Introducing the new RAID President, farewell/welcome to RAID Central Committee

As we enter 2022, we have some brand new, fresh set of faces here on RAID’s Central Committee. While we are super sad to see these amazing people on the committee move on to greener pastures (note the Ag pun), we are very excited to introduce our new committee members.

New RAID President

Bec Cotton
Firstly, our fabulous (!) President Ms Bec Cotton is leaving us and moving north to family and sunshine. Bec has been the driving force of RAID for the past 2 years and has had to steer all of us through the tumultuous sea of Covid. All while raising her gorgeous daughter, Hazel! Bec has been an amazing leader with her positive attitude, friendly persona and the ability to keep us all motivated and moving forward. She will be greatly missed but will be keeping her ear to the ground on all things RAID.

 

Belinda Nielsen
Taking Bec’s place as RAID President is the wonderful Belinda Nielsen. She is a keen agricultural enthusiast, with particular interest in how the power of agriculture and collaborative thinking can be harnessed to help people. Interested in soils, plants and fruits and veggies, she’s currently sitting in ACIAR’s Canberra office as a graduate officer in the soil and land management portfolio. Belinda has already hit the ground running with her ‘get it done’ attitude.

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We farewelled these fabulous RAID people in 2021

We are so grateful and thankful for the personal time all of these people have given to RAID Network as volunteers. We really valued their enthusiasm and outstanding contributions to the network as they pass the baton on to the new committee members.

Bianca Das (Events)
Bianca is a soil scientist passionate about creating ‘win-win’ situations for farmers and the environment. Her PhD with the CSIRO and The University of Queensland is on increasing phosphorus efficiency in tropical and subtropical cropping systems under the effects of climate change.

Mia Dunphy (Partnerships)
Mia recently completed her Honours in Geography and is working as a research assistant at various institutions. Mia is interested in rural livelihood aspirations for smallholders (women and young people) in the Indo-Pacific.

Tamaya Peressini (Treasurer)
Tamaya is based in FNQ working as an extension officer for the Australian Banana Grower’s Council. Keenly interested in plant health and making research translate to sustainable change in farming. Also gets excited about fruit and vegetables.

Harry Campbell-Ross (Comms)
Harry was a graduate at ACIAR working in the Livestock Systems program. He has a keen interest in the crop/livestock interface in a smallholder context and how the effects of climate change are affecting these systems.

Elya Steel
Elya is a budding social scientist with a background in Agricultural Science and a passion for community development. Her PhD topic is investigating the role of school programs in community extension education, as part of ACIAR’s LPS/2015037 Livestock Project.

Kayla Lochner
Kayla has a background in global development and anthropology. Currently working at UNSW, she is interested in how a just transitions lens can be applied to understanding experiences of climate change injustices affect livelihoods and agricultural futures.

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Welcome to our new RAID Committee Members

We are very excited to introduce the new members of our RAID Committee. Again, we greatly appreciate the personal time and effort all of these people will be giving to RAID Network.

Jana Phan (Vice President)
Jana obtained her PhD in plant science at the University of Adelaide and has since migrated into science policy development and analysis. Jana has a strong interest in combining her experience in research and policy to deliver impactful solutions for development.

Sabrina Morrison (Treasurer)
Sabrina is a plant science graduate with a background in plant pathology and microbiology. She has a keen interest in staple food crop development, loves her grains, and is just starting her PhD research in rice gene editing.

Camilla Humphries (Partnerships)
Camilla works in Research and Development for the Australian Horticultural Industry. She is an avid traveller and is dedicated to increasing agricultural production efficiencies, minimising food waste and improving accessibility to food for developing countries.

Michael Scobie (Partnerships)
Michael has been involved in research for development projects in South and South East Asia for the past 8 years. He has degrees in biological science and environmental engineering and is currently writing his PhD on digital technology adoption by coffee farmers in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

Alex Russell (Partnerships)
Having worked in the agricultural industry since growing up on a farm in the Riverina, Alex has found his way to AR4D. An appreciation for sharing farmer knowledge has led him to study agricultural extension at UniMelb.

Marisa Mitchell (Capacity Building)
Marisa is a social scientist passionate about connecting healthy diets to healthy environments. She is undertaking a PhD with James Cook University, ARC CoE and WorldFish to explore the influence of migration on small-scale fishers in the Pacific from the youth perspective.