Keynote Listeners
Our Keynote Listeners play an integral role in summarising and communicating the key take home messages from our conference each year.
Shortly after the event they will release a succinct summary for those looking for an overview of what they heard or a snapshot of what they missed.
Our Keynote Listeners are sourced from our Researchers in Agriculture for International Development (RAID) Network – the Australia-based network that brings together early to mid-career researchers with an interest in agriculture and international development.
RAID’s support is also key to the successful delivery of our conference scholar program, assisting with our scholar activities and mentoring some of the scholars. Most of our conference scholars go on to be members of the RAID Network, a program of the Crawford Fund.
Our RAID Keynote Listeners in 2025 are:
John Yaxley
John is a graduate officer at ACIAR and working within RAID to expand university partnerships within Western Australia. He holds a BS in Agricultural Science with a second major in Applied Human Geography from the University of Western Australia.
John is an avid gardener with a longstanding passion for smallholder food production. As a researcher, his primary focus is on exploring traditional crops and cultural practises as a pathway towards climate resilient food production systems. Given his upbringing in the Mediterranean climate, John has a personal interest in overcoming drought through systemic changes to vulnerable farming enterprises. He believes that pathways towards more productive and resilient food systems can be delivered through a greater focus on integrating Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) into the system.
He has engaged in ACIAR and RAID to meet with likeminded researchers and expand his worldview on traditional food production systems.
Somia Afzal
Somia is a member of the RAID Central Committee and an international PhD student at the Forest Research Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC). She has received an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship for her PhD. Her research centres on pest control in forests. During her Master’s, she studied insect biodiversity in both summer and winter vegetable crops and was awarded a university merit scholarship for her academic excellence. She also served as a Young Science Ambassador for Queensland’s Wonder of Science program, where she promoted the wonders of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) to inspire the next generation of curious minds. Together, we can grow and secure resources for future generations.