Fond Farewells and Welcome for our ACT Committee

January 30, 2023

The Crawford Fund’s ACT Committee has had some recent changes. Last year we welcomed Dr Wendy Craik to our board and as the new chair of the ACT committee.

At the start of 2023, Dr Tony Fischer retired from the role as Coordinator of the committee and Dr TJ Higgins retired from his position on the committee – both Tony and TJ have provided the committee and the Fund with long-term guidance and enthusiastic support, as well as important networks to assist with the committee’s programs in training, NextGen and mentoring.

In retiring from his position, Tony noted “It has been an interesting and broadening 15 years as Coordinator, thank you CF and good luck all! The role of Australia in public international agricultural research and development remains as important as ever.”

TJ, who received the prestigious 2021 Crawford Fund Medal for his national and international leadership of agricultural biotechnology research and its application to improved food security via the development of insect resistant cowpeas noted in his retirement from the committee, “It has been both a pleasure and very informative to be part of the ACT Committee and I wish you great success in the future.”

We are very pleased to announce that the ACT Committee remains in good hands with the appointment of David Shearer, an international food and agribusiness development professional with over 20 years of experience developing strategies and partnerships and managing complex programs. David will be known to many from his time at ACIAR, the CGIAR and various state agricultural agencies in Australia.

Kicking off his time with the committee, David is focused on our the upcoming “Doing Well by Doing Good” session at the upcoming ABARES Outlook conference on 7 March – stay tuned for more details!