21 March 2025
Four University of Melbourne Masters students will spend three months working as interns with Goulburn Valley Water to research innovative ways of using water in the agricultural and food processing and packaging industry.
The internship program between NorVicFoods and Goulburn Valley Water started in 2021 and there have now been 15 students involved in researching and delivering options for various water industry challenges.
Among the research topics being tackled by the students this year are improving the use of wastewater in farming, fast-tracking the pathway to zero environmental discharge, understanding emissions from food packaging, and investigating water efficiency in food processing.
Goulburn Valley Water provides Trade Waste services for 19 industrial customers who are involved in either food processing, packaging and/or transport.
Goulburn Valley Water Managing Director Steve Capewell said both the Masters students and GVW would benefit from the internship program.
“There are a number of people the students will be working closely with, including our General Manager of Strategy and Performance Karen Rouse. They gain valuable work experience and business skills, while our industry benefits from being able to set research topics with real world applications.
“There are also examples from previous intern programs where the students have gone on to be employed in the Goulburn Valley region after completing their studies,” he said.
“By the end of the 10 week research period they will have completed a full business report on their area of expertise,” Dr Capewell said.
Meg Cai and Yuyan Lie, both Masters of Food and Packaging students, Chloe Ianna (Master of Agricultural Science) and Shiyu Chen (Master of Food Science) spent three days inspecting various Goulburn Valley Water infrastructure, including the Shepparton Water Treatment Plant, a raw water reservoir, several sewer pumping stations, Waste Management Facility and the Elderslie Park farm operation - before meeting with experts in their chosen fields.
The students will return to Shepparton on May 15 to present their research papers to GVW.
