Spotlight on Series – The Pacific Region

We will be celebrating National Ag Day with this free online panel – “Ag Pathways to Making a Global Difference”.

Our speakers are all passionate about ag – at home and abroad. They all started out studying ag but ended up focused on ag in the developing world and particularly in the Pacific. They will explain how working in ag for development has amazing global, national, professional and very personal impacts, with their broad range of pathways to rewarding and exciting careers.

This panel is for anyone with an interest in learning about agriculture beyond our borders, which benefits both Australia and our neighbours, and how to get there!

It will also be part of RAID’s “Spotlight” series and the Crawford Fund’s Career Pathways project.

This will be an opportunity to hear from researchers, entrepreneurs and volunteers working in developing countries and their experiences and career journey to where they are now.

Our MC is Jessica Fearnley from RAID who received a Crawford Fund student award for her research in Cambodia and is now a Development Officer for Temperate Fruits at the NSW Department of Primary Industries. Along with Jess, speakers are:

Cooper Schouten, ‘the bee guy’ and project manager for the Bees for Sustainable Livelihoods Research Group at Southern Cross University.

Lisa and Zoe Paisley, founders of the social enterprise Aggie Global, a developmental agriculture business, empowering Fijian farmers to improve income and food.

James Quilty, Research Program Manager for Soil and Land Management at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), which is part of the Australian aid program and supports research to improve agricultural and food systems in partner countries.

You will be able to quiz the speakers on their work, discuss career opportunities and advice and network.