Crawford Fund Fellowship: Phousavanh Phouvin 2012

Phouvin
Fisheries Laos (Photo: Jamie Oliver WorldFish)

The 2012 Crawford Fund Fellowship has been awarded to Dr Phousavanh Phouvin from the Fisheries Division,  Faculty of Agriculture, at the National University of Laos.

Dr Phouvin will spend three months in Australia, mainly with the Narrandera Fisheries Centre. His program there will involve studies of ongoing targeted and applied research into aspects of hydro plant design that cause fish injuries and mortality. This work is of extreme relevance to plans for hydro development in Lao PDR. The innovative and applied nature of the approach and anticipated outcomes mean that results could be directly applied at new hydro sites within the first year of completion. His work in this innovative field will enable him to use world-class facilities only available at two institutions globally. He will visit existing small-scale hydro sites in Southern NSW and understand fish-impacts and mitigation methods and participate in a 2 week intensive hydro development workshop offering hands on instruction on how to use research facilities in NSW and USA. His study visit will help to shape the masters program development at the National University of Laos.

Dr Phouvin has a Bachelor’s degree from the National University of Laos and a Masters and PhD on fish biodiversity and fisheries resource management at Kyoto University. Since 2005 he has been a lecturer in the Agriculture Faculty of the National University of Laos. Currently he is developing a curriculum for a Masters program in aquatic resources management and aquaculture technology. He has also spent periods as an expert on pre-impoundment fisheries at hydropower projects.