For more than 10 years, Faculty of Agriculture UGM has been conducting partnerships with Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in various fields of research involving their students, especially postgraduate students, both Master and Doctoral degrees. One of the involved students was Yenny Sariasih, a doctoral student in Agricultural Sciences focusing on Phytopathology. She was involved in a research project on Huanglongbing disease control in citrus plants with Prof. Dr. Ir. Siti Subandiyah, M.Agr.Sc., as the UGM Project Leader and main Promotor for Yenny.
Yenny, who is also a mother of four children, admitted that her experience in a research project with ACIAR was a very memorable experience. For her, ACIAR not only provided a lot of support in research activity of her dissertation, but also gave an opportunity to travel to Australia through a study tour, which was fully funded by ACIAR.
“ACIAR provides a lot of support for students involved in the citrus project. In addition to academic support, ACIAR also supports financially covering all our needs, including being invited to join a study tour activity to Australia,” said Yenny.
In addition to receiving research funding, Yenny also received an academic support, one of which was having a Co-Promoter from The Department of Primary Industries (DPI), New South Wales, Australia, Dr. Tahir Khurshid, who is also part of the citrus project. Yenny was supervised directly by Dr. Tahir, conducted research entitled “Growth and Health Response of Citrus Against Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) and Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus Inoculation in Rootstock and Scion Combinations”. After a long process, Yenny finally was admitted to graduate from the Doctoral Course in Agricultural Sciences Study Program on on Thursday, May 30, 2024.
Student involvement in research projects between the Faculty of Agriculture UGM and ACIAR also received attention from ACIAR Indonesia, as stated by Maria Ludwina as Assistant Country Manager. Wina explained that there are several types of student involvement according to the requirement of ongoing projects.
“We perceive UGM students are able to be involved in projects according to the needs of the project itself, for example involved as a researcher in the field, researchers in laboratories, or even as extension workers for research results,” explained Wina.
Wina added, student involvement in research projects with ACIAR will also open opportunities to apply for Master or Doctoral Scholarships through the John Allwright Fellowship (JAF) Scholarship intended for researchers or students from various countries who have been directly involved in ACIAR research projects. This was also highlighted by the Dean of Faculty of Agriculture UGM, Ir. Jaka Widada, M.P., Ph.D., who stated that these opportunities will support the emergence of excellent graduates of Faculty of Agriculture UGM.
Research collaboration involving students also shows the encouragement of the Faculty of Agriculture UGM to achieve SDG1: No Poverty, SDG4: Quality Education, SDG10: Reduced Inequalities, and SDG17: Partnerships for The Goals.
Author : Hanita Athasari Zain
Translator : Sha
Editor : Desi Utami