Applications for the 2021 Gary Sansom Scholarship are now open. The Gary Sansom Scholarship identifies high quality students and, with the support of a generous bursary, allows the successful candidate to foster a career pathway in the chicken meat industry and support their industry-relevant research.
The Scholarship is named in honour of the late Gary Sansom. Mr Sansom was a former AgriFutures Chicken Meat Advisory Panel Chair and was the Australian Chicken Meat Federation President.
AgriFutures Australia Manager, Research, Georgie Townsend said the Scholarship supports Mr Sansom’s vision for the industry – to ensure it is valued and respected by all sectors of the Australian community and to develop leadership in the research community.
“Gary was a long-standing supporter initiatives to encourage new people into the chicken meat industry. It’s important that the Scholarship is awarded to someone who is passionate about the chicken meat industry and wants the industry to thrive into the future,” said Georgie.
University of Adelaide PhD student Joshua Angove was the 2019 Gary Sansom Scholarship recipient.
His research project aims to understand whether optimising breeder hen rearing environments can improve growth and carcass characteristics in the progeny they produce, whilst trying to understand the contributing physiology behind offspring performance variation.
“Chicken meat production has experienced un-paralleled expansion globally, primarily through genetic advances and improvements in our understanding of bird nutritional requirements. To continue this expansion the chicken meat industry requires new economically viable approaches to propel the industry into the future. Understanding and optimising the maternal environment is one potential approach.
“The end goal of my research is to develop and apply an economically viable targeted approach that utilises the maternal environment to enhance commercial chicken meat production,” said Mr Angove.
“I encourage anyone interested in the chicken meat industry to apply for the Scholarship. Over the past 12 months, with thanks to the Scholarship, I attended and presented at the Australian Poultry Science Symposium in 2020. I’m also planning on attending, and have been accepted to present, at the World Poultry Congress in Paris, which was to be held in 2020 but will be postponed to a later date.
“As a young scientist attending conferences, and particularly those the Gary Sansom Scholarship has afforded me, have been invaluable. Meeting industry and academic professionals has showcased opportunities across the entire poultry industry. I’m passionate and inspired to investigate these opportunities upon completion of my candidature,” said Mr Angove.
