Student projects
Undergraduate Students
The staff of the Poultry Research Unit, as members of the Sydney School of Veterinary Science are responsible for a number of undergraduate courses. Lectures and practical classes in all aspects of poultry science and production are given to students of the Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Science. The facilities used in these courses are located in the Foundation Unit at Camden.
The Poultry Research Foundation offers an annual prize to the final year student in Animal Veterinary BioScience course who demonstrates the greatest proficiency in poultry science.
2012 Winner:
Shenara Somasundaram – “Alleviating heat stress in commercial ducks.”
Previous Winners:
2011 – Hannah Lum – “The effect of altered incubation temperature on bone composition and leg weakness in a fast feathering dam Cobb line of broilers.”
2010 – Kate Hartcher – “Using egg albumen corticosterone concentrations to evaluate the role of the glucocorticoids in the production of abnormal eggs.”
AND Ryan Hopcroft – “Impact of sorghum-based diets (including aspects of their processing) on broiler growth.”
Postgraduate / Masters Students
PhD and MSc students have contributed substantially to the research programs conducted over the years, and many now occupy positions where they service the Australian poultry industry directly, or indirectly. Since its inception in 1958 the PRF has seen over 60 PhD and MSc students graduate successfully.
Many of the students have been from overseas and have undertaken their degrees, often as part of official Australian aid programs to developing countries. Their return home has facilitated the development of an international network with common interests in research and education in poultry science.
Current Students:
Doreen Anene – The relationship between hen feed efficiency and egg safety.
Ferdausi Begum – Proteomic changes in the egg albumen associated with deterioration in egg freshness.
Peter Chrystal – Facilitating the acceptance of substantially reduced-crude protein diets for chicken-meat production.
Christine Clark – Are feed ingredients added to layer chicken diets aiding or inhibiting live salmonella typhimurium vaccinations at farm level?
Hebatallah Elshafaei – Performance and meat quality of broilers feed low crude protein diets during periods of high temperature.
Yuanshuo Gao – Analytical Epidemiology of Spotty Liver Disease.
Shiva Greenhalgh – Amino acid utilisation in reduced crude protein diets of chickens.
Ryan Hopcroft – Manipulating residual yolk usage.
Shemil Macelline – Amino acids requirement in poultry.
Craig Maynard – Characterization of branched chain amino acid antagonism in modern broiler chickens.
Danielle Phibbs – The impact of perches on leg health and mobility in meat chickens.
Postdoctoral Research Associates
Postdoctoral Research offers recently graduated PhD students the opportunity to consolidate their knowledge and further their education and experience as a research scientist. Typically these positions are research only though occasionally involve some degree of teaching and supervisory commitment. Postdoctoral researchers in many ways are the life-blood of the PRF as they have the time and the focus to make considerable progress in their given research area.
Current Postdoctoral Research Associates:
Mini Singh – 3 year Poultry CRC funded project on improving the performance of free-range poultry production.
Mehdi Toghyani –
Yeasmin Akter – 3 year Australian Egg funded project on achieving efficient productivity and egg quality in lighter framed layers.