25 March 2004 PM Opens Bio-Protection Centre at Lincoln University

A $25 million Government investment in the biosecurity, biocontrol, agri-biotechnology and Matauranga Maori bio-protection needs of New Zealand's land-based industries and natural ecosystems was launched by Prime Minister Helen Clark at Lincoln University today. (25 March)

The investment, through the Ministry of Education's Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) fund, is in the form of a Lincoln University-based National Centre for Advanced Bio-Protection Technologies, a 12-member collaboration of universities, Crown Research Institutes, and a whare wananga.

The new centre's strategic objectives are in four areas –

• biosecurity

• biocontrol

• agri-biotechnology

• Matauranga Maori bio-protection

all of which are consistent with the Government's national strategic goals of innovation, economic development and environmental sustainability.

Under its unique Matauranga Maori bio-protection objective the centre aims to blend Maori ecological, cultural and traditional knowledge with the science that underpins nationally important biosecurity and pest management measures.

The centre has set itself six strategic goals to achieve within the initial six-year Crown funding period. These are –

• To be excellent in the area of bio-protection as benchmarked against international capability.

• To attract high calibre graduate students nationally and internationally and ensure development of their full potential through participation in innovative research relevant to bio-protection.

• To physically support cutting edge research through the provision of world-class facilities, including the biotron on the Lincoln campus.

• To expand the centre's networks from the Lincoln hub with leading international institutes and individuals in bio-protection.

• To exploit new opportunities for the economic, environmental and social benefit of New Zealand through integration with, or close reference to, industry, bio-protection and environmental agencies.

• To secure external funding through performance-based repute to make the centre financially sustainable by the expiration of the Crown's centre-specific funding in 2009.

The director of the centre is Lincoln University's Professor of Plant Pathology, Alison Stewart, and the chair of the eight-member Board of Management is Mr Alistair Betts of South Canterbury, who is also chairman of AGMARDT (Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust) and on the Board of Directors of Zespri.

Board members are –

Alistair Betts (chair)

Sir Tipene O'Regan

Michael Andrews, chairman Business New Zealand, ex CEO Fletcher Challenge Forests

Dr Andrew McKenzie, CEO NZ Food Safety Authority, MAF

Professor Roger Field, Lincoln University

Professor Sylvia Rumball, Massey University

Dr Prue Williams, Crop and Food Research

Dr Warren Parker, AgResearch

Professor Alison Stewart, Lincoln University, ex-officio.

The 12 collaborating organisations linked in the CoRE are – Lincoln University, Crop and Food Research, AgResearch, HortResearch, Landcare, Forest Research, Canesis (formerly Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand), Massey University, Auckland University, Canterbury University, Auckland University of Technology and Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi.

Lincoln, Crop and Food Research, AgResearch and Massey University are the principal partners.

"The centre responds to the Government's Tertiary Education Strategy that identified biosecurity as a high priority for New Zealand," says the Director of Lincoln University's Postgraduate and Research School, Professor Roy Bickerstaffe.

"The national collaboration of researchers and scientists that has been brought together in the centre is an unparalleled concentration of expertise in the areas of biosecurity, bio-protection and biocontrol that will deliver benefits to our indigenous ecosystems and ensure that our biologically based industries remain economically viable and as safe as possible from harm.

"In pursuing advanced technological techniques in its areas of focus, the centre will establish New Zealand at the forefront of global developments in bio-protection whilst remaining aware and sympathetic to cultural compatibility."

The new Lincoln University-based organisation is the only Centre of Research Excellence in the South Island of the seven created since the Government first allocated Budget money to a Centre of Research Excellence fund in 2001.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand