Trans-Tasman Team
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| Agricultural partnership ... New Zealand PM, the Rt. Hon. Helen Clark |
The New Zealand Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, recently announced a new trans- Tasman partnership to solve complex problems in agriculture. She announced that AgResearch – a New Zealand Crown research institute – and UQ had agreed to jointly fund a new Chair in Systems Thinking and Practice.
Known as the AgResearch Chair in Systems Thinking and Practice, the position will be established in the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management, based at UQ Gatton. The Chair will travel to New Zealand several times a year as part of the partnership, working with AgResearch scientists as well as key pastoral industry players and policy agents.
AgResearch Chair, Rick Christie, said the issues confronting agriculture on both sides of the Tasman were complex and required an approach that looked at the whole environment in which farming occurred – not just the physical environment, but also the rural community and the economic situation. “They are all intertwined. In past decades, New Zealand has dealt with each separately to the detriment of farming,” Mr Christie said.
Head of the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management, Professor Ockie Bosch, said the Chair would also supervise PhD students to accelerate the development of the next generation of systems thinkers.
