As he prepares for the arrival of students from Monday 23 February, animation and special effects lecturer at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Mr Damian Candusso has been nominated for an international industry award for his work on the feature film, Australia. Mr Candusso is part of a five member team of sound effects editors nominated for a Motion Picture Sound Editors’ (MPSE) Golden Reel Award. The Australia team has been nominated in the category of ‘Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in a Foreign Feature Film’. Other films nominated in this category include The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, In Bruges, Quantum of Solace, Slumdog Millionaire and Sukiyaki Western Django. The 56th Golden Reel Awards, hosted by the MPSE in Los Angeles on Saturday 21 February, is the industry’s precursor to the Academy Awards on Sunday 22 February. Mr Candusso is a lecturer at CSU’s School of Visual and Performing Arts. He took leave for the second semester in 2008 to work on Australia. Read more here.

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.

Nearly 30 delegates from the Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia (SEGRA) Conference being held in Albury will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) as part of their meeting on Wednesday 20 August. Hosted by the Head of CSU’s Albury-Wodonga Campus, Professor Gail Whiteford, the delegates, who are from the business community around Australia, will receive short guided tours around the University’s award-winning Thurgoona site. “The visit will highlight the partnership between CSU and Albury City Council, especially in the economic, educational and social development of the Border region,” Professor Whiteford said.

With the start of Orientation Week at Charles Sturt University (CSU), the first students have taken up residence in the newly completed accommodation at Bathurst Campus. University officials are pleased that 120 new rooms were completed and ready to be occupied, and that another 80 rooms will be completed in the coming weeks. CSU’s Director of Student Services, Mr Andrew Callander, said the residences mark a new era in on campus living. “Besides being designed and constructed to be environmentally friendly and sustainable, the new residences come equipped with internet access and cable TV.” The complex consists of 10 modular concrete and corrugated iron buildings paired to enclose an open courtyard. Each block will house 20 students in self-catered accommodation with ‘open plan’ kitchens and living areas. The corrugated iron, which is light, strong, adaptable and durable, shields the internal concrete walls from the summer heat to enable the buildings to maintain a more constant temperature without the use of expensive air conditioning.

The opportunities in Australia for growing perennial wheat are being investigated by Charles Sturt University (CSU) PhD student Ms Nicole Hyde. As part of a Cooperative Research Centre for Future Farm Industries project, Ms Hyde late last year began to investigate several key questions: Can perennial wheat regrow in following seasons? Can perennial wheat survive our hot, dry summers? How does perennial wheat survive and regrow? “Perennial wheat is being developed in the USA, Russia, China, Argentina and now Australia, by crossing annual bread wheat with various perennial grasses,” said Ms Hyde. “The result should be a perennial grain crop that has the potential to offer significant benefits in Australian farming systems, including improved soil structure, reduced dry land salinity problems, and the provision of feed for grazing during the critical break-of-season period. However perennial wheat has never before been grown in Australia, so we do not yet know if these benefits will actually be delivered.” Ms Hyde hopes to complete her PhD by late 2011.

Exploring the role of design in the natural and cultural heritage of inland NSW is on the busy agenda of Margaret Woodward as she settles into her new role as Head of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga. Formerly Head of Visual Communication at the Tasmanian School of Art in Hobart, Associate Professor Woodward started work at CSU on Monday 2 February as temperatures hit the early forties. “I’m excited to be at CSU in Wagga Wagga and to be living in inland NSW,” said Associate Professor Woodford. “I also look forward to seeing the city’s contrast to my previous workplaces in Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne and more recently in Tasmania. The city has a strong but different sense of place to Tasmania.” With a background in graphic design, the new Head of School has a research interest in the recently emerging field of interpretation design, the design associated with cultural and natural heritage interpretation found in historic sites, visitor centres and national parks.

Final year agricultural students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will resume their studies shortly with their sights firmly set on international experience in the middle of the year. Third year students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) degree will spend two weeks visiting sites of agricultural significance in the south of Vietnam. The group will visit the fertile Mekong Delta, spending much of the time at Can Tho University in Cantho City, a major centre for agricultural education.  Accompanied by CSU lecturers Dr Jason Condon and Dr Alison Southwell, the students will look at tropical farming systems, agricultural research and markets, with some time set aside to visit Long Tan, a place of Australian historical significance. “The study tour is a great opportunity for CSU agriculture students to experience the many differences between Australian and Vietnamese farming whilst still being able to appreciate the similarities that exist, such as, the loss of small family farms, the effect of rising costs of inputs and increased urbanisation on rural communities,” said Dr Condon.   Travelling with the students will be CSU Honours student Ms Melanie Bower. Supervised by Dr Condon, Melanie will undertake three months of research in Vietnam investigating the advantages of using compost with small rates of fertilizers rather than relying on fertilizers alone. “With the cost of fertilizer rising, a reduction in its use would greatly benefit small farmers in Vietnam,” said Ms Bower.

A beach-side holiday was not on the minds of two Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturers as they headed north to the tropics and Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) second largest urban centre, Lae, in January. Dr Peter Rushbrook from CSU’s School of Education in Wagga Wagga and Dr Peter Wilson from the University’s School of Teacher Education in Bathurst spent a fortnight at the Balob Teachers’ College in Lae. Amid a frustrating dial-up internet service, earth tremors, the city’s notorious security problems and potholes, the educators worked with lecturers from the College, including teaching subjects from CSU’s Master of Education. “This was my third trip to the country and I greatly admire the PNG spirit,” said Dr Rushbrook. “PNG is the ‘Land of the Unexpected’.” His travel companion, Dr Wilson said, “our work at the Balob Teachers’ College reminded us how well resourced we are in Australia which we take for granted. College staff were keen to get our support for their institution’s move to become the Lutheran University in 2010.” Eager to return to PNG, Dr Rushbrook said, “there is something about working and living on the edge, using your wits to make things work in adverse or challenging conditions”.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Division of Library Services will ensure Dubbo’s educational resources are of the highest standard by donating a significant number of visual arts and photography books to the TAFE NSW Western Institute – Dubbo campus library on Thursday 21 August. “The books are duplicates of copies already held in the CSU Library collection at the Wagga Wagga Campus,” explained CSU’s Director of Operations at the Division of Library Services, Ms Kerryn Amery. “We go to great efforts to make sure any duplicates are given a good home.” The books will enable the Dubbo TAFE Library to provide additional support for fine arts, cultural arts and Aboriginal visual and performing arts courses taught at Dubbo. “CSU has a strong relationship with TAFE NSW and this is just one of the many collaborative efforts that guarantee our campus towns offer the highest educational programs,” Ms Amery said.