Improving the survival rates of saltwater crocodile hatchlings is one of three Charles Darwin University research projects awarded a 2011 Northern Territory Research and Innovation scholarship.
The scholarships, valued at $2500 each, are offered annually to assist postgraduate students who are undertaking research with the potential to provide economic, social and environmental benefits for the Northern Territory.
CDU wildlife biologist and PhD candidate Matthew Brien has worked on the conservation of crocodiles and snakes all over the world. He is now studying his PhD with CDU looking at the survival rates of saltwater crocodile hatchlings. In collaboration with Crocodylus Park in Darwin, Matthew hopes to use his scholarship to improve the survival rates of hatchlings that have a mortality rate of up to 40 per cent.
The second scholarship recipient, Director of Professional Experience in CDU’s School of Education Ms Jenny Buckworth works to ensure students undertaking teacher training are fully prepared to step into classrooms after graduating as fully fledged teachers.
“Industry and workforce demands are constantly shifting, as is the demographic of those undertaking teacher training,” she said. “We need to look at what current practices are working and look to identify policies and procedure requiring change.”
Using her scholarship Ms Buckworth will review the current ways students gain their professional experience in urban and rural classrooms as part of their training, and assess the effectiveness of their experience in terms of teacher perceptions and teacher performance.
While another CDU PhD candidate Peter Novak does not lay traps for the iconic freshwater prawn species (Macrobrachium spinipes) to boil them for dinner or use them for bait, he wants to find out more about their life history.
“Cherabin populations are declining, possibly due in part to human harvesting by both Indigenous people and recreational fishers,” he said.
Mr Novak will use his scholarship to further his research into improving the management of Cherabin populations in the NT. “We need to understand their natural history, particularly their annual migration, which we think provides a vital linkage freshwater and estuarine food webs,” he said.
Research projects are awarded Northern Territory Research and Innovation scholarships through the Northern Territory Research and Innovation Fund.