Completed Project

• Project Number – 2009/734
• Start Date – 26th October 2009
• End Date – 28th October 2009
• Principal Investigator – Emily Mantilla and Bob Fleming
• No. CRC Students in Attendance – 15 PhDs
• No. CRC Post Docs in Attendance – 8
• No. Industry Mentors in Attendance – 5

About the Project

In 2009, the two day retreat consisted of:

• Welcome Dinner – An opportunity for the SIPP participants to meet with each other and CRC staff.
• 2009 Student Reviews – An opportunity for students to raise any concerns about their candidature and for the higher education team to develop activities to improve the CRC student experience.
• If I Only Knew Then What I Know Now Workshop - CRC Post Docs shared their tips for a successful PhD. Topics included –

1. What is a PhD? Understanding what is expected from all the stakeholders and still getting where you want to go.
2. After the PhD.... What comes next?
3. Getting through the mechanics of the PhD Process
4. Tips for managing yourself and the process strategically
5. Managing your own psychology during the process! How to get – and stay – motivated
6. Communicating the science and your ideas: Why it's important to communicate results

• Mentor Training Program - The Mentor Training Program was a high energy, focused three hour session on the key elements of mentoring and mentoring skills and was run by a very successful business coach – Tim James of Big Feat Coaching. The benefits for industry mentors included learning the skills for use in mentoring meetings and everyday workplace interactions as well as providing a clear understanding of the role and responsibilities of being a mentor.
• How To Give A Presentation People Will Remember - Andrew Inglis from Learning Potential International Pty Ltd (through Flinders University Partners) provided an interactive workshop to increase student, Post Doc, emerging scientist and mentor confidence when orally presenting to an audience.
• Student Dinner with CRC Participants - Over dinner, two students had the opportunity to compete in a two minute challenge where they spoke about their work to the audience with no visual aids or props.
• Mini Science Forum Presentations – Eight students were given the opportunity to present their work to an audience of CRC staff, research and industry participants about their PhD work. All presentations were filmed on video camera and given to the students for feedback. A mystery audience member was also planted in the audience (who did not come from a seafood, science or industry background) who provided honest feedback and scores to the students.
• Field Trip to the South Australian Food Centre - A half day creative forum where SIPP members could end the retreat with something interactive and an activity away from the classroom. A number of fun activities were developed which included:

1. Tour of the SA Food Centre. The tour highlighted the butcher, brewery, cheese making, bakery and seafood areas of the training centre.
2. Sensory enlightenment and the role of human senses. This session involved a short presentation on the role of human senses in the selection of food. SIPP attendees enjoyed an interactive test which allowed them to identify the basics of sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes. It also allowed the participants to try and detect flavours and flavour odours such as aniseed, lemon and vanilla etc.
3. Culinary creativity. A practical demonstration in the kitchen using Yellowtail Kingfish. The chef highlighted what a chef looks for when selecting fish, how it is prepared and utilised and students discovered how much of a product is wasted due to consumer preferences and perceptions. A number of dishes were created from sashimi to oven baked kingfish and all hands were in the kitchen.
4. Seafood CRC quiz. A seafood quiz was held at various times during the field trip with the SIPP attendee who got the most questions right, taking out the prize of a SA Food Centre Goodie Hamper (won by PhD student Polly Hilder).

The SIPP 2009 report is available from the CRC bookshop.

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Completed Project

•  Project Number – 2010/751
• Start Date – 24th November 2010
• End Date – 26th November 2010
• Principal Investigator – Emily Mantilla and Mark Oliver
• No. CRC Students in Attendance – 23 PhDs, 1 Msc
• No. CRC Post Docs in Attendance – 4
• No. Industry Mentors in Attendance – 10

About the Project

This two day retreat consisted of:

• A Welcome Dinner – An opportunity for the SIPP participants to meet with each other and CRC staff. Job Lotto activities at Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture were assigned and revealed. CRC staff, early career scientists and industry mentors were strategically grouped together with set seating at the function.
• A Tour of Shark Bay – An opportunity to have a personal guided tour of the impressive aquarium facilities at Sea World by marine biologists.
• An Effective Communication Workshop– An opportunity for SIPP participants to break down the traditional 'us and them' stereotype between researchers and industry. The art of extension is important to get CRC research out to industry and to give early career scientists the communicative tools to be able to engage with industry effectively and understand what industry actually wants (on a one on one basis or from a sector perspective). The course was designed to show how a researcher can form a connection with industry at all steps of the industry/researcher relationship. The take home messages for the workshop were around assumptions, behaviours, attitudes, intuition and influence.
• Job Lotto Work Experience Placements at Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture and Social BBQ - Participants were strategically assigned "work experience" jobs in four areas on a commercial prawn farm – management, maintenance, feeding/grow out and water quality. Participants were put in to groups that were least associated with their research topics or least associated with what mentors do daily in their place of employment as a means of enriching their experiences with industry. Work experience placements were lead by Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture staff members for two hours and involved interactive activities as well as question and answer sessions. At the conclusion of the work experience placements, participants were taken on a full farm tour, followed by a BBQ with Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture staff for further networking and discussions about the prawn aquaculture industry.
• An Innovative and Entrepreneurial Thinking Workshop - The purpose of the 3.5 hour workshop was to empower the SIPP participants in a way that makes them think more entrepreneurial about their work/research/business and also about themselves as an individual. At the end of the retreat, early career scientists and mentors were surveyed to ensure there is a continuous improvement for the SIPP retreats each year.

The SIPP 2010 report is available from the CRC bookshop.

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Completed Project

• Project Number – 2011/737
•  Start Date – 5th September 2011
• End Date – 7th September 2011
• Principal Investigator – Emily Mantilla and Mark Oliver
• No. CRC Students in Attendance – 16 PhDs, 3 MScs
•  No. CRC Post Docs in Attendance – 1
•  No. Industry Mentors in Attendance – 8
• Chefs in Attendance – Cole Thomas, Stewart Wesson, Alex Kearns, Adriano Zumbo, Jarred Ingersoll

About the Project

The central theme for SIPP 2011 was post-harvest orientated with a sizeable focus on seafood meal development, preparation, cooking and presentation. There was a collective acknowledgement that primary producers and research scientists rarely have exposure to the individuals who prepare and serve the products they are either growing or researching. Allowing a platform for interaction between
these two ends of the seafood chain allows for a greater understanding of end user trends and needs. This type of information is invaluable for primary producers and research scientists as the products they are producing or researching need to meet or exceed the expectations of the public.

This theme allowed for a group of world class chefs to be part of SIPP 2011 in addition to early career scientists, mentors and Seafood CRC staff. The Seafood CRC secured the Sydney Seafood School located at Sydney Fish Market (SFM) as the venue for the Seafood Challenge while all of the other workshops and experience were within the SFM complex. SIPP 2011 consisted of:

• A Welcome Lunch - An informal meet and greet followed by a one minute overview by each participants around their research and/or career.
• Product Development Workshop – Karen McNaughton Senior Seafood Technologist, SARDI highlighted her role as a seafood technologist both in Australia and internationally and talked about the process of seafood product development. During the course of the discussion she outlined some hallmarks of successful products as well as some which have not reached expectations.
• Seafood Quality Index Workshop – Mark Boulter, Quality Assurance Manager of SFM conducted an interactive workshop around the use of the Seafood Quality Index Tool which is used to evaluate seafood quality in terms of sensory changes over time and temperature.
• Seafood Through the Eyes of a Chef – Cole Thomas, Executive Chef of Culinetic and Proprietor of Culinary Solutions gave an insight into how chefs view and use seafood in their restaurants. Cole also sought comment from all chefs at SIPP 2011 during his presentation.
• The Seafood Challenge – The major activity for SIPP 2011 involved groups of around 6 individuals including students, industry mentors, CRC staff and chefs. Their brief was to conceptualise, design, budget, prepare, market, cook and serve an innovative sized seafood meal to 40 patrons with a budget of $500.00. This challenge gave the groups a high level of autonomy with their ingredients and from this some truly unique meals were created. All ingredients were purchased from the retail space at SFM and all preparation and cooking was undertaken at the Sydney Seafood School, situated on the same premises as SFM. Meals were served in the fine dining area adjacent to the Sydney Seafood School. It was also expected that beyond cooking the product, groups had to have intimate product knowledge such as: provenance, harvest/culture method, species information, product storage and handling, cooking methods and any other facts a consumer may seek. This information was presented to all participants when the meals were served.
• Working Dinner - It was an opportunity for groups to continue to discuss ideas and concepts throughout the night.
• Tour of the Sydney Fish Market Auction Floor – Participants witnessed first-hand the Dutch auction system at SFM. There was also an opportunity to be guided through a range of seafood products while listening to relevant information from the SFM guides.
• Intellectual Property Workshop – This workshop was jointly facilitated by University of Tasmania's intellectual property specialist Robin Fieldhouse and the Seafood CRCs Graham Mair. In the first session Robin Fieldhouse highlighted the legal processes of intellectual property, while in the second session Graham Mair gave a real life example of an intellectual property experience he was involved in over a long time period.

The SIPP 2011 report is available from the CRC bookshop.
Download the SIPP film 2011 here to find out what seafood adventures our SIPPers enjoyed
Download the SIPP 2011 seafood guide and workbook here

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