Presenting our 2019 IRRI Scholarship Winners

June 11, 2019

Rachael Wood from NSW getting stuck into the IRRI course in 2018

In April, as part of our concerted efforts to encourage the next generation in international agricultural research, the Crawford Fund announced post-graduate training opportunities for graduates in the ACT and NSW valued at around $6,000 at the world-renowned International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.

We are proud to announce that Nancy Saji from Charles Sturt University’s Graham Centre is the successful applicant being supported by the Crawford Fund’s NSW Committee, and Sam Coggins from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is the successful candidate being supported by our ACT Committee.

Nancy and Sam will undertake three weeks’ intensive training from 29 July to 16 August 2019 on all aspects of rice production in Asia, including germplasm collection, exchange and intellectual property and rice breeding, molecular genetics and genomics. They will also learn about the research focus of IRRI and its partners; structuring effective international collaborations; and importantly, will gain insights and contacts to work effectively as part of the international research community in the future.

Aaron Preston visiting a Molecular Marker Applications laboratory in 2014

The IRRI training course is very hands-on and very highly-rated by former awardees. It is also very much in sync with the Fund’s other nextgen efforts as it aims to create a new generation of plant scientists that are well networked into the international community and understand the importance of innovative plant science in addressing global problems.

The Crawford Fund has been supporting these awards for almost 10 years.

Read what some earlier Crawford Fund awardees reported on this training: