People Development Program: Peter Dundas-Smith Scholarship - Eric Perez (Exploring Leadership Development Capacity Within The Fisheries Research And Development Corporation In The Context Of Rural Research Development Corporations)
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$15,000.00
Summary
The aim of the study is to explore leadership development within the context of the FRDC and more broadly the Australian rural RDC context. The study will explore past leadership development initiatives, current trends, environmental factors and future issues facing leadership development.
While there is considerable research on leadership in general and leadership theory there is a paucity of leadership development research as it relates to rural RDCs. The focus of this study is expl ....The aim of the study is to explore leadership development within the context of the FRDC and more broadly the Australian rural RDC context. The study will explore past leadership development initiatives, current trends, environmental factors and future issues facing leadership development.
While there is considerable research on leadership in general and leadership theory there is a paucity of leadership development research as it relates to rural RDCs. The focus of this study is exploratory and will focus on understanding and improving the leadership development capacity of the FRDC and its commercially focused sectors. There are multiple aims embedded in the study including:
1. Identify past developmental initiatives, return on investment, current trends, environmental factors, likely future demand and changes in the operational environment at the FRDC and rural RDC level. 2. Identifying how the FRDC and rural RDCs identify emerging leaders. 3. Identify the views of current senior industry leaders (i.e. industry association Board members) of current leadership capacity and leadership development. 4. Develop a set of guidelines for use by the FRDC and rural RDCs as a basis for leadership development.
The project's multiple project elements will provide the FRDC and rural RDCs with views and issues facing emerging, current and senior leadership. Objectives: 1. Explore the learnings and issues identified by seafood industry and rural RDC leaders. 2. Cataloguing the leadership journey amongst emerging, current and senior leaders across the seafood industry and rural RDCs. 3. Researcher achieves Learning Objectives by developing high level research and industry engagement skills through the life of the project. 4. Add to academic literature with regard to leadership development. Read moreRead less
SCRC: PhD: Tracking Methyl Mercury Contamination Pathways In Key Commercially And Recreationally Fished Species.
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Summary
This project will analyse methylmercury concentrations within known trophic pathways to i) better establish the risk associated with eating seafood, ii) explain the disparity between environmental and biotic mercury levels and iii) determine the methylmercury contribution to varying trophic levels and thus clarify the relationship between total mercury loadings and bioaccumulation potential. Human mercury exposure is primarily due to consumption of seafood (Chen et al. 2009), with young chi ....This project will analyse methylmercury concentrations within known trophic pathways to i) better establish the risk associated with eating seafood, ii) explain the disparity between environmental and biotic mercury levels and iii) determine the methylmercury contribution to varying trophic levels and thus clarify the relationship between total mercury loadings and bioaccumulation potential. Human mercury exposure is primarily due to consumption of seafood (Chen et al. 2009), with young children and pregnant women most at risk. The Derwent estuary is highly contaminated with mercury; with fish levels consistently exceeding FSANZ maximum permitted levels (0.5 mg kg-1). However, the literature is divided as to the source of mercury accumulation in fish; some studies suggest a strong influence from the surrounding water and sediments (Blevins and Pancorbo, 1986; Calta and Canpolat, 2006, Kehrig et al., 2010) whilst other studies suggest environmental levels are a poor indicator (Langlois et al., 1987, Verdouw et al., 2010) and that contamination arises through specific mercury bioaccumulation pathways. Mercury accumulates in marine food webs as the organic form, methylmercury, which is particularly toxic, persistent and readily biomagnifies (Chen et al., 2009, Ward et al., 2010). Sediment mercury is largely inorganic and, depending on environmental conditions, frequently biologically unavailable (Chen et al., 2009). An important step in determining trophic accumulation and toxicity potential (“mercury budget”) is to establish the methylmercury component at each trophic level. Despite evidence that methylmercury percentages increase with trophic level (Kehrig et al., 2009; Kasper et al., 2009), there is no accurate way of predicting this component without direct measurement (Chen et al., 2008). This project proposes to analyse and document the methylmercury contributions to each of the key fish species listed and describe the influence of life-history, feeding preference, trophic level, and spatial and temporal differences on fish loadings.Read moreRead less