#096: Allan De Boos about successful wool education

Introduction

Allan De Boos has been working in the wool industry his whole career. As the Programme Manager responsible for the Woolmark Wool Education Course at tertiary level he shares his knowledge with the wool industry's future designers and engineers. In this episode, he talks about the programme and explains the importance of educating students in wool for the innovations of the future.

About Allan De Boos

Dr. Allan de Boos is a graduate of the University of NSW (Textile Technology - Chemistry) and the Victoria University of Manchester (Dept Chemical Physics). He was employed by CSIRO Division of Wool Technology from 1968-2002 conducting research into the chemical and mechanical finishing of wool and wool-blend fabrics. While at CSIRO he worked closely with fabric and garment manufacturers particularly in Italy and the UK, on the exploitation of SiroFAST and other systems for fabric objective measurement for fabric and garment manufacturing. Over the last 15 years, Allan has worked for Australian Wool Innovation and is currently the Programme Manager responsible for Woolmark Wool Education Course at tertiary level. Over the past four years, he has delivered the Woolmark Course at Yantai-Nanshan university in Nanshan, China. The delivery involves two periods, each of two months, working in Nanshan. This year he will also be delivering units at Jiaxing University. In addition to delivery of the course units, Allan conducts 'course familiarisation' sessions with staff from other Chinese universities so that they can evaluate the course and its materials for inclusion in the university undergraduate programme for textile engineers. Allan also manages the delivery of units of the course at several other textile-related universities in China by staff from Deakin University (Australia).

About AWI/The Woolmark Company

AWI is the research development and marketing (RD&M) organisation for the Australian wool industry. AWI’s mission is to invest in research, development, marketing and promotion to enhance the profitability, international competitiveness and sustainability of the Australian wool industry and increase demand and market access for Australian wool. Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and its subsidiary The Woolmark Company (TWC) represent the interests of 55,000 wool growers in Australia. AWI is proud of what it has achieved for Australian wool growers. In FY17 AWI invested $71 million in 398 projects with 140 partners worldwide. These included leading international brands and sport companies such as Nike and Adidas who recognise their customers are interested in natural fibre, and in particular wool, in clothes, running shoes, and soft tailoring.