A powerful spotlight is shining on the Institute of Agriculture (IOA) at The University of Western Australia (UWA), with a long list of prestigious awards, scholarship grants and healthy student enrolments impressing the scientific community, governments and industry. 

The recent prize windfall for three young UWA IOA students at the Young Professionals in Agriculture Forum, hosted by the Department of Agriculture and Food WA and Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, underlined why UWA is the university of choice for undergraduates seeking to excel in agricultural and related natural resource management studies. 

A series of innovative projects and initiatives have placed the Institute of Agriculture (IOA), The University of Western Australia (UWA), at the forefront of national and international agricultural education and research.

IOA Director, Professor Kadambot Siddique, said plant based food, fibre and industrial raw materials were essential for human survival against the backdrop of escalating input costs and climate change.

Recognising this has led to the development, earlier this year, of  the International Centre for Plant Breeding, Education and Research (ICPBER) at UWA within the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Professor Siddique said the Centre addressed the emerging global need for training first class scientists in genetics, biotechnology and plant breeding.

Long term strategies for adapting to climate change will result from a collaborative project between researchers at the Institute of Agriculture (IOA), The University of Western Australia (UWA) and Lanzhou University (LU) in west China.

Professor Kadambot Siddique, IOA’s Director, said the Institute was invited by LU to become a partner in a ‘111 Project’ on sustainable development of agricultural systems in dry and cold ecosystems of the Loess Plateau, Gansu Province, west China.

“The project’s overall objective is capacity building, by training researchers and postgraduate students in characterising dry and cold ecosystems and improving crop and pasture production technologies, land management and animal husbandry practices.

William Erskine, Assistant Director General (Research) at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Syria for the last seven years, has commenced as Director of  the Centre for Legumes In Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) as it consolidates its third phase as a research centre within the University of Western Australia (UWA).

UK born, Professor Erskine completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1973, a Masters of Agriculture in 1976 and a PhD (University of Cambridge, Department of Applied Biology) in 1979.