Welcome to this special edition of eChook.
The Department for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research has informed me that our rebid effort has been successful and we have been awarded 7.5 years funding for a second Poultry CRC.
This is excellent news for Australia’s poultry industry and the scientific community working in poultry-related R&D. It is also good news for our nation’s food security, with the CRC now able to continue its commitment to helping the industry produce more from less, sustainably.
We would like to thank everybody who has been involved in the CRC’s rebid over the last year, especially my office staff and interim Program Managers. I would also like to thank the interview team, comprising Pat Blackall, John Lowenthal, Vivien Kite, Glenn Browning, David Tinworth and James Kellaway, all of whom travelled to Canberra on July 1 for the arduous 2 hour interview by the Government’s panel of experts. Every member of the team performed admirably on the day, and I am most grateful for their support.
The focus will now turn to finalising the governance and managment structure of the next CRC, including the appointment of an interim Governing Board, interim Science Committee and interim End User Advisory Committee.
Calls will also go out for Preliminary Research Proposals before the end of this quarter, so Full Research Proposals can be approved by October or early November. We anticipate that the new CRC will commence operations on January 1, 2010.
The current CRC’s activities will be wound up over the next few months, with a focus on delivering research outcomes to industry and continuing our education and training activities in the school, university and VET sectors.
Achieving sustainable, ethical poultry production in the face of population growth and climate change is a tremendous challenge which the new CRC is well equipped to address. New partnerships have been forged, allowing us to build on the strong foundation built during the current CRC.
Once again, thank you for your support to date and we’ll be in touch with more on the new CRC’s activities in the next few weeks.
Regards,
Mingan
