Joint centre for food security will leverage China-Australia cooperation
Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Scott addresses the opening ceremony of the centre.
The University of Sydney and Peking University have launched their landmark Joint Centre for Food Security and Sustainable Agricultural Development at a ceremony in Beijing, China.
Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Mark Scott led a delegation to China in November, the centrepiece of which was an unveiling of the joint venture, which will support research into improving food systems in Australia and China to ensure they are more sustainable and secure.
Speaking in Beijing, Professor Scott expressed his gratitude to his host, Peking University President Gong Qihuang, saying he looks forward to more academic exchanges and cooperation between the two institutions.
“Food security is one of the most pressing issues of this century. By combining our expertise and experiences, our two great academic institutions will be able to provide solutions for the agricultural sectors in both our countries and for the global food industry,” Professor Scott said.
The Joint Centre, based in Sydney and Beijing, has a wide breadth of expertise that will allow for research across the food value-chain and deliver outcomes that address UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to food security, reducing poverty, food quality and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Joint Director Professor Brent Kaiser from the University of Sydney’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sydney Institute of Agriculture accompanied Professor Scott on the delegation to China.
Professor Kaiser said: “The new Joint Centre for Food Security and Sustainable Agricultural Development will enable Australian and Chinese researchers to collectively work on finding solutions to improving food sustainability and food securities for both countries.
Professor Brent Kaiser.
“The partnership has been developed over a five-year period though the Office of Global and Research Engagement and has landed on firm ground with interested researchers ready to explore novel research questions. These will lead to new and sustainable food systems for Australia and China and lead to greater research and industrial partnerships for the foods we produce and consume.”
Seven projects focusing on sustainability issues facing agriculture in China and Australia have been designed involving collaborative research teams from both the University of Sydney and Peking University. Research areas include:
- improving nitrogen fertiliser use in wheat and rice production;
- evaluating the impact of greenhouse gases on wheat flowering times;
- understanding plant response to insect and animal damage;
- determining how poultry production systems (cage free, cage and free-range) impact sustainability;
- economics of agricultural policy in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia;
- groundwater taxation in China and Australia; and
- functional identification of rust resistance genes in wheat.
The projects will be conducted through jointly funded post-doctoral positions and PhD students that will work in both countries.
The PhD students will be based at either Peking University or the University of Sydney with work programs undertaken at both locations.
As reported by Peking University, Joint Director Professor Chengfang Liu said that all members of the centre will focus on scientific research and cooperation along with talent training with the support of both universities. She added this will provide intellectual and talent support for food security and sustainable agricultural development in China, Australia and developing countries.
Joint Director Professor Chengfang Liu from Peking University.
The opening ceremony was followed by the first academic seminar of the joint centre.
The ceremony was hosted by Professor Huang Jikun, Dean of Modern Agricultural College of Peking University. It was attended by Leah Cuttriss, Agriculture Counsellor at the Australian Embassy in China; Peking University Vice-President Fang Fang; Gao Ming, Researcher of the Rural Economic Research Centre of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Li Yun, Director of the International Cooperation Department; and Zhang Cunqun, Deputy Director of the Scientific Research Department.
Research in China will take place at Peking University, Beijing, at the School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences and Peking University, Weifang, at the Institute of Advanced Agricultural Sciences. At Sydney, research will take place at the Camden campus (Centre for Carbon, Water and Food, Poultry Research Foundation, and the Plant Breeding Institute); in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences (LEES) building at Camperdown; and at the Plant Breeding Institute at the IA Watson Grains Research Centre of the Plant Breeding Institute at Narrabri, NSW.
There was also additional reporting by Peking University on the opening event.