We are delighted that in addition to two PhD students who started in 2023, two more PhD students have joined the One Basin CRC and began their research in January 2024 with the University of Sydney.

Anita Bhusal is from Nepal and her research topic is ‘Ecological and physiological functioning of a native grain production system’.

Wiyanda Naufal (pictured) is from Indonesia and his research topic is entitled ‘Regenerative agriculture impacts and opportunities’.

Both researchers will be based at the Narrabri node of the Goondawindi research hub. A total of 15 PhD scholarships have been awarded to date, and several PhD candidates are due to start their studies in the coming months. 

The CRC has formed an Education and Training industry advisory group to provide strategic and practical advice about areas such as vocational training and short courses related to the CRC’s research programs, and student internships including for the PhD program. An initial meeting was recently held with representatives from eWater, Hydroterra, Irrigation Australia, Murray Darling Association, and Water Research Australia. The group intends to meet on a quarterly basis and is open to involving other partners with an interest in the education and training area. 

Given the centrality of co-design to realising the CRC’s mission and values, the CRC has continued to invest in training and support activities where partner staff involved in the development of research projects can build further capacity to apply co-design principles and approaches. Drawing on the experience during the development of Round 1 research projects, the education and training team has been hard at work drafting the One Basin CRC guide to co-design which will be developed further during the Round 2 research project development process, and with the help of the CRC’s co-design community of practice.