Welcome to RAID

If you are reading this, you’ve probably just made the best decision of your life. You have taken the first step towards a more fruitful, fertile, efficient and nutritious career in agricultural research for international development. Should you choose to proceed, you will be part of a growing network of young, enthusiastic and motivated professionals seeking to improve livelihoods and food security in developing countries through agricultural research. If you can handle the puns, please read on to find out more about RAID….

RAID, or Researchers in Agriculture for International Development, was formed in late 2013, after a group of young scientists acknowledged they had little awareness of other young scientists working in similar fields and no means of connecting with one another. The group also acknowledged that it was difficult to see clear career paths into agricultural research for international development and that opportunities to attract bright young scientists were being missed. So, with some seed funding from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), RAID was planted.

So who is RAID targeting? As you will probably have gathered, RAID’s primary audience is early to mid-career scientists working in any field related to agricultural research for international development. However, we also want to reach undergrad’s thinking about their career options, and the more ‘experienced’ scientists who will nurture their development.

What am I going to get out of it, you ask? Well, you can use this website to learn about the exciting research young scientists are doing to improve livelihoods and food security in developing countries and how you can get involved. If you become a member, you can register for RAID events, post blogs, photos and news stories, share employment and training opportunities and network with and learn from like-minded people.

We want RAID to be fairly informal. For example, if there are a group of members attending the same conference, RAID can be used to facilitate a small networking event at a local ‘establishment’. RAID will also hold more formal events, such as mini-conferences and workshops on topics that are of most interest to our network.

I know what you’re thinking. Is this going to be another one of those networks that has a good growth at the start, but then slowly wilts away? Well the answer is, it’s really up to you. If RAID is to reach its potential, we need your support. And I don’t mean money. I mean your ideas, experience, knowledge and enthusiasm.

So, pull out the RM Williams, dust off the Akubra, wack on a lab coat, get out the pH kit, calibrate the scales and book your plane tickets – you’re about to become a RAIDer*

*Not to be confused with Canberra footy team or the bug killing aerosol.

RAID core management group (left to right, bottom row then top): Bonnie Flohr, Emma Zalcman, David Mcgill, Rebecca McBride, Jenny Hanks, Jack Koci, David Parsons, Dianne Mayberry, Rowan Smith