Agricultural research at The University of Western Australia (UWA) will be reinvigorated with the new UWA Institute of Agriculture and the appointment of a new Chair in Agriculture, Professor Kadambot Siddique.

These moves into the future will be celebrated at 5pm this evening at the University Watersports Complex, Hackett Drive, Crawley, with the launch of the Institute by the Minister for Agriculture and Food;  Forestry;  the Midwest and Wheatbelt, Kim Chance.

UWA Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Robson, an agricultural scientist, will join the Minister Kim Chance and Professor Alistar Robertson, Dean of UWA’s Faculty of Natural and Agriculture Sciences, to mark the University’s commitment to expanding its links with industry.

In assuming the Chair of Agriculture, Professor Siddique also becomes Director of the Institute of Agriculture at UWA, which is being rejuvenated to create a critical mass of research excellence in UWA’s agricultural science groups.