Budding cotton scientist set on creating a crop that can cop heat-stress

From a concrete jungle to a cotton field, University of New England student, Georgie Oldham, has spent the last four years working hard to transplant her urban roots into the rich soils of the NSW Northern Tablelands.

After four years of attempting to satisfy her craving for scientific research, Georgie now feels her mission has been a success, claiming the move into agriculture was “the best decision she’s ever made.”

As one of the 22 recipients of the 2023-24 Horizon Scholarship sponsored by AgriFutures Australia, Georgie has leveraged the opportunity to help get her foot in the door of the cotton breeding industry.

“I have always been fascinated by the cotton industry considering it’s been kind of a backbone in the development of genetics and biotechnology,” said Georgie.

With a keen scientific mind, Georgie is now at the helm of an exciting honors research project where she is exploring photosynthetic targets to breed heat-stress tolerance into commercially grown cotton, a project she’s undertaking in collaboration with a team of researchers at Western Sydney University.

“I consider myself so lucky to be involved with such a fantastic and supportive team of researchers,” said Georgie. “While we’ve already done a few experiments we’ve really only just scratched the surface, but I’m really excited to see how this year goes and what will come from it,” she said.

Sponsored by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), she has had a wealth of support finding the connections she needs, from on-farm cotton producers to researchers at CRDC.

“I didn’t have any connections or know-how when it came to entering the [cotton] industry,” said Georgie, “so when the opportunity came up to be sponsored by CRDC I jumped at it.”

“I honestly think it’s completely changed my life – it’s really opened doors for me and I’ve met some incredible friends and mentors which has me feeling really excited to graduate and get into the industry,” she said.

Innovation broker at CRDC, Rachel Holloway, says that since the beginning of their involvement with the Horizon program almost ten years ago, they have experienced enourmous success with the scholars that emerge from the program.

“Having a mentor who can support young people and help them make connections is really important,” explained Rachel.

“CRDC does a great job of mentoring our young scholars because we see the value that a program like this can bring to our industry.”

“We need these people to come and help us solve problems in the cotton industry and by connecting with these passionate young people through the program we are able to do just that.”

Unsurprisingly, CRDC jumped at the opportunity to sponsor Georgie.

“What stood out to us about Georgie was that she was extremely articulate and had a clear idea about what science area she wanted to work in, which was biotech and crop production, and that really appealed to us,” said Rachel.

Despite having always been science-orientated, surprisingly, agriculture wasn’t something that had ever occurred to Georgie as a career path. After four years in Armidale, however, and many golden opportunities on her horizon, Georgie says she now can’t imagine her life any other way.

“There’s a limitless number of opportunities to follow your passion [in agriculture] and this scholarship has honestly changed my life for the better so I can’t wait to see what else is to come,” she said.

Find out more about the AgriFutures Horizon Scholarship