Food Agility Scholarship

Developing genetic tools for establishing seafood provenance

Establishing seafood provenance is becoming increasingly important for the sustainable development of both fisheries and aquaculture industries. Visual identification of a product to species level, or even much higher taxonomic levels, is frequently impossible, particularly after processing either at sea or on land.  It is important for the future development of both fisheries and aquaculture industries to establish that product substitution has not occurred and that products do not contain “filler” species (ie contain more than the single named species).  Establishing the geographic or population of origin, and making that information available across the supply chain, is also becoming more important to the consumer and the industry.  The current revolution in molecular laboratory and sequencing techniques means that a range of methods for establishing seafood provenance are emerging and these promise more rapid assessment than has been possible previously. This project will take advantage of the latest genetic techniques to develop methods for establishing the provenance of key Australian seafood species.

This project will be supported by a scholarship from Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre; a $150M, 10 year, innovation hub supporting digital innovation in Australia’s agri-foods sector. The scholarship includes a stipend of $35,000 p.a. for a maximum of 3 years and the project will be supported by up to $10,000 p.a. operating funds.

The Scholarship is available to both domestic and international applicants wishing to undertake a PhD or Masters by research degree.

For applicants already holding a higher degree by research scholarship from James Cook University, the scholarship may be converted to a top-up of $10,000 p.a. with $5,000 p.a. in additional project operating funds.

Applicants are encouraged to contact the Principal Supervisor, Associate Professor Jan Strugnell (jan.strugnell@jcu.edu.au) to discuss their proposal and will then be required to download an application template from Food Agility CRC via https://www.foodagility.com/researchers-apply. Applicants should submit the completed application form to scholarships@foodagility.com by no later than Friday 27^th September 2019.

Scholarships are awarded on the basis of student merit and will be considered on a first-come-first-served basis for applications received up until the closing date. Only one scholarship is on offer.