Written by Janet Paterson Friday, 23 January 2009 14:32
Dr Hamza competed nationally to gain one of just 90 prestigious Endeavour Research Fellowships offered.
The fellowships are given to enable high-achieving Australian scientists to undertake research in participating countries within the Middle East and the Asia/Pacific region.
Dr Hamza said during his six-month Endeavour Research Fellowship at the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman his research would focus on better management of the widespread and debilitating problem of soil compaction
“The fellowship opportunity will enable me to build on my 15 years of successful research into the causes of soil compaction in cropping soils,” he said.
“Soil compaction is estimated to cost Australian farmers millions of dollars in lost productivity each year.
“The Sultan Qaboos University’s advanced soil testing equipment will enable me to further understand how soil compaction issues can be overcome.”
Past recipients of the fellowship have investigated issues as diverse as women’s rights through to coral ecology and hydrogen technology in countries as far apart in distance and culture as Fiji, Taiwan and Turkey.
Dr Hamza said a feature common to all Endeavour Research Fellowships is the valuable linkages and networks formed between Australia and the host country, leading to long-term research collaborations and a strengthened mutual understanding.
Fellowship applicants must demonstrate high academic performance during their undergraduate degree and be enrolled in, or have completed, a Masters or PhD.
Dr Hamza leaves for Oman on 29 January 2009.
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