Drum Roll: 2017 Annual Conference Scholars

July 21, 2017

Since 2010, the Crawford Fund has been supporting young Australians with an interest in food security, agricultural science and development to attend our annual conference and special Scholars’ Days activities through our Conference Scholarships.

The scholars are also matched with a mentor who will connect them to interesting people in Canberra, and share knowledge and experience beneficial to the scholar’s interests, research and career.

The Crawford Fund Board, 2016 scholars and staff

This year, we are pleased to announce 48 awardees of our 2017 Annual Conference Scholarships. We have received a tremendous response from an impressive group of young Australians with an interest in big data, the digital revolution in agriculture, and agricultural research and food security in general.

From our past scholars, we’ve had reports back that the experience helped them in their work and studies by offering opportunities for careers in international agricultural research. You can read more about these scholarships on our website, including reports from previous scholars (view the 2016 scholar reports here), a booklet and a video on our YouTube site.

Below you’ll find the group of 24 to be supported by the Crawford Fund’s State Committees. We are also pleased to announce an additional 24 scholars supported from outside of the Crawford Fund by our Scholar Sponsors.

We will have reflections to provide from all the scholars after the conference.

If you are attending the conference and would like to be considered as a mentor to a scholar, please contact [email protected]

For more information, download the Scholar Program and Scholar Bios.

This year’s successful scholars are listed under the Crawford Fund State Committee or other institution which is supporting their involvement:

ACT Committee
Raghvendra Sharma, CSIRO Agriculture & Food
Kathy Dibley, CSIRO Agriculture & Food
Kylie Ireland, CSIRO

NSW Committee
Bhakti Haldankar, The University of Sydney
Sam Coggins, The University of Sydney
Samuel Ariong, University of Newcastle

NT Committee
Maddison Clonan, Charles Sturt University
Kimberley Hunnam, Charles Darwin University

QLD Committee
Sarah Sutcliffe, James Cook University
John Fasi, University of Queensland
Fynn De Daunton, University of Queensland
Lydia O’Meara, Central Queensland University

SA Committee
Chandnee Ramkisson, The University of Adelaide
Yanchen Zhang, The University of Adelaide

TAS Committee
Kristy Stevenson, University of Tasmania
Oliver Gales, University of Tasmania
Sohail Ayyaz, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania

VIC Committee
Melanie Addinsall, Agriculture Victoria
Sophie Lamond, University of Melbourne
Helena Smith, Agriculture Victoria
Natasha Brohier, La Trobe University

WA Committee
Sara Hyde, Facey Group Inc.
Bob (Xin) Du, Murdoch University
Ana Morena, Australian National University

Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) CSIRO
Linjun Jing, The University of Melbourne
Salman Sarwar, The University of Queensland
Joseph Macharia, Queensland University of Technology

Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) QLD
Alisher Ergashev, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Central Queensland University (CQU)
Paramullage Upamali Sandaruwan Peiris, Central Queensland University
Julie-Ann Malan, Central Queensland University
Kirt Hainzer, Central Queensland University

Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University (CSU)
Cara Wilson, Charles Sturt University – Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation
Arundhita Bhanjdeo, Charles Sturt University – Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation

Deakin Science and Society Network
David Giles, Deakin University
Victoria Stead, Deakin University

Elanco Animal Health
Elsa Glanville, Mackinnon Project, University of Melbourne
Natalie Hoskins, Western Sydney University

Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne
Cecilia Cameron, The University of Melbourne

Fifth Estate
Timothy Mort, Fifth Estate

The Gardiner Foundation
Molly Voss, The University of Melbourne
Ruchika Perera, The University of Melbourne

Marcus Oldham
James Hawkins, Marcus Oldham
Jennifer Scott, Marcus Oldham

University of the Sunshine Coast, Forest Industries Research Centre
Ngoc Hoan Le, University of the Sunshine Coast
Flavia Sarti Bonora, University of the Sunshine Coast

University of New England
Zelalem Moti, University of New England
Thi Hiep Dao, University of New England

Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture – University of Tasmania
Tahseen Zeb, TIA, UTas