Announcing the 2020 Crawford-in-Queensland International Engagement Award Winners
May 12, 2020
The Crawford Fund QLD Committee supports targeted training and mentoring of overseas scientists and extension officers by experienced Queensland counterparts working on similar agricultural research challenges. This year, there are four International Engagement Awards being made to trainers and mentors from James Cook University, University of Southern Queensland and the University of Queensland.
“While associated travel cannot be undertaken until after DFAT advice confirms it is safe to do so, the committee is pleased to be supporting a diverse set of training and mentoring in industries of significance to both Queensland and neighbouring countries, including Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, the Pacific and Indonesia,” said Professor Bob Lawn, Coordinator of the Queensland Committee.
“It’s particularly satisfying to have two trainers who previously received our student awards – Ruby Grantham and Jacqueline Lau from James Cook University, who are able to now further spread their knowledge in agriculture for development,” said Bob.
We are pleased to announce the following 2020 winners of their training and mentoring awards:
Dr Jacqueline Lau and Ms Ruby Grantham (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University and WorldFish)
Beyond food & money: uncovering the hidden values of gleaning in the Asia-Pacific
A workshop at JCU in collaboration with WorldFish – attendees from Timor-Leste & The Solomon Islands. This activity complements two WorldFish-led projects that have current or earlier ACIAR support on food and nutrition security in Timor-Leste (A nutrition-sensitive approach to coastal fisheries management and development in Timor-Leste and Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, Indonesia), and one documenting and making visible the value of small-scale fishing activities for rural livelihoods in both Timor-Leste and The Solomon Islands (Enhancing livelihoods while governing marine resources in Pacific Island countries).
Professor Levente Kiss (Centre for Crop Health, University of Southern Queensland)
How to become an expert in a group of little known, yet important, crop pathogens?
Mentoring in Queensland for a plant pathologist from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Quarantine Service, Timor-Leste on powdery mildew diseases in crops. This activity builds on the ‘Modern Diagnostics Project’ of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) which recognised powdery mildews as a knowledge gap and supported workshops to strengthen crop biosecurity in Northern Australia to address the issue. (https://portal.plantbiosecuritydiagnostics.net.au/event/powderymildew- taxonomic-and-diagnostic-workshop/ ).
Dr Lilia Costa Carvalhais (Centre for Horticultural Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland)
Reducing the risk of emerging banana diseases in PNG
Workshop in PNG on diseases of banana for regional attendees from the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and the National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority (NAQIA). Other workshop presenters include Dr Kathy Crew, QDAF (a 2019 Crawford-in-Queensland awardee – photo below) and Dr Richard Davis (DAWR&E Northern Australian Quarantine Strategy).
Mr Chris Gardiner (Medical and Vet Sciences, James Cook University)
Mentoring Indonesian Research Scientist CRC legume project
On-the-job mentoring on tropical legumes, beef production and research methods for a Lecturer at the Politeknik Pertanian Negeri Kupang (Kupang State Agricultural Polytechnic) in West Timor, Indonesia. This activity complements research within the CRC for Northern Australia on the role of forage legumes in boosting beef production in the tropics and will help build on emerging scientific and commercial links between Queensland and Indonesian counterpart agencies.
