The guest speaker at the annual the Gala Business Dinner 09  in Wagga Wagga on Thursday 24 September will be Professor Sue Thomas, the new Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Charles Sturt University (CSU). Professor Thomas will speak on ‘Building Business with Research’. Professor Thomas joined CSU from the University of Canberra last month where she was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research). Read more about Professor Thomas here. The Gala Business Dinner 09 will be hosted by CSU, TAFE NSW Riverina Institute and Wagga Wagga City Council from 7pm at the Garden Court Restaurant in the Botanic Gardens in Wagga Wagga.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic is ready to co-direct an international action research project following the success of a pilot workshop he conducted to develop the writing and publication skills of staff and postgraduate students at the Faculty of Social Work at Thammasat University, Bangkok, on 5 September. Associate Professor Manohar Pawar, from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSU at Wagga Wagga, will co-direct the Knowledge Creation and Dissemination project with a former editor of International Social Work, Emeritus Professor Karen Lyons from the London Metropolitan University. “The pilot workshop emphasised the importance of writing for publication, and was part of the proposed Knowledge Creation and Dissemination Project which aims to enhance academic writing for publication skills development. Participants’ evaluation showed the usefulness of the workshop, and the need for such workshops with a longer duration. After successful funding, the project workshop will be offered to social work educators and researchers elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region at their invitation,” Professor Pawar said.

The importance of strong knowledge networks in the development of communities was stressed by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic when he delivered the keynote address at an international conference in India earlier this month. “Knowledge naturally multiplies,” said Associate Professor Manohar Pawar from the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Wagga Wagga. “It is inherent in knowledge that it keeps expanding, spreading and growing exponentially. The most interesting aspect of knowledge is that while the recipient of the knowledge gains, the person passing on the knowledge does not lose anything in terms of knowledge. Thus the element of ‘network’ is inbuilt into knowledge,” argued Associate Professor Pawar. “Given this innate nature of knowledge, it may be relatively easy to build knowledge networks for community development in Asia and the Pacific.” Associate Professor Pawar delivered the speech, ‘Toward Knowledge Networks for the Economy, Society, Culture, Environment and Health for the GMS and Asia-Pacific’, during the conference held in Mumbai from Monday 7 to Thursday 10 September. The conference was organised by the Inter University Cooperation Program and Thailand’s Chiangrai Rajabhat University.

As three years of study at Charles Sturt University (CSU) draws to a close, a group of agricultural science students from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at CSU at Wagga Wagga are reflecting on the international value of their course. Twenty-one Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) students travelled to southern Vietnam for a fortnight earlier this year. The group attended lectures at Can Tho University in the Mekong Delta region on fruit and pig production, as well as training and extension to local farmers. The students travelled into the field to look first-hand at farming systems on the Mekong Delta, and to observe the fishing industry and its sustainability challenges. They visited a range of dairy producers and looked at the extension program for small dairy producers, operated by the Dutch Lady Vietnam Milk Company. “I was surprised to learn that during the wet season from May to December, the Mekong River flows at 40 mega litres per second, flooding the delta region,” said Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) student, Mr David Gale. “However, during the dry season, the Mekong flows drop dramatically and salinity becomes a problem because salt water from the ocean comes back upstream. The visit to the Mekong Delta region was invaluable in exposing me to a different way of farming, but at the same time it showed me that similar problems, such as salinity and nutrient deficiencies, exist in both Australia and Vietnam.” The trip has prompted the CSU student to consider an Honours research project in an area related to farming systems in southern Vietnam.

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Human Movement Studies is hosting a three-day symposium in the NSW Blue Mountains for national and international experts in exercise and exercise rehabilitation. Professor Frank Marino, Head of the CSU School of Human Movement Studies at Bathurst, said The Future of Fatigue in Exercise: An International Symposium on the Limits to Exercise Performance, which runs from Monday 20 to Wednesday 22 July, is the first symposium of its kind in Australia. “The symposium provides an opportunity for leaders in the field from around Australia and the world to come together to discuss a range of issues related to exercise, rehabilitation, health and wellbeing. We expect it will advance our research and the way in which we work together to solve problems that affect many of us, particularly athletes, at some stage in our lives.” Presentations at the symposium include Anticipating fatigue during exercise by Professor Marino and Cancer-fatigue in exercise by CSU’s Dr Jack Canon.

There will be a rare opportunity to hear first-hand of the success of one man’s dedication to renewing the drought ravaged rural landscapes of Australia when grazier, horse-breeder, author and founder of Natural Sequence Farming (NSF), Mr Peter Andrews, addresses a public forum in Wagga Wagga from 6pm on Tuesday 29 September. During the event, co-hosted by the International Centre of Water for Food Security (IC WATER) at Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Wagga Wagga City Council, Mr Andrews will outline the workings of his Natural Sequence Farming. Read more here.

A new online journal edited by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic aims to provide an outlet for research into the rapidly growing field of e-learning in organisations and the workplace. Impact: Journal of Applied Research in Workplace E-learning is founded and edited by Mr Mark Lee, an adjunct senior lecturer with CSU’s School of Education. The online journal will focus on articles relating to the design, implementation, evaluation and management of workplace e-learning across a range of sectors and industries. “The paucity of avenues to publish research and a desire to promote dialogue and collaboration between the various disciplines with an interest in this field, such as business management, human resources, adult/vocational education and IT, led to the establishment of the journal,” said Mr Lee. “Up until now there have been very few vehicles in the workplace e-learning arena that have been successful in both promoting the use of academic research to guide and inform practice, and encouraging input from practitioners to help shape and drive the future research agenda.”

As part of a national research project involving Charles Sturt University (CSU), a workshop will be held at Corowa on Wednesday 7 October to seek community input about the challenges faced by local and regional governance bodies in the region. The workshop is one of three case studies conducted across Australia as part of the three year project, Towards Sustainable Regional Institutions: The Nature, Role and Governance Implications of Contemporary Australian Regionalism. CSU researcher Associate Professor Ian Gray is surveying public attitudes and opinions about how federalism is working. “Overall the project will work out what sort of direction regional governments in Australia might take. We’re not advocating that we get rid of the states, but we are looking at the performance of regional organisations with a view to strengthening them. This inevitably leads to rethinking the roles of each level of government,” he said. Associate Professor Gray believes the formation of catchment management authorities has, unintentionally, made regional governance more prominent, even though they have no legislative role. “The Commonwealth’s new Regional Development Australia network is also highlighting the significance of regions,” he said.

A final-year Charles Sturt University (CSU) student who lives on a farm near Wagga Wagga has taken out a national cropping competition aimed at fine-tuning the skills of university students. Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) student Mr Sandy Middleton from the School of Agriculture and Wine Sciences at CSU at Wagga Wagga took out the inaugural Australian University Crops Competition held at Temora from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 September. “This is an excellent achievement for Sandy with tough competition from seven universities,” said Associate Professor John Kent, Head of the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences. He has also praised the level of coaching by agronomy lecturer Dr Sergio Moroni and technical officer Mr Richard Early. The competition aimed to increase the technical knowledge and skills development of university undergraduates studying in the field of agriculture, and to increase the awareness of the cropping industry as a career opportunity. . As one of the top five students in the inaugural competition, Mr Middleton has won a four day study tour to New Zealand.