Biosecurity is essential to protect human, animal, plant, and environmental health in Australia under ever changing global environmental conditions. Threats to our collective health are many fold ranging from SARS-COV2 to invasive plant pathogens like myrtle rust and animal disease like foot and mouth disease. Incursions of these pathogens have severe societal and economic impact once they are introduced into our communities and environments.
This course starts off with providing an introduction to policies and legislation that frame the collective biosecurity discussions in Australia. It moves on to introduce the biology of plant pathogens that pose biosecurity risks. It explores novel technologies that improve detection and identification of organisms that pose biosecurity risks. It introduces models that aim to quantify these risks. The course then puts SARS-COV2 and COVID-19 in a biosecurity and public health perspective. At the end it finishes off with an Indigenous view on biosecurity before exploring future employment opportunities in the biosecurity sector.
Note: Graduate students attend joint classes with undergraduates but are assessed separately.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Research and evaluate biosecurity information with a specific focus on its value in the Australian context.
- Contrast the principles underlying policies used to manage biosecurity.
- Classify the biological attributes that make feral animals, weeds, parasites and pathogenic micro-organisms a biosecurity threat.
- Critically analyse the science that underpines our understanding of new biosecurity threats.
- Demonstrate and evaluate the application of scientific principles and methods in a biosecurity context using specific case studies.
- Summarize and critically evaluate primary literature that introduces new concepts and methods in biosecurity.
Other Information
Participation in 80% of tutorials and 80% of practical laboratories are a course requirement. Submission of an critical essay on a biosecurity topic of choice is also a course requirement.
Indicative Assessment
- Quizzes (20) [LO 2,3,4]
- Four Practical/Laboratory reports (40) [LO 1,3,4,5]
- Critical essay on a biosecurity topic of choice (25) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
- Journal club presentation on primary biosecurity literature (15) [LO 4,5,6]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester.
The workload each week includes the following as indicated:
- 2 x 1 hour lectures per week (total 24 hours) of which most will be available as short online mini-lectures.
- 1 x 1 hour in person tutorial (total 12 hours) for which attendance is required as there are essential to address LO 3-5 which are directly linked to all assessment. Students who don't attend tutorials will be seriously disadvantaged.
- 10 x 3 hour practical labs across the semester
In addition throughout the course students are expected to spend approximately 64 hours of self- directed study which will include preparation for lectures, tutorials, practical laboratories and assessment tasks.
Students are expected to actively participate and contribute towards discussions.
Inherent Requirements
To be determined
Requisite and Incompatibility
You will need to contact the Biology Teaching and Learning Centre to request a permission code to enrol in this course.
Prescribed Texts
Nil
Assumed Knowledge
Please contact the course convenor if you are interested in this course and lack basic molecular biology skills to identify potential suitable prior training opportunities.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2024 | $4440 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2024 | $6360 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3615 | 19 Feb 2024 | 26 Feb 2024 | 05 Apr 2024 | 24 May 2024 | In Person | View |