Dr Philip Thomas (Research Services) and Mr Michael Coleman (School of Environmental and Rural Science) visited Indonesia recently to build relationships with government agencies and partner universities.

The goal was to recruit more PhD and PhD (Innovation) research candidates at UNE, and to build collaboration in other areas such as academic exchange and short course provision.

The UNE team also met with several Indonesian researchers who are adjuncts to UNE, as well as five candidates about to commence their doctoral research at UNE.

Dr Thomas met with UNE Adjunct Professor Ronny Noor (pictured), an animal science researcher at Bogor Agricultural University, former attache at the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra and UNE graduate, to discuss research collaboration and student co-supervision.

The visit follows previous discussions with Indonesian partners, including earlier in the year by DVCR Professor Heiko Daniel. UNE continues to build strong relationships with a number of key Indonesian universities, particularly in the areas of rural science and agricultural economics, and is seeking to further strengthen these links and expand the number of Indonesian research students at UNE.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Annabelle Duncan, will visit Indonesia in November to pursue further opportunities in these and other areas.