Our Conference Scholar Reflections from the ACT
September 18, 2022
The Crawford Fund’s Annual Conference was held last month in Parliament House, Canberra. The event had a special flavour this year celebrating 35 years of the Crawford Fund and the 40th anniversary of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). These milestones provided an opportunity for all those who are a part of Australia’s rich history in agriculture for development to get together and celebrate and, also to reflect and to consider the work yet to be done.
As well as bringing together the world’s leading experts in agricultural science, research, policy, development and industry to address the conference topic, the Crawford Fund is committed to encouraging the next generation in international agriculture for development to the event via scholarships awarded through our State and Territory committees and scholar supporters.
Our conference scholarship program started in 2010 in the hope that by experiencing the Crawford Fund conference and network, our special program of activities around the conference and being mentored by inspirational experienced researchers, young researchers would be inspired and energised to be more involved. The results have been fantastic, with a great mix of youth and experience at our flagship event each August and a growing and enthusiastic conference scholar alumni approaching 400.
Our competitive Conference Scholarships are offered to young people with a genuine interest in international agricultural research and development to attend the conference and a special set of activities that we have developed since the program commenced in 2010.
Our other activities to encourage university students and early career researcher include highlighting opportunities in volunteering for projects overseas through the Australian Volunteers Program; our work with Researchers in Agriculture for International Development (RAID), and our special international student awards to enable students to be involved in overseas projects as part of their university study.
One of the requirements of the scholarship is that each scholar provides us with a reflection on their experience. We will be providing these reflections over the coming weeks, grouped by State.
Once again, we would like to thank our wonderful mentors, mentioned alongside the scholar they supported, who volunteer their time and offer valuable guidance, support and insights to the scholars throughout the conference.
Six scholars from the ACT attended the 2022 Crawford Fund conference supported by our ACT Committee. Highlights of their experiences have been captured below:
Angus Dunne, Australian National University/Mulloon Consulting
“I am a reflective thinker and if you are anything like me, after a few intense days of people, ideas and discussions, it can take a while for everything to settle. I know many of the ideas from the conference have planted themselves in my mind and with nurturing will continue to grow. The highlight for me will always be the people. I hope that many of the relationships will continue to grow over time. The feeling of being a part of a community working to cultivate and nurture a better food system, provides inspiration and hope.”
Michael Norman, CSIRO
“The RAID network should be commended for helping break down the pre-conference nerves. I have never been to a conference where I have looked forward to talking to so many people, but I wished for even more time by the end. It’s a rare opportunity to speak so easily with many involved in agricultural research from diverse backgrounds and careers.”
Tanya Skinner, Australian National University
“The major highlight of the conference for me was hearing about current examples of agricultural research for development. Of particular interest to me was the presentation given by Prof. Neena Mitter on her team’s work in sustainable crop protection using BioClay. This real-life example of lab to field research encouraged me to think about how my current research can be taken to the field, and the implications this could have in agriculture for development.”
Pinhui Wang, Australian National University
“I would like to give my thanks for the Crawford Fund for choosing me as a scholar for the Scholar program, as well as my mentor who gave me great career advice. I am grateful for this opportunity, and I have learned a lot and met many interesting and like-minded people from this experience.”
Michael Wellington, Australian National University
“It was evident in numerous presentations, but more notable in the Q & A sessions, that our global research institutions are navigating through changing community expectations of agriculture. There were clearly divergent views on the allocation of research resources between productivity and sustainability focused research, and on technological versus social and policy interventions. Some tension is inevitable and likely to be healthy; and the Crawford Fund Conference provides a worthy forum for the contestation of such grand ideas.”
Salome Wilson, Australian National University
“From the conference, my highlight was Session 5 with presentations from Dr Alison Bentley, Prof Neena Mitter and Dr David McGill…. What tied these three talks together for me was how building change takes time, involves challenges, and requires patience and perseverance from a dedicated group of people. This was the most important and motivating message I took from the conference.”
Read on for the full reflections of each ACT scholar:
Angus Dunne, Australian National University/Mulloon Consulting
Mentor: Glen Weir
The 2022 Crawford conference set itself an ambitious challenge to celebrate international agriculture and the Fund’s 35th birthday. As an early career agro ecologist beginning my journey into research, the scholar program has provided me with a wider perspective, valuable networks and aspirations to volunteer.
Throughout the three days of scholar activities I was guided, supported, and challenged by my mentor Glen Weir. Glen was generous in his time and his honesty while challenging me to question the societal context of our food systems.
Three themes through the conference consistently struck home with me.
- The focus and discussions on international agricultural development largely revolved around the capacity to grow food. I found this jarring as the challenge in Australia is growing food, while building the ecological capacity of the landscape. It was confronting to face the urgency that inadequate food creates. This was extended by the acknowledgement that many of the barriers to food are social, governance, policy and unequal power distributions. It is understandably difficult for presenters to condense at time 15 years of research into ten minutes. I found myself wondering how these social challenges are being addressed.
- With every conversation and presentation throughout the program I was consistently reminded of the breadth of the agricultural industry and the ever-blurring boundaries as to where agriculture starts and stops. The conference drew a diverse cohort which reinforces the 2021 conference’s message of one health. I have no doubt that facing the opportunities of our future needs a diversity of thinking, perspectives, and passions. The head of ACIAR Andrew Campbell jokingly summarised this as “we need to be making new mistakes” this needs collaboration with all stakeholders and an awareness of the mistakes of our past.
- The Honourable John Anderson, subtly weaved into his opening address that collaboration and progress on the three CCC’s (Covid, climate change and conflict) would only be made harder if the current global governance structures eroded. While there is no way of knowing if he is right, I do know we all have a role in being active participants in our country and food systems. Many of the Crawford Fund staff, mentors and speakers embodied the consistent choices to put themselves at issue with our food systems and choosing to do something about it; exemplifying the Crawford Fund’s motto of “Doing well by doing good”.
I am a reflective thinker and if you are anything like me, after a few intense days of people, ideas and discussions, it can take a while for everything to settle. I know many of the ideas from the conference have planted themselves in my mind and with nurturing will continue to grow. The highlight for me will always be the people. I hope that many of the relationships will continue to grow over time. The feeling of being a part of a community working to cultivate and nurture a better food system, provides inspiration and hope.
Michael Norman, CSIRO
Mentor: Tony Fischer
When you begin a PhD, you easily develop a tunnel-vision, focusing closely on your subject and research area. It makes it quite challenging to connect with the broader context of where agricultural research can have an influence and impact. The Crawford Fund conference addressed this issue and highlighted existing and potential future problems for where we should direct our focus.
I was especially challenged by the keynote speakers and session chairs that raised the importance of a robust policy framework and the significant effect that political instability has on the provision, or more appropriately, access to food, made evident with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the impact on the global wheat trade. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve always held much-unjustified cynicism toward anything political, but I am convinced of the importance of a robust ‘rule-based system’ as touched on by the Hon. John Anderson and the continued role good policy plays in agricultural research.
I thoroughly enjoyed the breakdown of the change in global funding trends in agriculture by Dr Philip Pardey. Interestingly, funding in agriculture decreases as a nation’s wealth increases, with a significant shift towards growth in private investments. This fuelled many discussions I had with other scholars and attendees, theorising whether agriculture forms at least a solid/main foundation for a society’s growth—certainly a question to ponder. The presentation by Dr Philip Pardey also appeared to set the tone for questions and points about the lack of long-term funding throughout the conference, also raised by speakers such as Dr Alison Bentley.
Regina Nukundj mentioned one of the best points I had heard during the scholar’s activities. She said that we need to actively work with and learn from the farmers, growers, and users of our research; they’re not just learning from us; we are learning from them. This insight was touched on in almost every talk I heard, an intense need to connect and collaborate with the end-user. And from this, we can develop real and impactful outcomes from research.
The RAID network should be commended for helping break down the pre-conference nerves. I have never been to a conference where I have looked forward to talking to so many people, but I wished for even more time by the end. It’s a rare opportunity to speak so easily with many involved in agricultural research from diverse backgrounds and careers. So, a big thank you to everyone involved in the networking events and a big thank you to my mentor Dr Tony Fischer for happily guiding and encouraging me.
Tanya Skinner, Australian National University
Mentor: Julianna Biddle
The 2022 Crawford Conference, titled Celebrating agriculture for development – outcomes, impacts and the way ahead, brought together researchers, politicians, ambassadors, directors, and people from across the country and beyond. The whole day conference saw a high calibre line-up of speakers and endless opportunity for networking, with the room buzzing with colourful and insightful conversation at every corner. After an extended period of COVID-related disruptions to social events, this day certainly made up for lost time.
Given my background in plant molecular biology, my prior exposure to broader concepts in agriculture had been very limited. This event was an excellent introduction to agriculture for development and allowed me to contextualise the implications of my research which focuses on improving crop yields by improving photosynthetic CO2 uptake. The event introduced me to the importance of understanding how culture and social systems can shape agricultural research and highlighted the need for direct communication between community members, researchers, and policy advisors.
The major highlight of the conference for me was hearing about current examples of agricultural research for development. Of particular interest to me was the presentation given by Prof. Neena Mitter, Director of QAAFI Centre for Horticultural Science and the ARC Industrial Transformational Research HUB for Sustainable Crop Protection, on her team’s work in sustainable crop protection using BioClay. This real-life example of lab to field research encouraged me to think about how my current research can be taken to the field, and the implications this could have in agriculture for development.
This idea of how research can then be applied to solve real world problems was contextualised in another highlight of the event, which was the open discussion, titled From outside agriculture – looking to the future, which reflected on how international agriculture is perceived outside of the industry and highlighted major considerations and challenges faced by policy advisors and researchers in eliciting change.
Overall, the conference was organised such that the ideas from the speakers and sessions flowed and key messages were clear. Perhaps one of the most important stand-out messages was about the delicate interplay between agricultural research and culture and society, and how this drives development. While agricultural R&D has the power to shape communities, it must be implemented with careful consideration of societal systems such as family structures, gender roles and community practices. For example, distinct gender roles in the Pacific may influence how farming practices are implemented. The surrounding policies must therefore consider both tradition and science and how they must work together to meet the needs of developing communities. Similarly, researchers and policy advisors should not work in developing countries, but rather with developing countries to achieve this balance between policy and tradition. While Australia has great potential to provide impactful research, the developing communities we work with can equally offer a wealth of knowledge on their land and traditions, and this should guide our research targets so that our output is relevant to specific communities in the context of their culture and economy.
Finally, perhaps the most important key message, was that we (the scholars) are the future of international agriculture research for development. We are the individuals who will drive research, policy, and ultimately the change needed to provide impact for developing countries. We must start getting involved now, connecting our new ideas and research with the existing system, to make long term change.
Pinhui Wang, Australian National University
Mentor: Chris Dale
The 2022 Crawford Fund scholar program was a great opportunity for early career researchers to network with each other as well as the public and private sectors that are involved in domestic and international agriculture. This year’s conference was centered on the theme of “celebrating agriculture for development- outcomes, impacts and the way ahead” as well as celebrating the 35th anniversary for the Crawford Fund and the 40th anniversary for ACIAR.
The scholar’s day first speaker The Hon John Anderson AC, Chair of the Crawford Fund, farmer and former Deputy Prime Minister gave a talk on the topic “Why international agriculture research?” His speech was thought-provoking and gave me a lot to think about in the importance of international agriculture research and the future of agriculture in Australia. It is clear from the speech that the topic of agriculture research and the impact of the changing climate to Australia is something he is very passionate about.
The rest of the speakers that gave a talk at the scholar’s day were all inspiring and gave me, a PhD student in plant biology many ideas about my career development should I wish to work in agriculture after my PhD program completes. I highly enjoyed the ice-breaking activities at the end of the first scholar program which gave me many opportunities to meet the other scholars and their mentors who are also doing this program.
The speakers involved in the conference itself were all excellent and I learnt a lot from their talks. I particularly enjoyed the Ministerial address by Senator, The Hon Murray Watt, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the talks given by Dr Alison Bentley, Australian Director of CIMMYT Wheat Program and Prof Neena Mitter, Director of QAFFI Centre for Horticultural Science and the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformational Research HUB for Sustainable Crop Protection at The University of Queensland.
The last scholar day featured invited speakers who told us about the ACIAR, RAID and overseas volunteering opportunities. However, the highlight of this day for me was the creative way of giving us a fact about an unknown country which we had to identify to split into our discussion groups. I also highly enjoyed the discussion that our group had about each other’s experiences with the scholar’s days and the conference.
I would like to give my thanks for the Crawford Fund for choosing me as a scholar for the Scholar program, as well as my mentor who gave me great career advice. I am grateful for this opportunity, and I have learned a lot and met many interesting and like-minded people from this experience.
Michael Wellington, Australian National University
Mentor: Bob Clements
Much is expected from agricultural research which sits in the hands of few, talented researchers, who are increasingly doing more with less. Resource use efficiency is the topic of my PhD research. I estimate and measure how agricultural systems can produce ‘more crop per drop’; a phrase which was used several times at the Crawford Fund Conference. I am familiar with the way farmers have incrementally produced more outputs with less land, water, and other inputs thanks to all kinds of agricultural research and development. The Conference made me realise that I also need to apply this kind of thinking to my own research output and that of my colleagues.
The declining investment in agricultural research and development, despite considerable payoffs, was detailed by numerous speakers. This is despite the acute need for food system research given the global food shocks we are experiencing via the three Cs: COVID, climate change, and conflict. Comparisons were made between agricultural research and medical research undertaken for the first C, COVID, by several delegates. What could we learn from the rapid production and distribution of the COVID vaccine? Are there similar efficiencies to be gained in, for example, the breeding of better crop genotypes? It struck me that this was an interesting and worthwhile, yet possibly nonsensical, comparison due to the great structural differences in research administration.
While there was great public and private spending on medical research at the onset of the COVID pandemic, agricultural research has been battling declining research budgets, yet still improving outputs. While there were expedited regulatory hurdles during the pandemic, agricultural researchers have been dealing with increasing regulatory burdens, yet still producing more research. While there was great public demand for vaccine development during the pandemic, agricultural researchers have been facing increasing public scrutiny (though the anti-vaccine movement tell us this may be a constant). Do we need a global food shock, as we had a global COVID shock, to justify research investment? Or can we continue ‘flying under the radar’ and delivering ‘more with less’?
This is not to say that we should embrace our success and accept the status quo, the conference revealed numerous necessary transitions the agricultural research community must make. The importance of local and indigenous knowledge was emphasised by numerous speakers, including in the address delivered by Dr Audrey Aumua. Dr Beth Woods rightly noted that this is an issue we are still grappling with in Australia in her vote of thanks for Dr Aumua.
We are also faced with changing paradigms of production, consumption, and recognition of less tangible social and environmental costs and benefits. It was evident in numerous presentations, but more notable in the Q & A sessions, that our global research institutions are navigating through changing community expectations of agriculture. There were clearly divergent views on the allocation of research resources between productivity and sustainability focused research, and on technological versus social and policy interventions. Some tension is inevitable and likely to be healthy; and the Crawford Fund Conference provides a worthy forum for the contestation of such grand ideas.
Regardless of which research fields and endeavours win the support of investors, it is clear that we will be expected to do more with less. Fortunately, as young researchers, we are blessed with a supportive network of experienced agricultural practitioners and scientists. We can look back on the legacies left by international projects delivered by great institutions and their people. The presence and encouragement of these ‘wise-heads’ made the Crawford Fund conference a celebration of the past and a salute to the future.
Salome Wilson, Australian National University
Mentor: Bosibori Bett
Being part of the 2022 Crawford Fund Conference Scholars Program was a great experience. Starting my PhD in 2022 I had become all too used to cancelled conferences, so I was very excited to be part of the Crawford Fund Conference and in-person scholar activities this year.
The scholar activities before and after the conference were an excellent chance to meet other students and researchers. I learnt so much just from discussing their research and projects during the course of a few days. I also enjoyed talking with the many mentors who were so generous with their time and advice. RAID members who helped facilitate did a great job and were also very encouraging, sharing their experience in international agriculture and how they got started in their careers.
From the conference, my highlight was Session 5 with presentations from Dr Alison Bentley, Prof Neena Mitter and Dr David McGill. These three presenters showed us how change grows over time, supported by a clarity of vision and long-term engagement.
Dr Alison Bentley shared a global perspective on wheat for the future, where a critical crop in our food system can also drive social and economic changes. Current supply shocks and crises show us how important it is to be globally connected, but increase resilience and capacity throughout the entire network. As we continue to feel the impact of the climate crisis, this work only becomes more important to ensuring global food security.
Prof Neena Mitter showed us how RNA-based Biopesticides can be used to sustainably manage pests in a remarkably diverse range of crops. Prof Mitter shared how the seed of an idea had grown into an entire team of researchers and supporting organisations. Despite the challenges along the way, innovative technologies such as BioClay drive the adoption of sustainable practices in agriculture and along the entire agribusiness value chain.
Dr David McGill shared the experiences from a long-term extension program in Pakistan. It’s clear from his talk how important extension is, but I was impressed by how the programs and ideas changed over time and in response to both the data and needs of farmers and communities. As a researcher in molecular biology, the cycle of design, test, build and learn is very familiar, so it was great to see it applied in such a thoughtful way to extension at every level of organisation within the farming network.
What tied these three talks together for me was how building change takes time, involves challenges, and requires patience and perseverance from a dedicated group of people. This was the most important and motivating message I took from the conference.
I would like to thank my mentor, Dr Bosibori Bett, ACT Crawford Fund Coordinator Tony Fischer, RAID network organisers and Crawford Fund Conference organisers for all their work to facilitate this experience.
