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Ref:756/03 |
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Australia
- May 24, 2003 |
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RMIT University announces Postdoctoral
Research Positions for Gippsland
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RMIT University has announced that it will provide
3 Postdoctoral Research Fellowships for its new
marine research facility now under construction on
Bullock Island. These will be in the areas of
finfish aquaculture and ecology, scallop
aquaculture, and integrated water quality
assessment. |
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The
task for the finfish project will be to develop
hatchery and possibly growout methods for a
commercially valuable marine or estuarine fish
and/or investigate the effects of ecosystem
variability and stress on selected finfish
species. The scallop project will test the
viability of a scallop hatchery at the research
facility, with a view to determining the
practicality of reseeding wild scallop beds or
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Pictured Centre:
Bullock Island at Lakes Entrance in Victoria, site
of the new research facility |
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developing growout methods suitable for the
region. The water quality project will investigate
various aspects of hydrology, with an emphasis on
eutrophication and algal bloom processes.
Applications from interested and qualified
researchers will be sought in May/June 2003 for a
commencement around July 2003. Position
descriptions will be available around the end of
May from the RMIT website at
http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse?SIMID=5u02aaz7ghjn1
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Bullock Island is adjacent to the township of
Lakes Entrance, in far eastern Victoria,
Australia, approximately 4.5h drive from the
University’s home base in Melbourne. Lakes
Entrance is a small coastal town with a
residential population of approximately 4,500
people, but this increases during peak holiday
periods. The town has the largest fishing port in
the state of Victoria, with the fleet operating
offshore and |
The Construction site |
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within the adjacent Gippsland Lakes. The Gippsland
Lakes cover approximately 30,000 ha and are fed by
five major river systems. Together, these rivers
drain a catchment of more than 20,000 km2.
There are large regions of flat agricultural land
with good river and groundwater resources suitable
for aquaculture farming. The area has important
agricultural, fisheries, tourist and forestry
industries, but suffers from a number of
environmental problems such as rising groundwater
and salination of farmland, increased nutrient
loads and toxic algal blooms in the lakes, and
seawater incursion into the lakes.
RMIT University wishes to build a strong research
and teaching presence in the region to assist
local industry. The University was awarded a grant
of $4 million from the Victorian State Government
for a Marine Research and Education Centre on
Bullock Island in partnership with the East
Gippsland Institute of TAFE. The marine station is
under construction and is expected to be completed
at the end of 2003. The postdoctoral positions are
part of the strategy for building a research
critical mass at the facility. Appointees will be
stationed in Melbourne until the facility is
completed.
Good scientific skills and a recent PhD are
mandatory. In addition, because of the remote
nature of the site and the need to liaise
extensively with local industry, only applicants
with an excellent command of spoken and written
English and an Australian or international
automobile driving licence will be considered. |
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