Keynote Listeners

Keynote Listeners

The Crawford Fund now hosts the Researchers in Agriculture for International Development (RAID) – the Australia-based network that brings together early to mid-career researchers with an interest in agriculture and international development. Most of our conference scholars go on to be members of RAID if they haven’t already found the network.

At our annual conference, RAID assisted us with our scholar activities, mentored some of the scholars and provided us with our ‘keynote listeners’. Unlike our keynote speakers, our keynote listeners collected key take home messages from the conference and provided a report for us to distribute within a few days of the conference.

Some of our RAID keynote listeners this year were former conference scholars who have maintained their interest in agricultural research for development and are all active international researchers.

They are:

Madaline Healey studied a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at Melbourne University and a PhD in thrips ecology at CQU before heading off to Laos as a volunteer and then mentor in our plant pathology and mentoring activities there. On returning to Australia in 2015, Madaline started working at the University of the Sunshine Coast on ACIAR projects in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Her interests are integrated pest management, biological control and all things veggies. A short video on Madaline’s time in Laos as a volunteer in our biosecurity work is here.

David McGill, who completed a Bachelors of Agricultural Science at the University of Sydney and his PhD at Charles Sturt University working on quantitative genetics. Over the last eight years David has been the project manager/leader of an ACIAR project working on improving small-holder dairy production by working with local extension and research departments. In early 2016 David started working at the University of Melbourne in an international R4D role in animal production. His interests vary widely ranging from genetics and epidemiology to impact assessment using the big data we can capture using mobile technology. David continues to maintain strong links and partners from his time in Pakistan which his highlighted in this ACIAR video.

Miriam McCormack is currently working as a Research Program Officer at ACIAR. In 2015 she completed a Bachelor Agricultural Science (Honours) at UTAS, Hobart. Her honours thesis focused on the knowledge transfer and technology adoption of smallholder beef farmers on the south central coast of Vietnam. Miriam is interested in farmer decision making and motivation. This year her work is focusing on gender and agricultural extension in international research for development projects. A blog by Miriam on Mobile Acquired Data, which is being profiled in this year’s conference, is available here.

Many thanks to Madaline, David and Miriam and RAID for their help this year.