2026 minutes

Minutes for the Meeting, Thursday 12February 2026 at 12 noon, University House

Chair and Minutes: OAFs Larkins (Chair) and Beard (Minutes)

Welcome

Present: OAFs Janet Beard, Frank Larkins, Lindsay Falvey, Barbara Howlett, Kwong Lee Dow, Paul Taylor. 

Bill Malcolm attended for Item 3.3.

Apologies: OAFs Snow Barlow, Brian Davidson, Rick Roush

Minutes of the Previous Meeting held on 13 November 2025

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 November 2025 were approved.

Matters Arising

OAFS Fund Balance: $732.96 (OAF Taylor)

WordPress subscription for website due ($94.90) (OAF Falvey)

OAF Falvey will send details for payment to OAF Taylor.

Ag Institute Proposal

Bill Malcolm attended and provided an update. The following points were discussed:

  • Bill has met with the Science Dean and Head of School and they have offered their support for pursuing the idea.
  • He met with Professor Andy Martin, from the School of Physics and got Andy’s perspectives on pursuing the idea of an Institute based on his experience of building a group of quantum physicists (see Bill’s notes attached).
  • The importance of finding fellow travellers from around the University, especially young and early-mid career staff to supplement and take over from the older cohort that is currently engaged.
  • Before creating a formal institute, a group could organise a workshop/s to help build interest.
  • The importance of building industry relationships and collaborations, and potentially obtaining funds for projects.
  • Bill will continue to pursue development of the Institute concept and report on a regular basis to the OAFs.

Update on the State of Agriculture Oration proposal (OAF Falvey) OAF Falvey is still pursuing this concept.

Fellows’ Activities since last meeting-below (all)

Future Guest speakers (all)

  • Linh Do, coordinator of the Wattle Fellowship program at the University of Melbourne where students are funded to take on practical sustainability projects, will attend the May meeting of the OAFs and join us for lunch.  OAF Howlett noted that Linh Do was representing the next generation who are a very bright and articulate group as observed by OAFs Howlett and Beard at a seminar session with several students in 2025.
  • OAF Larkin suggested an invite to a current Director of a University Institute (e.g. Melbourne Biodiversity Institute – Brendan Wintle) to provide an overview of the path to establishment and how it currently runs. OAF Howlet will invite Professor Wintle and will also liaise with Bill to attend as well, potentially at the March meeting
  • OAF Leury had suggested Ary Hoffmann, School of Biosciences who is involved with the Pest & Environmental Adaptation Research Group (PEARG). It was agreed to ask Brian to clarify how he thought this interaction might work.

Tributes

David Connor sadly passed away recently. OAF Falvey has prepared an obituary for publication on the OAF website (see attached).

Rolf Beilharz also sadly passed away recently on 2 February 2025. A memorial will be held on 23 February, 1.00 pm at Temple Society Chapel in Bayswater.

Should oafs.live Add an Obituary Heading (OAF Falvey)

It was agreed to add a tab to the OAFS website called: ‘Tributes’.  This could cover successes achieved by relevat people as well as include obituaries. It was felt an ‘Obituaries’ tab would make the OAFs look old and on their last legs.

Any Other Business

There were no other items of business.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Thursday 12 March 2026 at 12 noon University House.

Chair and Minute Taker for the Next Meeting

A decision wasn’t reached at the meeting. It was noted that there would be several apologies – OAFs Falver, Howlett, Taylor and possibly Larkins.

OAFS Publications at https://oafs.live/publications-2/

OAFs’ Activities since last meeting 

OAF Beard

  • Organised a very successful commemoration event to celebrate the life of the late Dr Lin Martin AO held in University House
  • Board work – company has obtained TEQSA approval for registration; still awaiting CRICOS approval
  • Babysitting and having fun with the grandkids

OAF Egan

  • Finally got around to hanging my collection of paintings on the walls of my apartment.
  • Learned of the death of Rolf Beilharz colleague, great friend and my marathon running partner. Booked flight for the Memorial Service on 23 February
  • Attended and performed at W A Bush Poets gatherings on Australia Day and Friday 6th Feb.

OAF Falvey

  • Science Graduation Ceremony with Hon D.Sc. for Prof Lindiwe Sibanda and attendant celebrations  
  • Six weeks: Munich Christmas/New Year family, Strasbourg friends and Sri Lankan historic Buddhist sites
  • ACIAR Commission December meeting and continuing unscheduled issues

OAF Howlett

  • Attended molecular plant pathology conference in Canberra in late November
  • No other professional activities

OAF Larkins

OAF Leury

  • Home and health related maintenance
  • Continuing co-supervision of last postgraduate student; and other research activities
  • Work related to my role as editor in chief of the journal Ruminants

OAF Taylor

  • Finished my contract with APAARI and now focusing on a one-month Visiting Professor position at Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand, starting 16th February
  • Attended graduation of my PhD student; while the last of my Principally supervised, COVID-interrupted,  PhD student submitted her thesis for examination 
  • Wrote a catalogue manuscript on Chinese Porcelain

_____________________________

Minutes for the Meeting, Thursday 12March 2026 at 12 noon, University House

Chair and Minutes: OAFs Roush and Beard

Welcome

Present: OAFs Janet Beard, Adrian Egan, Kwong Lee Dow, Rick Roush. 

Bill Malcolm from 12.40 pm

Apologies: OAFs Snow Barlow, Lindsay Falvey, Barbara Howlett, Frank Larkins, Brian Leury, Paul Taylor

Minutes of the Previous Meeting held on 12 February 2026.

Minutes were approved.

Matters Arising

OAFS Fund Balance (report from OAF Taylor):

Opening balance: $732.96

Income: $60 Contribution from B Howlett

Expenditure: $90 UH coffee cards, $103.84 L Falvey for reimbursement of Oaf.Live webpage = $193.84

Closing balance: $599.12

Ag Institute Proposal

  • Work in progress.
  • See also Item 3.5 re attendance of Professor Brendan Wintle, Director of the Melbourne Biodiversity Institute at our 14 May meeting.
  • OAF Howlett also alerted the OAFs to the following lecture: Miegunyah Public Lecture on Tuesday evening 31 March hosted by the Melbourne Biodiversity Institute.

Update on the State of Agriculture Oration proposal (OAF Falvey – hold over to the next meeting

Fellows’ Activities since last meeting – see below

Future Guest speakers

  • Linh Do, coordinator of Wattle Fellowship program at the University of Melbourne where students are funded to take on practical sustainability projects will attend the 9 April meeting, possibly with one or two students.
  • OAF Howlett has contacted Professor Brendan Wintle, Director of the Melbourne Biodiversity Institute who is keen to come to the OAFs meeting on Thursday 14 May and discuss the Institute and how it was set up.
  • OAF Leury suggested Ary Hoffmann, School of Biosciences who is involved with the Pest & Environmental Adaptation Research Group (PEARG). The OAFs have asked Brian to elaborate how he thinks this might work.
  • No other suggestions for future speakers at this stage.

Tributes

Deli Chen – OAF Falvey has developed a tribute with input  from others and it is on the OAFS website

Rolf Beilharz – OAF Falvey had asked who might write an obituary/tribute for the SOAF website about Rolf.  OAF Egan has done an initial draft attached. He will discuss it further with Mike Goddard and Paul Hemsworth for their input.

OAF Egan also noted that Rolf had an unfinished monograph that he thought could perhaps be finalised and published.

OAF Barlow’s proposal for “Tributes’ to include persons who have made a contribution to agricultural science across the whole university as a means of paving the way for the Institute idea. Those present agreed this was a good idea.

OAF  Egan suggested the OAFS website could have a who’s who about each OAF with an up to a page description of their background, experience etc.

Any Other Business

OAF Egan’s memoir – OAF Egan brought a copy of his self published memoir which is titled: Never Just a Job – My Curious Career.  It was beautifully presented.  He feels there are still some adjustments to be made and advised that the book will be digitised and we can then put it on the OAFS website.

Mergers – OAF Lee Dow commented that he felt there was a paper or book to be written about the nitty gritty of mergers that took place such as VCAH and the University of Melbourne eg what it was like at the coalface. It was noted that OAF Egan was Dean during the merger processes and that he had covered some of this in his memoir.  OAF Lee Dow had been through his own experience with Education and the Teachers College. OAF Beard didn’t raise it at the meeting but she had joined Health Sciences at La Trobe immediately after the merger of the Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences with La Trobe, and joined the Institute of Land and Food Resources shortly after the merger of VCAH and UoM.

Next Meeting Thursday 9 April 2026 at 12 noon University House.

OAFS Publications at https://oafs.live/publications-2/

    OAFs’ Activities since last meeting 

    OAF Beard

    • Nominating a colleague and friend for the Victorian Honour Roll.
    • Board work – company has obtained TEQSA approval for registration; and has now also obtained CRICOS approval which means we can start recruiting international students.
    • Attended Rolf Beilharz’s Memorial service.

    OAF Egan

    • Attended Rolf Beilharz’s Memorial service, well attended by old friends and colleagues.
    • Received high quality bound copies of my memoir “Never Just A Job” back from publisher.
    • Holidaying with Carlene and family in Bendigo over our March birthday cluster, writing creative non fiction book about my great grandfather, surveyor and geologist with the Irish Geological survey in 19th Century.

    OAF Falvey

    • Commission mission to Laos and Cambodia for ACIAR.
    • Rolf Beilharz funeral.
    • Academy Food Forum meeting.

    OAF Howlett

    • On March 4 I attended the annual National Canola Pathology Workshop held in the School of Botany.

    OAF Lee Dow

    • Nothing to report this month.

    OAF Taylor

    • Commenced a one-month Visiting Professor position at Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand with the Center of Excellence in Fungal Research.

    ________________________

    Minutes of Meeting, Thursday 9 April 2026 at 12 noon, University House

    Chair and Minutes: OAF Falvey

    1. Welcome

    Present: OAFs Janet Beard, Lindsay Falvey, Frank Larkins, Brian Leury, Kwong LeeDow, Paul Taylor

    Apologies: OAFs Adrian Egan, Snow Barlow, Rick Roush – and maybe others?

    In Attendance: Linh Do, Yee Zhao and Tushar

    2. Presentation: Linh Do, coordinator of Wattle Fellowship program at the University of Melbourne presented engergetically to the meeting with two alumi of the program, Yee Zhao and Tushar. OAFs learned that the program will extend beyond the University of Melbourne to LaTrobe and VU for students to undertake practical sustainability projects, and post-graduation career support. The program may also expand to other universities given the interest expressed. Fellowships are costed at $25K for which the philanthropic sponsor, McCormick Bain supports $0.5 for each $1 donated. Donations by individual OAFs is possible for any amount.

    3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting held on 12 March 2026 were accepted see https://oafs.live/2026-minutes/

    4. Matters Arising

    4.1 OAFS Fund Balance OAF Treasurer Taylor advised that the bank balance remains unchanged from the last report at $599.12

    4.2 Ag Institute Proposal: No specific update was offered. OAF Howlett advised that Professor Brendan Wintle of the Melbourne Biodiversity Institute will address the next meeting.

    4.3 State of Agriculture Oration: It was proposed that this item be combined with 4.2 (Institute), noting that both require commitment and leadership from within the School and the Faculty, and that the OAFS is not the right vehicle to carry these forward.

    Action: That a letter commending the Insitute and Oration as a single package be sent to the Head of School and the Dean noting the need for their leadership.

    4.4 Publication of Rolf Beilharz’s book: OAF Falvey advised that the final draft is expected to be circulated to animal science colleagues by mid April.

    4.4 Tributes:

    4.4.1 Proposal for Tributes: The proposal to include persons who have made a contribution to agricultural science across the whole university  was accepted in principle. More immediate suggestions for Tributes were: Peter Doherty, Adrian Egan and Bob Richarson.

    Action: Nominees to be contacted and Tributes drafted

    Done since Meeting: Adrian Egan since drafted, and an adaptation from an obituary for Bob Richarson is in preparation.

    4.4.2 Rolf Beilharz: An obituary prepared by OAF Egan was agreed for publication on oafs.live

    Action: Done since the meeting

    4.4.3 Proposal: That OAFs each draft their own Tributes was not agreed.

    4.5 OAF Egan’s book: Publications at https://oafs.live/publications-2/ was noted.

    5. Fellows’ Activities since last meeting (appended)

    6. Future Meeting(s)

    6.1 Next Chair and Minutes: May 14, OAF Paul Taylor

    7. Any Other Business

    7.1 OAF Roush’s forwarded article: This was discussed in the context of OAF Larkins recent paper concerning the downward trend in domestic student numbers across both science and humanities, and in coursework as well as research areas. It was concluded that the need is for appropriate policy adjusments.

    _____________________

    OAF’s Activities

    OAF Janet Beard:

    • A lot of issues emerging with my Board that I have been dealing with as we aim for a May intake of students (our first intake).
    • Enjoying a nice long weekend in Lorne before the Easter rush.

    OAF Paul Taylor

    • Completed a one-month Visiting Professor position at Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, Thailand with the Center of Excellence in Fungal Research.
    • Discussions held with Vice President for Global Relations of MFLU on hosting APAARI.
    • Enjoyed relaxing holidays snorkelling around islands of Mactan, Cebu, Philippines and Ko Lam, Thailand.

    OAF Lindsay Falvey

    • Laos and Cambodia mission for the Commission of International Ag Research (ACIAR)
    • Wedding and anniversary travel to Toowoomba and Sydney
    • Preparing Rolf Beilharz’ book

    OAF Brian Leury

    • Ran workshops for 2nd year students in animal physiology and growth
    • Worked on the ARC Linkage project based at Meredith Dairy
    • Took care of some long-overdue home maintenance

     OAF Adrian Egan

    • Prepared draft of Beilharz obituary
    • Four days in hospital with mystery Hb deficiency and blood transfusions
    • Writing biography of my great-grandfather Frederick William Egan, Chief Geologist of Irish Geological Survey, 19th century.