Your Invitation to our 2021 Annual Conference
Food & Nutrition Security –
The Biosecurity, Health, Trade Nexus
13-14 December 2021, Canberra
YOUR INVITATION TO OUR 2021 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
We invite you to join us at the Crawford Fund’s 2021 Annual Conference titled, Food & Nutrition Security: The Biosecurity, Health, Trade Nexus, to be held from 13-14 December in Canberra. We are so looking forward to getting back together for what is, after nearly 30 years, Australia’s key event on food and nutrition security and the best opportunity available to learn, network, contribute and place global issues into a context relevant to our lives and work.
As a hybrid event, this year we expect our usual attending delegates from development, research, academia, the private sector, primary production, NGO and advocacy groups, and from decision and policy-making will be complemented by a virtual audience, including many from overseas.
More details about the conference can be found here.
And you can register for the conference, to attend in Canberra or online, here.
With our conference being followed by the UN Food Systems Summit, we are proud to announce that the conference will open with Dr Agnes Kalibata, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to the 2021 Food Systems Summit delivering the Sir John Crawford Memorial Address.
Overarching this year’s conference is the coronavirus pandemic. However, even outside of such extreme circumstances, the vast increase in and growing complexity of international trade, travel, tourism and density of development have placed ever growing challenges on maintaining plant and animal biosecurity, halting the rapid spread of infectious diseases and strengthening the protection of biodiversity.
Our conference will explore the specific risks to plant, animal, and human health, how these factors are impacting global food and nutrition security, and the emerging technological and management solutions to overcome these risks. The emphasis will be on food systems, but we also see as important the way in which food production systems interact with human health in terms of zoonotic diseases and their spread.
The conference has keynote presentations, targeted overview presentations, and a set of examples of impact that will highlight where action is needed or underway around biosecurity, health and trade. We use our local and global networks to find thought-provoking expert speakers, and this year’s program includes the following high-profile specialists:
- Dr Prabhu Pingali, Founding Director of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition
- Dr Rob Horsch, Advisor, Global Commission on Adaptation at World Resources Institute
- Professor Nicola Spence, Honorary Professor, University of Birmingham, Defra’s Chief Plant Health Officer and Head of the National Plant Protection Organisation
- Professor Andrew Robinson, Managing Director, CEBRA, The University of Melbourne
- Rob Kaan, Managing Director for Australia & New Zealand, Corteva Agriscience
Case study presentations will address challenges and solutions around the globe and of significance to Australian industries, such as Panama Disease, Fall Army Worm, African Swine Fever, antimicrobial resistance and in-the-field diagnoses technologies.
Our conference, Food & Nutrition Security – The Biosecurity, Health, Trade Nexus is definitely the topic for pandemic times, with many biosecurity issues at the front and centre of local, national and international attention.
We do hope you can join us in person in Canberra, or virtually for those not able to travel, to provide your input and share your insights on these significant issues.
Yours sincerely,
The Hon John Anderson AO Dr Colin Chartres
Chair, The Crawford Fund CEO, The Crawford Fund
Note: The Crawford Fund 2021 Annual Conference will follow the requirements of local, State and Federal COVID-19 policies and our cancellation policies allow for necessary COVID-related changes.