School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment Statement of Strategic Intent
The Baker Department of Cardiovascular Research, Translation and Implementation is part of the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment.
It contextualises our part in achieving the University’s mission: To be known for making a positive difference in the lives of our students, partners and communities.
The School proudly acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands where its campuses are located, recognises the ongoing connection to Country of local communities, and values the contributions Indigenous people make to its activities.
Cultivating healthy food, healthy people and healthy ecosystems in Australia through excellence and innovation in education and research.
Food security, the rise of chronic and infectious diseases, and the impacts of environmental change, are some of the major global challenges of our time.
Our goal as an outstanding provider of research and knowledge exchange in the biological, biomedical, environmental, molecular and chemical sciences is to advance knowledge and develop solutions to these challenges.
Our research will, for example, help develop fit for purpose grains, protect freshwater ecosystems, enhance cardiovascular health, and increase our understanding and prevention of disease in humans and animals.
Our School is uniquely positioned to make innovative and impactful research contributions by virtue of our reputation that ensures we can recruit high calibre talented researchers, our research scale, breadth and diversity, our world class infrastructure, our strong industry partnerships and our regional connectedness.
Our research will be embedded into our course portfolio, providing students with an education focused on solving complex global problems.
Our courses will be flexible, contemporary, interdisciplinary and industry-engaged. We will achieve the right balance of theoretical and practice-based teaching that leads to strong graduate outcomes. Our students will be inspired by learning in real world settings and interactive spaces.
We will offer students a pathway into postgraduate research in our core disciplines, or into postgraduate coursework in the health and wellbeing disciplines.
Our academic staff at La Trobe’s regional campuses will continue to champion regionally-relevant research and education, and serve as conduits to working more closely with Indigenous communities.
We will build strategic partnerships with industry, government and business in areas of research strength, with a focus on innovation and translation, placement opportunities and Higher Degree by Research training. We will ensure our engagement with external partners is sustainable and impactful.
Our contribution will align with La Trobe’s research themes: Healthy people, families and communities; Resilient environments and communities; Sustainable food and agriculture; and Understanding and preventing disease.
Reputation: We will harness our unique combination of research breadth and strength to make discoveries that improve human health, address global food and nutrition challenges, and protect our ecosystems and environments.
Impact: We will champion an interdisciplinary research culture and build strategic partnerships to pursue innovative approaches to, and deeper understandings of, the complex global problems we wish to solve.
Knowledge: We will offer students a contemporary, research- and industry-informed education that leads to strong graduate outcomes or a pathway to further learning.
Equity and diversity: We will develop initiatives that ensure and support equity and diversity in our student and staff cohorts.
Culture: We will embody La Trobe’s cultural qualities by being accountable, connected, innovative and caring in how we work with each other, our students, partners and communities.
The School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment is comprised of a passionate and dedicated team of academics and professional staff who work together to support our core missions of research and teaching.
We will champion a workplace that is safe, fair and equitable; where people are treated with respect, but also held to account; where diversity is sought and embraced; and where excellence underpins everything we do.
We will foster gender equity, celebrate cultural differences, and provide training on diversity and inclusion.
Through collaboration, and by sharing ideas and driving innovations, our work and impact will be further strengthened. We will create a culture of shared practice that encourages best practice.
We will encourage professional development and support our staff and students to attain the skills and capabilities that they need to play a part in our collective success.
We will recognise the achievements of our staff and students, enabling them to have professional visibility within and external to the School.
We will promote flexibility in working, while being accountable for delivering on our plans. We will maximise productivity by ensuring our operations are consolidated, efficient and sustainable.
As we move through our varied workplaces – in our offices and laboratories, in the field, visiting other institutions or attending conferences, in Australia or internationally – we will be ambassadors for La Trobe’s cultural qualities, knowing that we share a common goal for a better world.
KPI
We will know we have succeeded in our goal to develop a positive culture when we improve the Employee Experience as measured by a La Trobe Employee Experience Survey, and achieve top 12 nationally in the Student Experience Survey for Overall Experience.
The School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment delivers education programs that are underpinned by current research and practice, where students learn from discipline experts in state-of-the-art facilities or superb natural habitats.
We will strengthen our core curriculum to ensure that our subject offerings are reflected in the University-wide teaching portfolio. Our subjects, for example, will contribute to La Trobe’s Climate Change major, a unique offering in the Australian tertiary sector.
We will continue to provide our students with regional learning experiences, offering first year study at La Trobe’s Albury-Wodonga campus and second- and third- year study at the Melbourne campus. Our School-wide Honours program will give students the opportunity to return to the regions to complete a fourth year of study.
We will support our academics to ensure that our teaching is informed by contemporary evidence.
We will collaborate with the University’s Indigenous Education Officers to decolonise our curriculum.
We will support our academics to bring their experiences and expertise to the classroom, to ensure that our programs are contemporary and relevant. We will enhance learning by inviting ‘near peers’ into the classroom, to support students 1-2 years their junior.
We will continue to embed laboratory and field-based experiences into our courses to ensure that theoretical learning is augmented by sustained, hands-on training. We will optimise our facilities to offer students opportunities for skills development in emerging scientific technologies.
We will offer work integrated learning opportunities through our flagship institutes – the La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food and the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science – and through our research centres, to give students exposure to real world projects and the opportunity to work alongside experts in research-intensive environments.
We will also embed industry placement opportunities into our courses. We will leverage our industry partners – particularly those located in La Trobe’s University City of the Future Research and Innovation Precinct, and those associated with our research institutes and centres – to offer on-campus work experiences.
We will welcome international students into our courses, supporting their journey to become globally employable graduates. We will train them on campus, online and in our international partnership university courses. These students will play a vital role in our disciplines and in globalising our impact.
KPI
We will know we have succeeded in our goals to ensure quality of teaching and graduate employability when we achieve top 12 nationally in the Student Experience Survey for Teaching Quality and Overall Experience, and in the proportion of graduates in employment as measured by the Graduate Outcome Survey.
The School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment is the research powerhouse of La Trobe University. Our School includes over 120 research groups and is the only School in Australia to combine biological, biomedical, molecular, chemical and environmental sciences.
We will continue to foster an interdisciplinary research culture that champions both fundamental and translational science. We will lead interdisciplinary collaborations both within the University and with external partners to make impactful discoveries.
By harnessing the broad research capabilities of our departments, the focused efforts of our research institutes and centres, and with our co-located and many other industry partners, we will maximise opportunities for high impact discoveries and research translation.
We will work collaboratively with our partners in industry, clinical organisations, philanthropy and government to achieve research outcomes that have a positive impact on the communities we serve. We will bring together the right capabilities, manage projects efficiently, act with integrity, and turn research results into translational outcomes.
Our reputation will enable us to attract high calibre research talent from throughout Australia and internationally. We will provide mentoring, support and professional development opportunities to our researchers and our Higher Degree by Research students to build their careers, increase their opportunities for external grant funding, and ensure their individual and our collective success
We will create an outstanding research environment, where academics have access to the facilities and infrastructure needed to make significant discoveries.
Our contribution will align with La Trobe’s research themes: Healthy people, families and communities; Resilient environments and communities; Sustainable food and agriculture; and Understanding and preventing disease.
KPI
We will know we have succeeded in our goals to achieve excellence when we sustain a research Excellence in Research for Australia ranking of five (well above world standard), and to create impact when our research drives positive changes for end users in industry, government and the health sector.