![[Photo: Professor David Chapman]](/img/staffdc.jpg)
Why study research?
Research training is a keystone of the University of Melbourne and a public measure of its excellence. Achieve outstanding career outcomes as the Faculty’s graduates are held in high esteem throughout the world.
The University of Melbourne is rated the leading Australian university for employability of graduates and University of Melbourne graduate employment outcomes are consistently higher than the national average. International employers often rank our graduates as significantly stronger applicants in comparison to local and other applicants.
Why study research with the Faculty of Land and Food Resources?
The Faculty of Land and Food Resources is the broadest Faculty of its kind in Australia offering an impressive array of educational and research opportunities in the land based industries which are pivotal to Australia’s economic growth. Traditionally the focus for research in agriculture and related industries has been on productivity. While this is still very important, the R&D agenda for these industries nowadays includes sustainable management of the natural resources and ecosystems upon which they depend for their productivity, as well as the development of rural communities and the skills and capabilities of the people who live in those communities and work on the land in some capacity.
LFR is involved in research activities all along the value chain in the major land-based industries of Australia, from innovation through basic and strategic science (including the molecular sciences), to assisting rural industries in their learning and change management objectives. Our research programs also include food and fibre processing, economics and agribusiness, conservation management of public lands and the natural and cultural heritage of southern Australia, sustainable development of high quality urban environments where the majority of Australia’s people live, and international development.
We are pleased to offer project opportunities in all of these areas to prospective postgraduate students from Australia and abroad. Our experienced and, in many cases, internationally recognized staff have had considerable success in winning competitive research grant income. Often, this has been achieved in collaboration with research partners from within Victoria and further afield. This means we can offer research higher degree students excellent opportunities to train with some of the world’s pre-eminent scientists in their field of interest, and to be supported by research funds and excellent facilities and infrastructure provided by the University and its research partners. We have many excellent links with industries that assist our higher degree graduates to build their networks and to find careers that are attractive and satisfying.
Professor David Chapman
Associate Dean (Research)
Faculty of Land and Food Resources