Charles Sturt University (CSU) Bachelor of Agricultural Science students demonstrated their grain industry knowledge by placing second in the team category of the Australian Universities Crop Competition. The three-day event, held in Temora from Wednesday 18 to Friday 20 September, saw students from six universities tested on everything from grain grading and yield potential through to weed identification, business skills and farm management software. Dr Sergio Moroni, lecturer in crop agronomy from CSU’s School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, coached the team and said the students performed well. “It takes a great effort and independent training for this competition as students volunteered to represent the University and their preparation was done outside of their current study obligations,” he said. CSU was represented by Mr Cameron Prien, Mr Nathanael Liersch, Ms Georgia Branson, Mr Lachlan Vogan and Mr Jamie Thornberry. The annual competition is hosted by GrainGrowers.

Representatives of the Australian Rugby Union and Samoa Rugby Union will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst this week to advise and prepare 13 female CSU students for their visit to schools in Samoa in mid-November to coach female school students who play rugby. Dr Matthew Winslade, lecturer at the School of Human Movement Studies said the trip is part of the University’s participation in the Pacific in Union: Mass Participation Program – Rugby4Schools. The Pacific in Union representatives are Mr Warren Robilliard and Ms Jocelyn Elliott from Australian Rugby Union, and Mr Luke Fonoti Gates with Samoa Rugby Union. “Our pre-service teachers will work with and gain firsthand experience from three of the most experienced sports outreach educators in the Pacific region,” Dr Winslade said. “Warren and Jocelyn have spent extensive time teaching, coaching and creating sports-based health programs for the South Pacific. Luke will travel from the Samoan capital, Apia, to Bathurst to provide our students with invaluable practical and cultural knowledge on Samoan culture prior to their departure. Our pre-service teachers can contribute to a worthwhile and successful international program aligned with the United Nations Millennium Goals and supported by the Australian Rugby Union to improve health outcomes for Samoan children. This training will help prepare our students for the cultural differences they will experience while in Samoa, and assist them to in working with school children and community groups.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Andrew Vann will meet with community leaders around Wagga Wagga to discuss how CSU can deliver more benefits for the city and community. Professor Vann will host the Vice-Chancellor’s Regional Leaders Luncheon at CSU in Wagga Wagga on Friday 4 October for community leaders and partners to strengthen partnerships in the region. Professor Vann said the luncheon was an opportunity to discuss how the University could work more closely with community and business groups. “The luncheon will bring together community leaders and partners to discuss the contribution of Charles Sturt University,” he said. “More importantly, it will provide an opportunity for the community to tell us about the opportunities they see for the University to contribute and identify the challenges we can work together to overcome.” Guests will be invited to contribute thoughts and suggestions during the luncheon, which will be held at CSU in Wagga Wagga, from noon to 2pm.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) researchers investigating the detection, prevention and monitoring of diabetes are seeking participants at CSU in Orange in November. Biomedical Sciences lecturer with CSU’s School of Community Health, Dr Hayder Al-Aubaidy, said the research will seek new biochemical markers to screen patients for diabetes and abnormally low blood glucose levels which show prediabetes to predict the development of diabetic complications such as cardiovascular and renal disease and to monitor patients’ responses to treatment. “The earlier we can detect prediabetes, the better chance we have to prevent progression into diabetes and reduce the risk of diabetic complications,” he said. Study participants will have their blood pressure, height and weight measured, body mass index calculated, and blood and urine samples taken to test for biochemical indicators including blood sugar, glycosylated haemoglobin, and blood fats. Participants also answer questions about their overall health, medical conditions and current medication. “We will give each participant the results of their tests, including blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels,” Dr Al-Aubaidy said. Each session will take about an hour, and will be conducted at CSU in Orange in early November. To participate in the study or for more details, contact Dr Al-Aubaidy on (02) 6365 7512 or send an email.

Fifteen nursing students who have completed a three-year degree at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo will be farewelled by staff at a special luncheon at the University on Tuesday 15 October. They are among a cohort of 207 nursing students from across the CSU School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health who will graduate at the end of this semester, and who are now are eligible to register with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority. Ms Lyn Croxon, program leader for the Bachelor of Nursing in the CSU School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health, said, “The students have just returned to the campus after eight weeks of placement, four weeks of which focused on the transition to practice as a Registered Nurse. They received invaluable support from the staff in the various hospitals in which they undertook the clinical placement. Clinical practice is an integral and valuable component of the course, preparing our future nurses for the workplace, and the University thanks the regional health services for their support of our programs.” The students come from Dubbo and the surrounding regional towns of Gilgandra, Cobar, Narromine, Parkes and Narrabri. The majority of graduates will accept positions as Registered Nurses with the Western NSW Local Health Network, while some individuals have been offered positions in Newcastle, Wollongong and Gosford.

The talents of the final year photography students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be on show at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery from Friday 25 October during the annual graduation exhibition. Thirteen students from the School of Communication and Creative Arts at CSU in Wagga Wagga will display their many styles and techniques during Envisage. The exhibition runs until Sunday 15 December. Envisage will be launched by Associate Professor Helen Ennis from the School of Art at the Australian National University from 6pm to 8pm on Saturday 26 October. Associate Professor Ennis is one of Australia’s leading photography curators, historians and writers. She was formerly Curator of Photography at the National Gallery of Australia. As part of the exhibition, six of the exhibiting students will each speak about their practice and what the CSU degree has given them during a free forum at the Gallery from midday to 1.30pm on Friday 25 October. The students are due to graduate from CSU in Wagga Wagga during a ceremony on December.  

The head of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Associate Professor Nick O’Brien, will deliver a public lecture in Port Macquarie titled Terrorism and Australia: Risk and prevention, including the role of financing in terrorism. The lecture, at the Glasshouse on Wednesday 23 October, is the fourth in a series which has brought speakers from a range of disciplines to share the latest ideas, thinking and opinions on contemporary social, scientific and cultural issues with the Port Macquarie community. Professor O’Brien joined CSU after a distinguished career in policing, including roles as Commander of the international counterterrorism group in Special Branch at New Scotland Yard. CSU Port Macquarie Campus Director Dr Muyesser Durur said the community response to the lecture series had been very encouraging. “The community has really embraced this concept,” she said. “Part of Charles Sturt University’s role on the Mid North Coast is to bring the latest ideas from the University’s areas of research directly to the community and this lecture series has demonstrated that’s something our community is very interested in.” 

The latest debate on climate change and bushfires is “the discussion the Australian community has to have”, a senior CSU ecologist says. Associate Professor David Watson with the University’s Institute for Land, Water and Society said the latest debate is a timely reminder of the importance of extreme weather events in Australia. “Recent reports have shown climate change is real and is linked to increasing extremes in weather such as droughts and dry periods, which will increase the chance of bushfires,” said Professor Watson. “Increasing incidences of floods and cyclones are also more likely with climate change, so we as a nation need to consider how we are going to address this. We need to plan for both short-term responses and longer term planning of our cities and settlements across Australia and the various landscapes that will be affected. This is not a political issue — in 2006, then Prime Minister John Howard linked human-induced climate change with increased bushfire risk.  Insurers, agronomists and many other industries are already planning for increases in bushfires, severe storms and other extreme events, so it seems incongruous that the federal government is not being more pro-active.  We cannot afford to sit back and just let climate change happen with doing something about it,” he said.