Opportunities abound for STEM students

Agriculture Victoria

Students at all levels of education with a passion for STEM are benefitting from Agriculture Victoria’s broadening education program.

Agriculture Victoria Research Higher Education Manager Ms Kendra Whiteman said a program for PhD students has been running in partnership with La Trobe University (LTU) and the University of Melbourne (UoM) since 2012.

‘We currently have 65 PhD students under supervision as well as a large cohort of Masters students who started this summer. More recently, interest in our partnered PhD program has broadened,’ Ms Whiteman said.

‘We are now partnering with more universities to provide industry-based PhD research and industry internship opportunities, including Federation University, Victoria University, University of Tasmania, Deakin University and RMIT.

‘We have received excellent feedback from everyone involved in the process – students, supervisors, staff, tertiary institutions and our stakeholders.

‘Supervising students is mutually beneficial. They bring fresh knowledge from their study to our research and in return gain much from working side by side with our expert agricultural research scientists in a multi-disciplinary and hi-tech environment.

‘When they finish their study, they leave us with a very practical skillset for working in applied agricultural research, with exposure to modern scientific equipment and techniques, plus professional development opportunities like contract management and scientific communication skills.

‘Many of the students we supervise have had the opportunity to present their research to industry stakeholders, including some national and international events, or have had their work featured in industry publications or the wider media,’ she said.

Ms Whiteman said as well as our tertiary partnerships the popular, in-house Get Into AgSTEM Program for primary and secondary students runs statewide throughout the school year.

At our AgriBio Centre for AgriBioScience in Bundoora, Melbourne, and across all our regional SmartFarms Agriculture Victoria also supports secondary school work experience and provides placements for TAFE students to promote agriculture as a career of choice.