 Queensland’s Gold Coast is usually associated with sun, surf and fishing. But it was beef and lamb which took the spotlight when 36 Beef and Sheep CRC postgraduate students gathered for their annual conference.
A highlight of the students' calendar, the four-day conference is split in to two sections. The first two days involve the students presenting their work while the second two days are set aside for professional development.
The second and third year students are required to make a 10 minute presentation about their work to a panel of esteemed judges. While first year students presented a poster.
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 The judging panel included Dr Heather Burrow (Beef CRC), Professor David Pethick (Murdoch University), Associate Professor Wayne Pitchford (University of Adelaide), Associate Professor Paul Greenwood (NSW DPI), Professor Frank Dunshea (Melbourne University), Dr Henry Zerby (The Ohio State University) and Dr Ben Hayes (Vic DPI).
Conference organiser Dr Graham Gardner, Murdoch University said the judges were highly impressed with the calibre of the students.
“Students are judged on two main criteria. The first criterion is the standard of their abstracts and second point is the quality of their presentation,” he said.
“Presentation encompasses everything from how well they explain their work to the design of their slides and posters.”
Dr Gardner said many of the projects are on the cutting-edge of science.
“There is some visionary research being undertaken by these students, but at the same time much of the research is also applicable to the individual sheep and beef producer,” he said.
“If this group of students is anything to go by, the future of Australian research is in good hands.”
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 The best overall speaker award was presented to University of Queensland student Emily Piper. Emily’s presentation about the immune responses of cattle which are infested with the cattle tick impressed not only the judges but the other students as well.
Her research could help uncover a clean, green way of controlling the cattle tick which costs the Australian cattle industry $175M per annum in decreased production and control costs.
Second place went to Brendon O’Rourke, University of Melbourne. Brendon is looking at the association between myostatin DNA markers and muscularity in Angus cattle.
Michael Laurance and Peter McGilchrist both from the Beef CRC and studying at Murdoch University were presented third and fourth prizes respectively.
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 Gareth Kelly, (Sheep CRC) took out top honours among the first year students with his poster about the cost of gastro-intestinal nematodes in sheep on the northern tablelands of NSW and the implications of integrated parasite management.
Stephen Lee, (Beef CRC), University of Adelaide and Kate Lennon (Sheep CRC), University of Adelaide were awarded second and third in the first-year section respectively.
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