Our 2022 conference scholars: welcoming new faces into the #ag4dev fold

July 28, 2022

It is with great pleasure that the Crawford Fund today announces 46 Annual Conference scholarship winners from universities and organisations across Australia, and for the first time, special guest scholars from Papua New Guinea!

For over a decade, the Crawford Fund has been supporting the next generation of Australians with an interest in food and nutrition security and agricultural science and development to attend our annual conference and special Scholars’ Days activities through our Conference Scholar Program. This year’s group takes the total of scholarships to over 400 since the program commenced in 2010.

The Crawford Fund’s scholar program is part of our suite of  ‘nextgen’ activities to encourage students and early career researchers in their study, careers and volunteering in agriculture for development.  The Conference Scholar Program is a unique learning, networking and mentoring opportunity for young students and scientists with a genuine interest in international agricultural research and development.

With a keen interest in learning more about international agricultural research, these dynamic and enthusiastic recipients come from degrees and work areas involving agriculture, environmental and veterinary science, aquaculture, ecology, horticulture, economics, biology, and food security.

The tremendous support for these highly regarded scholarships continues to grow with fantastic feedback received year after year from the scholars, their supporters and conference attendees. We are so pleased to find that many scholars pursue careers as ACIAR graduates, or working on developing country projects, or as volunteers in our own or other overseas projects.

A key component of the success of the scholar program is matching the scholars with a dedicated and experienced mentor who helps them make relevant and interesting connections at the event and shares experiences of benefit to the scholar’s research and career.

Our past scholars have found this conference scholarship experience to be both personally rewarding and professionally valuable. You can read more about these scholarships on our website.

Special Thanks

Thirty three recipients are being supported by the Crawford Fund’s Committees, with a further 13 scholars funded by external Scholar Sponsors, acknowledged on our website.

The Fund also thanks those individuals who have made donations to our scholar program as they registered for our conference, listed here and it’s not too late to donate online.

Once again, we are lucky to have members of the Researchers in Agriculture for International Development (RAID) Network to help run the scholarship activities on 15 and 17 August, and a special thank you to them all, especially Belinda Nielsen and David McGill.

And another special thank you to those who have put up their hand this year to mentor one of the scholars! If you haven’t yet registered for the conference and would like to be considered as a mentor to a scholar, please make sure you ‘tick the box’ to do so. You will be needed in Canberra by 12pm on Monday, 15 August and be on hand for your scholar through to 5pm on Tuesday, 16 August. Not sure? Contact [email protected]

Drum Roll……

The successful 2022 Crawford Fund scholar recipients are listed below, under the Crawford Fund Committee or other institution supporting their involvement: 

WITH CRAWFORD FUND SUPPORT…

ACT Committee
Angus Dunne, Australian National University
Michael Norman, CSIRO
Tanya Skinner, Australian National University
Pinhui (Cindy) Wang, Australian National University
Michael Wellington, Australian National University
Salome Wilson, Australian National University

NSW Committee
Anneliese Austin, Southern Cross University
Mikali Anagnostis, University of Sydney
Eleanor Armati, The University of Sydney
Amy Bates, Charles Sturt University
Tabita Tan, Charles Sturt University

NT Committee
Jane Ray, NT Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade (DITT)

QLD Committee
Sabrina Morrison, University of Queensland
Yichen Kang, University of Queensland
Trinh Huynh, University of Sunshine Coast
Rafaela Barbosa de Andrade Aragao, Griffith University
William Ramsay, University of the Sunshine Coast
Ziwei Zhou, Griffith University

SA Committee
Troy Miller, Flinders University
Isabelle Oude-Egberink, Biosecurity SA, Department of Primary Industries and Regions
Hayley Pfeifer, The University of Adelaide
Isabelle Thomas, The Adelaide University

TAS Committee
Faruq Isu, Pinion Advisory
Waleed Khan, University of Tasmania
Phillip Kay, University of Tasmania
Raj Kishore Rajan Babu Sheela, University of Tasmania

VIC Committee
Billy Chudleigh, University of Melbourne
Scarlett Cuthbertson, University of Melbourne
Hannah Ebert, University of Melbourne

WA Committee
Alice Butler, WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD)
Daniel Kierath, University of Western Australia
Niamh Walsh, Curtin University
Shell Xiao, Syngenta Australia

WITH EXTERNAL SUPPORT…

AARES
Tshering Samdrup, University of Western Australia
Sarah Smith, University of California Davis

Central QLD Uni
Silas Atworekire
Elena Hoyos
Joel Johnson

DFAT
Merie Dada Unagi, PNG Government Department of Agriculture and Livestock
Theresa Wambon-Kambuy, PNG Government Department of Agriculture and Livestock

DPI NSW
Ali Bajwa

Gardiner Foundation
Holly Hone, Agriculture Victoria
Alexander Russell, University of Melbourne

University of New England
Thi Ha Lien Le

University of Queensland
Sam Wakefield

University of Southern Queensland
Dr Peter Harris