SAFES Excellence in Academic Teaching and Scholarship (SAFESEATS) members work across a range of education focused areas for innovation and impact in Teaching and Learning.
These include work integrated learning, digital and learning analytics tools tools, self-regulated learning and curriculum, pedagogical and assessment design. We are a multi-disciplinary team teaching into all aspects of Ag, Food and ecosystems sciences"
SAFESEATS is currently undertaking projects in the following areas of research:
- Self-regulated learning
- Assessment Literacy
- Increasing student engagement with participation feedback and guided reflection
- Learning analytics for personalised learning and progress feedback
- Building skills for maintaining well-being and long-term engagement in sustainability
- Internationalisation of curriculum
- Digital culture for teaching and learning
SAFESEATS has an evolving and expanding research program and we are always looking for new collaborations and research students. For information about opportunities, please contact Sarah Frankland.
Contact
For enquiries, please email Andrew Cutting - andrew.cutting@unimelb.edu.au
Academics and researchers in the SAFES Excellence in Academic Teaching and Scholarship research group.
Group members
Dr Alexis Pang
Dr. Alexis Pang’s research interests rely in the area of precision agriculture, specifically the spatially and temporally variable water and nutrient management.
alexis.pang@unimelb.edu.auDr Andrew Cutting
Dr Fiona Kelly
Dr Fiona Kelly is a Dietitian and Associate Lecturer in Human Nutrition in the Faculty of Science at The University of Melbourne, with over 20 years of teaching experience. Her research has included a number of dietary interventions investigating differing fatty acid composition of diets with a focus on thrombotic risk factors, and the glycaemic response to foods in individuals.
kelly.f@unimelb.edu.au
Ms Julia Steenkamp
Julia Steenkamp is a Dietitian and Lecturer in Human Nutrition, teaching across a range of nutrition subjects. Her key research interest is how microbes in food and food systems impact pesticide residues and health.
julia.steenkamp@unimelb.edu.au
A/Prof Sarah Frankland
Shirley Poon
Shirley Poon is an Associate Lecturer in the School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences within the Faculty of Science. She is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and brings extensive experience from hospital, community, and research settings, where she has worked as a clinical dietitian. Her expertise includes clinical nutrition and dietary assessments, coordinating clinical trials, and managing research datasets of various trial designs, including cluster-randomised controlled trials. Her current research focuses on developing ‘real’ food alternatives to ultra-processed, dietary weight loss therapies such as very-low-energy diets, with the goal of improving long-term health outcomes through sustainable and evidence-based nutrition interventions.
shirley.poon@unimelb.edu.au +61383440519
Dr Wycliffe Oyunga
Awards: Australia Awards for Africa 2013. Master of Agribusiness, Deans Honourss List 2014. Master of Agribusiness Class, Melbourne International Research Scholarship 2017. Doctor of Philosophy (Agricultural Sciences). Project: A study into how stakeholder power relations affect agricultural extension service delivery in a pluralistic agricultural innovation system: A case study of Homabay County in Kenya.
Find a supervisor
The following staff are available to supervise honours and masters research in the SAFES Excellence in Academic Teaching and Scholarship (SAFESEATS) research group.
Dr Antanas Spokevicius
My research uses molecular, genetic and genomic approaches to uncover causal links between gene structure and function and their relevance for patterning genetic diversity in natural (native forests) and artificial (breeding populations) ecosystems to assist with tree improvement efforts and ecosystem management practices.
Project topics:
- Genomic selection and tree improvement.
- Genetic association and gene discovery.
- Functional characterisation of candidate genes involved in wood formation.
Dr Bonnie Wintle
Bonnie is an interdisciplinary environmental scientist. When we are making decisions about the environment, we rely heavily on the judgements and opinions of experts, but experts are not immune to the psychological, political and social biases that affect all of us. Bonnie researches structured methods for eliciting and aggregating information from experts (including forecasting, horizon scanning), with the aim of producing more reliable, transparent science to support policy and decision-making.
Project topics:
- Improving predictions to support environmental decision-making.
- Horizon scanning to support environmental decision-making.
- Strategic foresight and scenario planning for environmental decisions.
- Meta-research for promoting transparent, robust science.
Dr Peta Taylor
Peta is an animal welfare scientist passionate about animal welfare education for students of all ages and the community.
Project topics:
- Effective methods to challenge misconceptions of animal welfare science.
- Assessing the impact of hands-on learning experiences with animals for lifelong learning and animal welfare.
Sonja Needs
I am currently involved in applied research in using dogs for detection in conservation and for agricultural pests and diseases. Determining firstly the ability of the dogs to detect the target odour and secondly to assess the reliability and thresholds for detection of that target odour. I have extensive knowledge of scent and how it is affected by environmental and atmospheric conditions with expertise in sensory science and human and canine olfactory systems. I am also involved with research around Wine and Viticulture with expertise in frost in grapevines and sensory evaluation of wine and other beverages.
Project topics:
- Can detection dogs generalise to real and live targets when trained on dried or frozen odours?
- Does soil type and wetting affect the ability of dogs to detect target odours?
- Can music be used as a cue and motivator for working detection dogs?
Billy Xynas
Billy Xynas is a Viticulturalist and Oenologist. His key research focus is on wine production in a changing climate. Interests include wine sensory analysis and recently his research has focused on developing water addition/substitution into Vitis vinifera cv. Shiraz wine grape must as an accepted fermentation strategy to lower ethanol production and maintain wine quality.
Project topics:
- Oenological approaches for reducing alcohol levels in wine.
- Oenology: Wine sensory analysis and perceptions.
- Accentuated Cut Edges (ACE) as an innovative vinification technique.
- Consumer perceptions of novel wine products.
- Winemaking in a changing climate. Adaptation strategies.