UC Davis recently announced new partnerships with two Australian entities to collaborate on agricultural research and development.

Global Affairs, the Office of Research and faculty members facilitated the agreements. One is with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO, the country’s premier national science organization; the other is with Hort Innovation.

CSIRO — The Office of Research led the UC Davis effort that resulted in CSIRO’s entering into its first major collaboration agreement with an American university.  

The five-year partnership encourages scientists and research facilities across the globe, including more than 4,500 CSIRO scientists, to seamlessly collaborate across disciplines including, but not limited to agricultural and environmental sciences, engineering and veterinary medicine. Additional outputs of the partnership include:

• Ongoing mobility program, encouraging scientists from across the globe and disciplines to write joint proposals and do research together.
• Face-to-face faculty-researcher workshops on topics of mutual interest.
• Opportunities to engage students in research through potential internships or externships.

“With the establishment of this collaboration, we have a great opportunity to accelerate our respective research programs by having our best scientists and engineers work together to address some of the most pressing challenges in the global agrifood sector,” said Paul Dodd, associate vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.

Read more on the Office of Research website.

Hort Innovation — This grower-owned research and development corporation described its partnership with UC Davis as “a historic, cooperative research deal with a leading U.S. university, ranked among the top in the world for agricultural sciences programs.”

Bryan Jenkins, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, led the UC Davis effort to establish the partnership, a two-year deal calling for research and information sharing in horticulture.

Joanna Regulska, vice provost and associate chancellor of Global Affairs, commented: “It is only through these strong cross-border and interdisciplinary collaborations that global challenges can be solved.”

John Lloyd, chief executive officer of Hort Innovation, said UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences “has an international research reputation with celebrated academics and a wealth of growing, transferable knowledge that applies to key issues in Australian horticulture.”

“In return, UC Davis will get the opportunity to work with leading Australian research providers through Hort Innovation to build on its knowledge and share resources to tackle some of the biggest issues our countries face in modern agriculture,” Lloyd said.

Read more on the Global Affairs website.

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