Firstly, congratulations to Zhiyao Wang on winning the Australian Water Association’s National Student Water Prize for 2021. Zhiyao’s acceptance speech was passionate and inspiring. A big congratulations to our recent ACWEB 2021 PhD students for completing their theses - Angelica Guerrero Calderon, Felix Egger, Macarena Diaz, Zhiyao Wang, Jiuling Li and Hao Bu - we look forward to your future achievements!
The federal government recently awarded a $96M research stimulus package to UQ, and fellowships were awarded to Zhiyao Wang, Bernadino Virdis, Alice Strazzabosco, Lisa Bai, Gilda Carvalho, Pablo Ledezma, and Haoran Duan for the next year.
We submitted our Expression of Interest for the ARC Centre of Excellence for a Sustainable Carbon Bioeconomy this month with support from an impressive, 44 research and industry/government partners. We are now planning for the next phase in the application process for this $35M, 7-year major initiative.
Steven Kenway is leading the UQ component of the CRC for Water Security bid, on track for submission in August, while the UQ proposal for a Water Centre of Excellence with Rotary International is also in final stages of preparation.
Recent COVID-19 restrictions have meant our annual July IWES program at the Gold Coast has been postponed to September and will now run online. However, it is heartening that continuing education is still a priority, and we thank our industry partners for continued support despite the changes to training delivery.
Finally, when restrictions are lifted, I look forward to joining all our partners for the AWMC 25th Anniversary Celebration, which will usher in a new era with our new name and new outlook for the Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology.
Professor Zhiguo Yuan AM
ACWEB Director
