Australia-China science collaboration set to increase

Australia has cemented its strong relationship in science and technology with China following the signing of two new agreements aimed at enhancing collaboration between the two nations.

The governments have renewed a memorandum of understanding between the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and relates to the joint management of the Australia-China Special Fund for Scientific and Technological Cooperation.

Under this fund, each country provides support of up to AUD$500,000 per year for research projects between Australia and China in agreed priority areas.

The fund, which was established in 2001, has supported 26 projects to date. The initiative has led to a range of mutually beneficial outcomes including a CSIRO project which focused on the commercialisation of biological control methods for wheat disease.

"The funding of the wheat disease project was of great benefit to both Australia and China," said Dr Maarten Ryder, formally Senior Principal Research Scientist and now of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems. "Australian scientists benefited from the knowledge of formulation and the Chinese from the commercialisation of the Australian microbe Trichoderma which was developed at CSIRO. The funding also enabled both parties to get together formally with commercial partners in China and Australia."

The new funding will enable the CSIRO to further cement the relationship with China, "It is enabling us to develop more formal and broad collaborations for our work. We are now looking at feasibility of being able to test new technology in China for the rapid detection of plant pathogens in soil," said Ryder.

A delegation from the Shandong Academy of Sciences and Shandong Government will also visit the CSIRO and its project partner, the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), later in August as part of the extended funding.

The second agreement, a letter of Intent, paves the way for the establishment of the Young Scientist Exchange Scheme for researchers who have shown outstanding ability and potential to become leaders in the science community.