The University of Sydney and Peking University have launched a Joint Centre for Food Security and Sustainable Agricultural Development, which will support research into improving food systems in Australia and China to ensure they are more sustainable and secure.
Both Australia and China have a long-standing agricultural tradition, with many common concerns when it comes to facing challenges. The Joint Centre, based in Sydney and Beijing, has a range of expertise that will allow for research across the food value-chain.
Through collaborative research and initiatives it will aim to deliver outcomes that address UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to food security, food quality, reducing poverty, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The University of Sydney’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mark Scott, and its School of Life & Environmental Sciences and Sydney Institute of Agriculture Professor Brent Kaiser, met with senior administrators and academics at Peking University to unveil the centre in Beijing, China.
“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,” said Kaiser.
“The partnership has been developed over a five-year period through 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 be based at either Peking University or the University of Sydney, with work programs undertaken at both locations.
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) at Camperdown; and at the Plant Breeding Institute at the IA Watson Grains Research Centre of the Plant Breeding Institute at Narrabri, New South Wales.
The opening ceremony was followed by the first academic seminar of the joint centre.
Speaking in Beijing, Professor Scott expressed his gratitude to his host, Peking University President Gong Qihuang, and said 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,” said Scott.
