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.

Five Charles Sturt University (CSU) middle school teaching students will travel to the United States this July to learn more about the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) education program. Maree Arnold, Erin McCabe, Melissa Loats, Lauren O'Shea and Sean Walker will participate in the latest professional development work with middle and high school teachers throughout the United States when they attend the AVID Summer Institute in San Diego, California. In addition to the conference, the students will tour local middle schools, work with local high school students and meet other education students from San Diego. CSU middle school education course coordinator Dr Sally Knipe said this was an opportunity for pre-service teachers to acquire professional insights into a highly successful program designed to increase academic performance and entry into university

As part of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) commitment to enhancing and ensuring its future environmental sustainability, a new 22 700 litre tank has been installed at the Transport Office at the Bathurst Campus to harvest rainwater to clean the University’s fleet of vehicles. The tank and related equipment were purchased with a $5 000 grant funded under the CSU Sustainability Grants program. The manager of CSU Green, Mr William Adlong, said, “The Bathurst Campus rainwater tank is the first project to be completed under CSU’s new Sustainability Grants, which are available for different projects across CSU’s campuses. The water tank will enable the University to keep vehicles presentable even if local water restrictions are imposed. Also, we hope that the tank will be a visual reminder to staff and students of the range of actions they might consider to help us conserve water and energy and reduce our ecological footprint”.

The collaboration between Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Orange and local small schools has produced a successful series of science demonstrations over the past year. The latest school to benefit from the academic knowledge at CSU was Cumnock Public School, with 18 students in Years 4, 5 and 6 visiting the Orange Campus last week for a three-hour demonstration titled ‘Introduction to Micro-organisms’. “The Charles Sturt University academics offer a great hands-on and expert component that isn't always easy to achieve in schools,” said Cumnock Public School teacher Alison Croker.“It was a great experience and one we're very keen to do again.” CSU School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences academics Mr Peter Mills, Dr Yann Guisard, Dr Scott Andrew and Mr Peter Anderson gave the students an understanding of fungi, viruses and bacteria with practical experiments.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer Mr Peter Mills is excited about the coming annual Australian National Field Days (ANFD) at Borenore near Orange NSW. He is taking part in the delivery of Science in the Bush at the ANFD high school day on Tuesday 20 October where exciting exhibits, hands-on workshops and engaging talks about what is happening in science today and beyond will be on show. As the outreach partner of this Australian Government initiative, CSU will deliver a workshop titled Super Botany. Based on the highly successful Science in the City at the Australian Museum, Science in the Bush enables local scientists and educators to bring the excitement and discovery of science to school children in rural NSW. Science in the Bush at ANFD is part of the Science in the City Project run by the Australian Museum with Executive Partner the University of Sydney and Outreach Partner CSU.

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.”

Paramedics from around NSW and interested academics will attend a workshop at Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Wednesday 7 October to foster research in the management and operation of ambulance services. Associate Professor Peter O’Meara, the Associate Head of the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences at Bathurst, said, “CSU is hosting the Pre-hospital Research Workshop with the aim to enhance research opportunities that might lead to improved service delivery and outcomes. This is an expanding field with much potential for practical action research”. Workshop participants will explore the formulation of research questions and hear research presentations about qualitative and quantitative research from Professor O’Meara and from two prominent visiting academics; Professor Malcolm Woollard, the Visiting Professor of Pre-hospital from Coventry University in the United Kingdom, and Mr Lawrence Brown, from the United States, a Research Fellow at James Cook University in Queensland.

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.