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 Julie
NicolJulie did her Degree in Agricultural Science at the Waite campus of the University of Adelaide. She says of the course, In her final year of her degree, Julie completed an honours topic, looking at the a disease of wheat, caused by a microscopic animal called a nematode. The nematode feeds on the roots of wheat and can reduce the amount of wheat that can be grown in a paddock. After completing her honours project, Julie applied for and received a scholarship from the grains industry to do further studies on this disease. "I really enjoyed my years as a PhD student. My project took a little over three years and involved looking at how widespread this disease was across the state, and conducting field trials on how much damage the disease was causing. I love to travel and this project gave me the opportunity to travel around the country areas and see a lot of the state. I also got to meet a lot of the states top farmers as well as scientists working in the field"Julie was able to come up with a plan to help combat the disease. She collected wheat varieties from around the world to find varieties that were resistant to the disease. She found that a number of varieties from the Middle East were resistant, and this is being followed up by other scientists and students. "It makes me feel good to know that the work I did in my project will ultimately help farmers grow more food" Since finishing her doctorate, Julie has been doing some part-time teaching at the University of Adelaide. Her wish to be able to work with farmers to combat plant diseases looks like being fulfilled, as she has recently been awarded a travel scholarship to visit scientific institutions overseas to investigate possible control strategies for diseases of grapevines. |