Navigating the Path to Leadership

October 23, 2019

We are looking forward to our fourth Master Class in Agricultural Research Leadership and Management  running in Penang, Malaysia from 3-8 November.

Held with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the Master Class is now acknowledged globally as an outstanding initiative that enables managers at all level to grow the skills and practices required to to lead successful agricultural research for development.

“Past participants tell me that the Master Class helps them navigate a path from narrow scientific and technical roles to positions where they can use leadership and management skills to improve research delivery and impacts”, said Professor Shaun Coffey, the Crawford Fund’s Director of Capacity Building, who leads the Master Class. Shaun has been CEO of Industrial Research Ltd in NZ, and Chief of the CSIRO Division of Livestock Industries in Australia.

The 32 participants are coming from 17 countries:  Nepal, India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, PNG, Bhutan, Philippines, Iran, Fiji, Tonga, Indonesia, USA and Australia.

“We are pleased to be bringing together nominees from a broad range of agricultural sectors and institutions including the Australian RAID Network, ACIAR and Horticulture Innovation Australia, and international institutions including WorldFish, CIMMYT, IWMI, CABI, ICRISAT and CIFOR.”

“In keeping with our appreciation of the important role played by National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), we particularly want to thank   for their support for ten NARS nominees who will bring so much to the experience of other participants,” Shaun said.

“We encourage our alumni to maintain contact with each other and with the Fund. I remain in touch with a broad group of former attendees and it’s satisfying to see the benefit they have received from the training, the ongoing mentoring and the network,”.

Shaun will be joined by experienced management practitioners including Dr Colin Chartres, CEO of the Crawford Fund and former Director General of a CGIAR centre, and Lynne O’Brien, who has had senior executive roles in financial corporate, program management and service delivery functions.

You can hear from attendees of an earlier Master Class in this video.

A spin off from the Master Class is a series of workshops that the Crawford Fund delivers for the RAID Network, bringing management and leadership skills to Australia’s ‘NextGen’.

Follow the progress of the Master Class on Twitter (#Penang4) and our other social media platforms.