Getting the best out of bush blocks is the focus of a one day conference at Charles Sturt University (CSU) tomorrow, Wednesday 19 September. Co-hosted by CSU’s Institute for Land, Water and Society and CSIRO, the one-day Better Bush on Farms Conference will gather researchers and practitioners to discuss the key questions and challenges around developing better “bush blocks” on farms. Problems such as looking after remnant vegetation and paddock trees on farms, the effects of fencing and controlled grazing and the ecological effects of efforts to conserve remnant vegetation will be addressed by speakers from CSU, CSIRO, other universities and government organisations. The meeting will be of particular use for catchment planners and implementation staff, public land managers, vegetation growers, landholders and researchers. The event will be held in the CD Blake Theatre on CSU’s Albury-Wodonga Campus, off Elizabeth Mitchell Drive, Thurgoona.

Interested in acquiring the skill of wine and food matching? Want to know how to design a dinner party menu with wines that match, or just be able to order a wine to compliment your meal at a restaurant? Dr Anthony Saliba, a Sensory Scientist with the NWGIC, located on Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus, will pass on his knowledge and understanding of why certain wine and foods compliment each other and the key mistakes consumers often make when selecting wine for this purpose. The wine and food matching workshop will be held at one of Wagga's top restaurants, The Three Chefs, on Tuesday 25 September and will include a seven course dinner and CSU wines to match each course.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor Shahbaz Khan, Director of the International Centre for Water, Senior Principal Scientist and Research Leader with CSIRO Land and Water and Regional Coordinator of the Asia Pacific office of UNESCO IHP-HELP, continues to attract accolades for his world leading water research. Professor Khan has been awarded the Modelling Society of Australia and New Zealand (MSSANZ) Biennial Medal for Natural Systems, after also recently winning a prestigious Eureka Award. Based at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, Professor Khan says, “The recognition is great news for CSU and CSIRO research”. CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Vice-President (Research) Professor Paul C Burnett says, “It is fantastic to see that Professor Khan’s work and contribution to new knowledge in this area is being so widely recognised. He and his team should be proud of what they have achieved.” The Biennial Medal will be presented in December at the MSSANZ 2007 conference in New Zealand.

Graduates of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) theatre/media course have returned to Bathurst with Circus Monoxide for the Catapult Festival in Bathurst on Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 September. CSU lecturer Jerry Boland, coordinator of the theatre/media course and chair of the Catapult Festival Steering Committee, said “Circus Monoxide is a performance company which prides itself on providing exciting entertainment and education for up and coming circus performers and quality live performances, particularly to people living in regional and rural areas.” About 30 current CSU theatre/media students will be involved in the Catapult Festival, which received $26,900 from Festivals Australia. The Catapult Festival will see over 300 young people from NSW and ACT attend 23 workshops over four days as a part of the program.

Rice is the world's most important cereal crop and the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, on the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus, is researching the genetics of rice and how gene variations affect its cooking. Rice contains about 90 per cent starch, comprising amylose and amylopectin. It is the amount and structure of these two starchy chemicals that dictate its properties, while a number of  genetic variations in rice starch enzymes also affect its cooking qualities. Visiting scientist at the CSU School of Wine & Food Sciences, Dr Arun Aryan, will present an overview of these genetic variations and the development of DNA markers to predict rice cooking properties at a seminar to be held on Wednesday 12 September at the Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute conference room.

The art of Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in Art and Design Julie Montgarrett is part of on-going research into themes of transition and chance, fragility and flux, using drawing and embroidery. Otherwise: images from another place, an exhibition at the HR Gallop Gallery on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus, begins with a sense of deliberation to explore a specific preoccupation. But as the process unfolds, chance occurrences and new elements change the emphasis and shifting meanings arise that are often modified, consolidated or overturned. The drawings and embroideries evolve erratically, relying on particular material encounters or hybrid images suspended or floating in ambiguous, improbable spaces. Both processes emphasise fragility and impermanence. The exhibition runs until Friday 15 September.

The most recent Department of Primary Industries (DPI) figures suggest that, in NSW, there are 835 horses infected with Equine Influenza on 119 confirmed properties. An additional suspect 2900 horses on 319 locations are also in quarantine. Charles Sturt University (CSU) senior lecturer in equine medicine, Dr Sharanne Raidal says most importantly, the NSW Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer reports that every one of these cases has been traced from known contact with affected horses. This means that, to date, the disease has not escaped surveillance measures. Dr Raidal warns that only by containing the virus within a small proportion of the total horse population, and allowing the disease to "burn itself out", will "we succeeded in eradicating EI". Continued careful attention to quarantine restrictions and prompt identification of new cases is required for this to happen. A number of horses with high temperatures, but no known risk of disease, have been tested negative. It is important that all such horses are examined as part of routine, ongoing surveillance for spread of the disease.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is contributing to the health of inland Australia through the development and funding of an Asthma Alert webpage, which will send asthma sufferers email or SMS alerts when environmental conditions pose a significantly increased risk of triggering an asthma attack. The webpage will be unveiled when the Wagga Asthma Collaboration Committee launches its 2007 Spring Thunderstorm Asthma Campaign at 10am on Wednesday 5 September at the CSU staff club, Wagga Wagga Campus. Committee Chair, Dr Bruce Graham, a lecturer at the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences, says this year’s campaign theme is Research, Education and Asthma. Professor Deidre Lemerle, Director of the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, CSU and NSW DPI Research, will outline asthma research links at CSU. Rebecca Turnbull, CSU medical science & biotechnology student, will also detail research about pollens in asthma. Australian Bureau of Statistic figures show 318 Australians died from asthma in 2005.

Lessons from agriculture in the Middle Ages could today help farms in Australia become more sustainable. Back in that era, farmers didn’t hold individual titles over land but farmed collectively on common property or "commons". A modern day adaptation of this concept is cross-boundary farming, where farmers agree to pool their land resource and manage it as a whole. A free one day forum on cross-boundary farming will be hosted by the Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS) at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Wagga Wagga Campus, on Friday 7 September. The forum will consider the opportunities and pitfalls of cross-boundary farming, the environmental benefits, property rights, relationships between and within farming families as well as workloads. There will be two panel sessions presenting various practical and political points of view on the practice.