Grants to realise big ideas from young rural innovators
Grants of up to $22,000 are on offer as part of the 2012 Science and Innovation Awards for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Joe Ludwig, said the awards support young people aged 18 to 35 years who have an innovative project that will benefit Australia’s agriculture, fisheries, forestry, food and natural resource management sectors.
“These awards provide a great opportunity for young innovators to boost our rural industries by helping convert ideas into reality with projects that will help contribute to the ongoing success and sustainability of Australia’s primary industries,” Minister Ludwig said.
“The awards aim to encourage the uptake of science, innovation and technology in rural industries and help to advance the careers of young people through national recognition of their research ideas.”
There are a number of industry category awards available to applicants, supported by research and development corporations, including animal welfare, cotton, dairy, fisheries and aquaculture, grains, horticulture, new and emerging rural industries, pork, viticulture and oenology.
Winners can use their funding for a range of activities including research projects, industry visits or to attend conferences and workshops.
Following an additional application and judging process, one of the industry category award recipients will then receive the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s Award, which provides an additional $33,000 in funding to further develop their research project.
Last year’s Minister’s Award winner, Dr Keith Pembleton, is identifying novel sources of drought-tolerance traits in lucerne, by investigating the recently identified link between drought tolerance, winter dormancy and freezing tolerance. “This project will enable producers to select currently available drought-tolerant types of pastures, while providing breeders with novel sources of drought tolerance traits to improve the drought adaptation of lucerne into the future,” Minister Ludwig said.
Applications for the awards close on Friday 18 November 2011. For further information and application forms visit www.abares.gov.au/scienceawards, email scienceawards@abares.gov.au or contact 02 6272 2260. The 2012 Science Awards are supported by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Australian Pork Limited; Cotton Research and Development Corporation; Dairy Australia; Fisheries Research and Development Corporation; Grains Research and Development Corporation; Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation; Horticulture Australia and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
