Plant research gets $2.6 million infrastructure boost
The development of healthier food, new and improved crops, and more sustainable agricultural practices has been catalysed with funding to improve plant research facilities.
$2.6 million from the Federal Government will be used to update infrastructure and equipment, and introduce new technologies at the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (APPF).
“Plant research is an extremely fast-paced environment, and we need investment to continue to ensure we stay at the cutting edge of research,” says Professor Julie Owens, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research Strategy.
The APPF, including the University’s Plant Accelerator, is a network of national research infrastructure platforms. It offers researchers access to state-of-the-art plant phenomics technologies, tools and expertise not available at this scale or breadth in the public sector anywhere else in the world.
APPF is a partnership between the University of Adelaide, CSIRO and the Australian National University.
The grant was announced under the Federal Government’s new $1.9 billion Research Infrastructure Investment Plan Facilities for the Future: Underpinning Australia’s Research and Innovation.