Coming out here has been absolutely incredible it has allowed me to gain so much experience as well as giving me the chance to see Australia.

Working for CSIRO has given me experience out in the field, in the lab and just working in a research environment this has allowed me to gain a number of vital skills which I wouldn't have achieved by just carrying out my degree. It has also allowed me to meet a number of leading scientists in Australia providing me with some great connections for the future.

Whilst being here I have also been able to meet lots of people and make lots of friends from all over the world. Being in a city means that there are a lot of sports clubs that you can join to meet people. Also many of the people at work have invited us around for BBQs and we have had a number of work events, such as the Christmas party.

Working at CSIRO has also given me the opportunity to go and explore parts of Australia. It allowed me to go up to Cairns where I went diving on the Great barrier reef, explored Mossman gorge, cape tribulation and Port Douglas. Whilst there I worked for Tony Webster who showed me a number of sugar cane and banana plantations. Most of my time here was excellent but there were a few challenges on the way. The main challenge was missing home, but I found that because you are kept pretty busy most of the time the days fly by.

If you decide to come out on placement here I would recommend that you have a look into accommodation before coming out here. However I wouldn't book anything until you arrive as you should definitely see a place before living there. I would also recommend that you have some savings. CSIRO provides you with an allowance but the cost of living is pretty high in Australia so it is only enough to cover your rent and food. I did about a month’s work before coming out here which has allowed me to do things outside of work.I really would encourage second year students who are looking to gain more experience as well as see more of the world to go on placement with CSIRO.

Presented my project to the rest of the CSIRO team.

Preperation for presentation of project on Friday

Went to a workshop with Alan who was talking about his project on delayed nitrogen application. In previous years he found that the delayed application of N prevented lodging as the plant did not grow rapidly and thus with a weak stem. It also made the plant more hardy and the stem stronger so that when the nitrogen was eventually applied it could be utilised in grain production. This meant that yield was greater in delayed sowing as lodging is reduced.  This year Alan applied nets to the varieties that were prone to lodging then split the variety between delayed N and N applied at planting.

This was done to determine whether the yield improvement in delayed N was due to reduced lodging or whether there was another factor involved. However these results revealed little difference in yield between delayed N and N applied at planting. This may be due to the unprecedented hot winter in Toowoomba, which meant that the crop grew too rapidly early on due to high radiation this increased the lodging risk of both delayed N and N applied at planting. However the results have revealed that the nets worked incredibly well and will be used again. It also revealed that there is no need to use highly lodging varieties and it would be much better to use just Kennedy and Hartog. Then split the plots by using different N application methods.

Statistical analysis using pivot tables and excel to produce graphs from the data collected from the core break method, root scanning and DNA analysis.Genstat was then used to determine whether the results were significant or not.