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UNE plant scientist receives international award

October 31, 2005

Professor Acram TajiAcram Taji, Professor in Horticultural Science at The University of New England, has been awarded the International Association for Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology’s (IAPTCB) Award of Excellence. This award recognises the excellence and significance of the winner’s sustained contribution to research in plant tissue culture and biotechnology.

The prize ceremony was held in Perth as part of the IAPTCB Conference, which is held every four years. In presenting the award the president of the association, Professor McComb, said: “It is an honour to have someone of Professor Taji’s calibre amidst us”.

Professor Taji said that it was a privilege to have been the recipient of the association’s highest research award.

“Such an award adds fuel to our fire, so that we can work harder, enabling us to contribute at a high level nationally and internationally to the research profile of the association and our institutions,” Professor Taji said.

Professor Taji came to UNE from the University of the South Pacific in 1995, and in 2000 became UNE’s first ever female professor in rural science. Professor Taji is a horticultural scientist/crop physiologist with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (University Medal) from the University of Tehran, Iran. She also holds a Graduate Diploma in Horticultural Science from the University of Sydney, a PhD in Crop Physiology from Flinders University, and a Certificate in Higher Education from Harvard University.

Professor Taji has worked in the Department of Environment and Planning in South Australia, where she used tissue culture techniques to propagate Australian native plants. She has also taught biology, agronomy, crop physiology, plant biotechnology and horticultural science in Australia, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Japan and the US.

Professor Taji has been the recipient of 12 national and international research and teaching awards including the University of the South Pacific in Fiji’s Lecturer of The Year Award, the Japanese Prime Minister’s Senior Fellowship for Foreign Specialists, the Australian Society of Plant Physiologists’ Prize, the Australian College of Education and NSW Minister for Education and Training Quality Teaching Award, and the Australian Award for University Teaching. She has authored more than 200 scholarly articles and six books.

For more information contact Professor Acram Taji on (02) 6773 2869 or Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771. A photograph is available to accompany this story.

Posted by Leon Braun at October 31, 2005 04:50 PM