A leading Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic will lead a team of researchers contributing to the recently announced five-year, $30 million Australian Centre for Groundwater Research and Training. Professor Allan Curtis, a social researcher with the CSU Institute for Land, Water and Society is well known for his work in natural resource management and rural communities in South Eastern Australia. Professor Curtis says the project aims to improve Australia’s capacity to better manage ground water resources which are threatened by over-extraction and pollution. “While the Centre will examine issues around the sustainable harvesting of groundwater resources, including the interactions between surface and groundwater, there is an important contribution for social research in terms of engaging groundwater users in developing practices that make more effective use of groundwater; and developing innovative arrangements that lead to more sustainable use of groundwater,” he said. The new centre is a partnership of 20 organisations including the Australian Research Council and the National Water Commission, CSIRO and 12 universities. Professor Curtis, along with other CSU researchers including Dr Digby Race and Dr Maureen Rogers, will work to identify projects to be funded over the next six months.

Final year advertising and advertising/marketing students at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Communication will benefit from a fourth scholarship offered by OMD Media. Announcing the $2 500 scholarship, the Head of the School and advertising course co-ordinator, Associate Professor Rod McCulloch, said, “This scholarship augments three existing scholarships from OMD Media, OMD Digital and DDB Advertising. It provides monetary recognition to the student and a guaranteed internship at OMD that could lead to the offer of a full-time position. It’s classic win-win; the School is able to offer support to our best students, and OMD gets the first opportunity to employ them.” OMD is one of Australia’s largest media agencies, and the scholarship, which is endowed on behalf of its new strategic media planning company PHD, will be available from 2009.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has already reached its 2015 target for water savings having slashed its water use by over 40 per cent in the past two years. These figures were highlighted in the 2008 CSU Environmental Scorecard recently released by the University. “This is a fantastic effort across the whole University, all the more important as most of these campuses are or have been in drought declared areas across NSW,” said William Adlong, Manager of CSU’s sustainability office, CSU Green. “Water usage at CSU in 2008 decreased by 16 per cent.” Energy use has decreased by eight per cent since 2006, with a slight increase by 1.5 percent during 2008. “However, there has been an increase in the area of buildings heated and cooled as CSU continued its extensive building program in 2007 and 2008,” said CSU Energy Manager Edward Maher. CSU is also addressing the carbon emissions caused by its staff travelling in cars and aircraft by replacing its large petrol cars with hybrid, diesel and small four cylinder cars in 2009.

The war against weeds in the NSW Central West continues and one Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher is determined to help win the battle. A dominant weed in the region is serrated tussock, one of Australia's most noxious weeds estimated to cost NSW farmers more than $40 million each year in lost production. Dr Aaron Simmons from the University’s School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences will be talking at regional meetings organised by the NSW/ACT Serrated Tussock Working Party about results from research conducted over the past four years by researchers at CSU and the NSW Department of Primary Industries. “The research has been used to improve current guidelines on best management practice for controlling serrated tussock in native pastures,“ Dr Simmons says. “'Serrated tussock has no boundaries - it is not just a 'farmer's' problem, it's an environmental problem that belongs to the whole community.“

A new book examining the mixed reactions to the influence of Hollywood on national and local cinemas will be launched in Bathurst on Thursday 7 May by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Professor Anthony Cahalan. Loving & Hating Hollywood – Reframing global and local cinema by Associate Professor Jane Mills from the CSU School of Communication, argues that cinema, an art form for more than 100 years, is in a state of constant reinvention due to the interactions between cinemas, films, filmmakers and audiences. Professor Mills asserts that the influence of Hollywood, home of film production in the United States, is often viewed with unnecessary antagonism around the world. “It makes more sense to look at the constant give and take between film cultures in an industry that has been globalised since the very beginnings of cinema. If we focus on a negative view of Hollywood, we ignore or fail to see how all cinemas influence each other. This often results in exciting new films and types of cinemas which push the boundaries of film art,” Professor Mills said.

While influenza A (H1N1), formerly known as swine flu, has not yet been found in Australia, authorities are urging the public to take precautions against infection. Charles Sturt University (CSU) is holding a public seminar on Wednesday 6 May to provide facts and dispel the myths about the pandemic which is unfolding around the global. Associate Professor in Veterinary Pathobiology at CSU, Shane Raidal, said all new influenza viruses are a threat but the mechanisms put in place by the World Health Organisation provide a means for early detection and intervention. He will address the Reassortment amongst and evolution of influenza viruses at the seminar. Associate Professor in Diagnostic Pathology John Glastonbury, will discuss The pathogenesis and pathology of the disease in pigs and humans. Professor Glastonbury’s teaching and research interests include the diseases of pigs. The third speaker, Dr Ross Cutler, holds an adjunct appointment at CSU and is a veterinarian who specialises in pigs. He will speak about Epidemiology, biosecurity and international issues relating to the influenza.

John Glastonbury, Associate Professor in Diagnostic Pathology with Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at Wagga Wagga, is available for comment on emergency management of the swine influenza in animals. Professor Glastonbury’s teaching and research interests include diseases of pigs, and he can describe how the disease behaves in pigs, a history of other outbreaks and its threat to people. A public seminar will be held on the influenza A (H1N1) at CSU at Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 6 May. Read more here.

A new book by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher aims to provide environmentally friendly solutions for invasive weeds which cause major problems for agriculture, particularly in tropical regions of developing countries. Biological control of tropical weeds using arthropods, by Dr Anantanarayanan Raman, a senior lecturer at CSU and a researcher at the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, covers the origin, distribution, and ecology of 20 key invasive weed species that occur mostly in the tropics. Dr Raman says cost-efficient biological control is a self-sustaining way to reduce this problem, and produces fewer effects than chemical methods, which can cause serious damage to the environment.’s “The book contains information about the sustainable biological control of each weed using insects and mites,” he said. “It is a valuable resource for scientists and policy makers concerned with invasive tropical weeds and their spread, and will also assist in the assessment of potential risks to native and economic plants.”

Professor of Agriculture at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Professor Jim Pratley, has been appointed to a key Australian Government advisory body on rural research and development. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Hon. Tony Burke, MP, this year announced the establishment of the Rural Research & Development (R&D) Council. The Council is the government’s key advisory body on rural R&D and aims to provide high level advice and coordination to better target and improve the effectiveness of the government’s investment in rural R&D. Professor Pratley, who is also Secretary of the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture, is one of 10 members on the new Council. Professor Pratley is a staff member at the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation in Wagga Wagga, a collaborative alliance between CSU and the NSW Department of Primary Industries. The Rural R & D Council is due to meet again in May.