About Us
The Australasian Grain Science Association (AGSA) provides a forum for Australasian grain scientists, students, nutritionists and others with an interest in grain science, to advance the knowledge and understanding of grain science and the grain industry. It serves individuals in the grain food and allied industries, the agrifood sector, research and education.
AGSA began as a cereal chemists’ learned society in 1951, and met under the umbrella of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) until 2009. It is managed by an executive committee which is democratically elected from, and by, members annually.
Through conferences and other activities, AGSA facilitates exchange of information, networking and communication relevant to the Australian grain industry. Through its awards, AGSA has a long history of recognising outstanding achievement in the grain sciences and allied industries.
Mission Statement
Australian Grain Science Association Council 2020-2021
Executives
| Chair | Sushil Dhital | Sushil completed his PhD at The University of Queensland in 2011 elucidating the structure-property relations of starch granules. This was followed by a research fellow position at UQ, examining the starch-plant cell walls interactions. Sushil joined Monash University (Department of Chemical Engineering) in July 2019. Sushil currently serves as Editor for the journal Carbohydrate Polymers and in the Editorial Board of journals Food Hydrocolloids and Food Chemistry. His stronghold and research interest are on relating the plant molecular structures to macroscopic properties with relevance to food, health, and product development. He uses cross-disciplinary approaches drawing from physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. He uses various in-vitro and in-vivo models to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms beyond the nutritional and processing functionality of food and food ingredients. |
| Vice-Chair | Jennifer Dang | Jennifer Dang has a background in Food Science and Technology (UNSW) and completed a PhD in Agriculture (University of Sydney) in 2004, concentrating on rice chemistry. Jennifer is the Applications Manager at PerkinElmer Sydney, formerly Perten Instruments of Australia. Her main roles include managing applications projects for PerkinElmer’s rheological instrumentation, and providing training and support to distributors and customers on applications using those instruments. |
| Treasurer | Philip Downie | After graduation in 1974 Philip began his career at the Victorian Department of Agriculture in Horsham working in wheat quality. Philip was responsible for small-scale quality evaluation of Victorian wheat breeders’ lines as well as developing and evaluating new tests for small samples. Philip then moved to AWB and represented AWB on various State Variety Evaluation and Release committees. He developed and introduced the use of control varieties as a more objective means of classification of new varieties. And with others Philip was responsible for grade blending operations to meet market requirements. Philip then became Managing Director at Perten Australia, he was responsible for day to day operations, sales, finance, accounts and service activities and for developing new products and directions for the international company. Philip is now a consultant and has worked with Nugrain, AWB, Pfeuffer GmbH, been a panel member for the Australian Wheat Variety Classification Panel (AWVCP) and assessed wheat quality data supplied by breeders for the AWVCP. He has worked in various voluntary roles within the Cereal Chemistry Learned Society and the Australasian Grain Science Association in since 1996. |
| Secretary | Cassandra Walker | Dr Cassandra Walker is a senior research scientist with Agriculture Victoria based in Horsham. Her background is in analytical chemistry (Federation University, 1995), and completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2014. Dr Walker plays a key role in the Seed Phenomics and Quality Traits laboratory. Her main research strengths are the development of innovative, rapid sensor technologies, particularly the application of NIR (Near Infrared Reflectance) and image analysis to advance agricultural research, whether it is assessing grains, plant material or seed. Dr Walker is widely published in using sensor technologies to advance breeding selection, and has a keen interest in the impact of climate change on grain quality, in particular elevated CO2. Dr Walker has been a committee member in various roles of both the Royal Australian Chemical Institute – Cereal Chemistry Division and AGSA for over 20 years. |
| Public Officer | Chris Blanchard |
AGSA Patron
| Patron |  | Colin Wrigley was appointed to the CSIRO Wheat Research Unit in 1961 as an Experimental Officer, after gaining an MSc in Biochemistry, University of Sydney. During leave‐of‐absence in 1964‐1966, he obtained a PhD (Agricultural Chemistry, University of Sydney) and spend 1969‐1970 at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Returning to CSIRO, he continued in research on wheat composition and genetics in relation to functional properties, later becoming a Chief Research Scientist and in charge of the laboratory. He retired early (age 59), and continued as a Post‐Retirement Fellow in CSIRO (1997‐1999) and later as a Consultant to the Wheat CRC (in its two versions), working in the CSIRO Food Research laboratories. For the past decade, his research activities have been restricted, being full‐time carer for his wife, Jan, but he has continued with PhD supervision and writing mainly by e‐mail. The recent writing and editing has produced encyclopaedias (two editions, ten years apart), a few books and many book chapters. His publications total over 600 items, including research papers, books, book chapters, patents, etc. Colin Wrigley has held various offices in the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, including Chairman of the Cereal Chemistry Division. He is currently as an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland. Awards 1987‐2013:
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