In late July, Poultry Hub Australia had the pleasure of hosting 15 eager PhD students at Poultry Grad, which was held in Geelong, Victoria.
We started day one with talks from Mark Dunlop from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Queensland, Kat Matthews and Megan Craven from Deakin University and Matt Hilliar from Turosi.
The speakers gave great advice on life after the completion of their PhDs – the opportunities and the challenges.
We then put the students to the test with an activity called ‘poultry bucks’.
This activity comprised of the students being given the challenge of completing a 40-second elevator pitch on their PhD projects.
They were all given some poultry bucks and had to decide whose research was worthy of investment.
Shiva Greenhalgh from the University of Sydney received the most investment and was declared the winner. Congratulations Shiva!
We then discussed the importance of being concise and clear when discussing research with stakeholders.
Dr Tamsyn Murray from Josh’s Rainbow Eggs explained the farm’s operations to the 15 students who took part in the Poultry Grad event.
On day two, we headed on-farm to Josh’s Rainbow Eggs, where Tamsyn Murray gave a fantastic tour and explanation about the business, the challenges and the future.
The students took the opportunity to ask some excellent questions and it was wonderful to see the farm in operation.
We received fantastic feedback following the event, with the students commenting that speaking to people in the industry directly was ‘invaluable’ and that it was a ‘great experience’.
We hope the networks the students have built with each other will help them through the completion of their PhDs and into their careers.
A massive thank you to the speakers and Tamsyn Murray for contributing to the event.
The Ideas Exchange – a fantastic opportunity for industry personnel and researchers to come together to develop relationships and collaborations that benefit the entire poultry industry – will be held on October 11-12 in Melbourne.
We are looking forward to catching up with you in person finally – sharing our achievements and exchanging new ideas for the future of the industry.
Registration for the conference is by invitation only, so if you are interested in attending or want to find out more, contact us at poultryhub@une.edu.au
Tamsyn Crowley
Poultry Hub