UNE > News and Events > Browse by article > Australian science can help farmers in developing countries

Next Self-help books as good as therapy: study October 12, 2005  

Previous Celebration of Sharing challenge October 10, 2005 

Australian science can help farmers in developing countries

October 11, 2005

gibso.jpgA public lecture in Armidale this Thursday will explain how Australian science can help poor livestock farmers in developing countries.

In his Inaugural Lecture, Professor John Gibson from The University of New England will argue that Australian researchers, working with the latest genetic tools for improving livestock health and productivity and meat quality, can bring benefits to societies in developing countries as well as in Australia.

Professor Gibson (pictured here), the Director of UNE's Institute for Genetics and Bioinformatics (TIGB), will deliver his free lecture in Armidale Town Hall at 7.30 pm on Thursday 13 October. "It is often assumed that advanced technologies simply widen the gap between rich and poor nations," he said. "But in the case of genomic technologies it is now possible to work with livestock industries in the developing world in ways that were hitherto impossible."

He will point out in his lecture that the two decades from 2000 to 2020 will see a 50 per cent increase in global livestock production. "Australian researchers are working to help Australian producers capture some of this new market to improve their profitability," he said. "Elsewhere, researchers are working to enable poor farmers in the developing world to capture some of this market to help get them out of poverty. My talk will illustrate some of the problems facing poor livestock farmers in the developing world, and how genomic technologies and Australian expertise can be harnessed to help profit Australian society and developing world societies simultaneously in win-win partnerships."

Professor Gibson took up his UNE position in May 2004. Previously he was Program Leader for Genetics and Genomics at the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya, and Professor of Genetics at the University of Guelph in Canada.

He has more than 25 years' experience in applied genetics, and has received funding of more than $80 million for research and development projects in the developed and developing world. He recently developed the forward strategy for R & D in livestock genetics for the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research. The Group's Science Council is currently reviewing the strategy for implementation across its 15 International Research Institutes in the developing world.

In addition to his responsibilities as Director of TIGB, Professor Gibson is Program Leader for Adaptation and Welfare in the Cooperative Research Centre for Beef Genetic Technologies (based at UNE), and a Principal Investigator in an international consortium for the functional genomics of parasite resistance in cattle, mice, and buffalo.


Media contact: Professor John Gibson, Institute for Genetics and Bioinformatics, UNE (02) 6773 2930 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at October 11, 2005 01:14 PM