the Division of Facilities Management (DFM) at the Albury-Wodonga Campus; Ms Shelley McMenamin, University Records Manager in the Division of Information Technology (DIT), Albury-Wodonga Campus; Mr Jorge Rebolledo, Academic Registrar and lecturer in Research Methods at the United Theological College, Parramatta Campus; Mr Brian Roberson, Manager, Technology Integration in DIT, Bathurst Campus; Mr Wayne Millar, Director of Operations in the DFM; Mr Sam Parker, Team Leader, Systems and Business Processes at the Learning Materials Centre at Wagga Wagga Campus; and Mrs Miriam Dayhew, University Ombudsman.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) strong tradition of working with farmers to provide solutions to agricultural challenges is continuing through collaboration on a project with Murrumbidgee Landcare to manage drought through sustainable farming systems. Funded by grocery giant Woolworths, the project was launched by the NSW Minister for Primary Industries, The Hon. Ian Macdonald, MP, at the Henty Machinery Fields Days in the Riverina on Tuesday 23 September. Researchers from the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation will work on the project with Murrumbidgee Landcare and farmers at Henty, Junee, Mirrool Creek and Harden. Centre director Professor Deirdre Lemerle says encouraging farmers to retain the stubble from cereal crops, rather than burning it, increases soil moisture and carbon content. “The funding means we can continue to work closely with farmers to manage stubble for soil health, which, in association with integrated weed management, aims to secure the long term sustainability of agriculture,” she said.

An innovative Charles Sturt University (CSU) program to educate and train Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to work as mental health and drug and alcohol practitioners in their communities will be on show later this week. Nine final year students in the Bachelor of Health Science (Mental Health) will attend an Indigenous mental health conference on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus on Thursday 25 September. The students from across Australia will address mental health topics involving colonisation, carers, Aboriginal women, drugs and sexual assault. Known as the Djirruwang Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health program, the course aims to build workforce capacity and improve health care in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities by equipping the graduates to work in mainstream and cultural organisations and communities. The conference is being held during the students’ final residential school at CSU. Professor Elaine Duffy, Head of the CSU School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mr Ray Eldridge, the Manager of CSU Indigenous Support Unit, and Mr Wayne Rigby, the Director of the Djirruwang program, will also address the conference.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) academics have moved into their new ‘green home’ as part of the next phase of the University’s $40 million building program at Thurgoona. The building will initially house over 20 academic, research and general staff from the new School of Business and Information Technology (SBIT). It includes a ground-breaking material which helps regulate temperatures inside buildings to reduce the need for air conditioning. Developed by German-based industrial chemical company BASF, the building material is in the form of special plaster boards and flooring screed. This material includes small granules of a waxlike material that liquefies at higher temperatures, increasing its capacity to absorb heat from surrounding air. The building also includes other energy saving and environmentally friendly features such as double glazed windows, good use of daylight to reduce the need for office lighting, rainwater collection for flushing toilets, an automated building management system to control ventilation and temperature, and roof funnels for purging hot air from the building at night. The University is awaiting final notification of the ‘green star’ rating of the building with the Green Building Council of Australia.

‘So much sky’ was one of the early impressions of post-World War II immigrants from war-torn Europe when they arrived at the Bonegilla Reception and Training Centre near Wodonga between 1947 and 1971. Over many years, Bruce Pennay, an adjunct Associate Professor with Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS), has researched the stories of these newcomers to the vast Australian continent. Starting at 11am on Friday 12 September as part of National History Week, Professor Pennay will launch So Much Sky, a history of the Bonegilla centre which traces the migrants’ journeys and relates to the post-war immigration which was the biggest demographic change for Australia since the gold rushes of the nineteenth century. So Much Sky and an associated website were jointly funded by Albury City and the NSW Migration Heritage Centre.