Global Development Dialogue Series: Food Security - Transdisciplinary approaches over the next decade

Together with the Queensland International Development Network (QIDN) we will discuss transdisciplinary approaches to address Food Security today, and over the next decade.

Following the inaugural Global Development Dialogue Series panel discussion on ‘Global Health: Opportunities for Enhanced Resilience to Existing and Emerging Health Threats in the Pacific’ in June, session #2 will take place.

Event details: 

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Our panel of key experts will discuss regional approaches to addressing food security and the inter-related issues of food sovereignty, agricultural sustainability, climate change and affordable nutrition. It is sure to be an engaging conversation on collaborative approaches to address this complex challenge. 

This interactive session will seek to: ​

• Bring together a wide-ranging community of members with a passion for global development;
• Frame the begin conversation around the UN report  "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021" and;
• Inform the creation of a 2022 workshop which will delve more deeply into the regional approaches to food security in the Indo-Pacific. 

Moderator

Dallas Dowsett is the Head of International Development at The University of Queensland (UQ). Dallas has an extensive background in international business and education spanning over 27 years. She has held senior management positions in both private and public sector education institutions and within government for trade development. Dallas' role is to provide overall unit leadership and direction to International Development to enable the division to achieve its financial and strategic goals. Her key focus is on ensuring high levels of client and stakeholder relations and the successful delivery of awarded development projects and initiatives for the division and the University. Dallas’ focus will be on developing opportunities for growth within the division aligned with UQ’s strategic goals.

Our panel

Rajendra Aryal is the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Representative in Indonesia and Timor Leste in mid-August 2021. Prior to his current appointment, he was FAO Representative in Afghanistan since September 2018; and he was the Senior Programme Advisor for Resilience Building in FAO Emergency Operations Division in Rome, Italy from 2015 to September 2018. Since mid-March 2003, he has held various positions within the FAO, such as senior programme advisor for global Food Security Cluster (gFSC) in Italy; Senior Resilience Manager for Eastern Europe in Serbia; Deputy Representative in South Sudan; Senior Resilience Coordinator in Pakistan; Senior Regional Recovery Coordinator for Asia in Thailand; Representative a.i., in Sri Lanka and Maldives and the Philippines; Senior Rehabilitation and Recovery Coordinator in Indonesia; Recovery Coordinator in Bangladesh, and Area Manager in Afghanistan. 

Associate Professor Elske van de Fliert is the Director of the Centre for Communication and Social Change at UQ. She also convenes the Communication for Social Change plan of the Master of Communication program. She obtained a PhD in Communication and Innovation in 1993 from Wageningen University, The Netherlands. She joined the UQ School of Journalism and Communication (now School of Communication and Arts) in July 2006. Elske’s research interests include; participatory development communication, facilitation of transdisciplinary research for sustainable development, and impact assessment of social change processes. Over the years at UQ, she has been conducting research projects in Indonesia, Timor Leste, Philippines and Mongolia. She has published widely on a range of topics related to participatory research and communication in sustainable rural development.

Ranmal Samarawickrama is the Manager for Asia and has worked with Caritas Australia for the last fifteen years in various capacities, including country program management, and emergency response management. With twenty years of grass roots community development. Ranmal has worked with various communities in the region and brings a wealth of experience of Caritas Australia’s work across Asia. He currently has oversight of about 25 development projects across nine countries in Asia and manages 40 staff in Sydney and overseas. 

Professor Ian Godwin is the Centre Director of the Centre for Crop Science at UQ. Ian has over 30 years' experience in plant biotechnology research, first undertaking sugar beet genetic engineering at Birmingham University in the UK in the 1980s. He joined UQ in 1990, holding an academic position in plant molecular genetics.He leads research in the use of biotechnological tools for crop improvement, with emphasis on the sustainable production of grain crops. Major focus is on the improvement of crops for food, feed and bio-industrial end-uses. He has pioneered the use of GM and gene edited techniques in sorghum. Research projects include international collaborations with a focus on food security and plant genetic resource conservation with collaborators in Germany, Denmark, the United States, China, Ethiopia and Pacific Island countries. 

Dr Erizal Jamal is the Director of Indonesian Center for Plant Variety Protection and Agriculture Permits, Ministry of Agriculture. Erizal graduated from the University of Philippines Los Banos in 2005 with a PhD n Agricultural Economics. He has the responsibility of managing the process of issuing plant variety protection certificates as a form of appreciation for the rights of breeders, as well as all licensing processes in agricultural businesses. Previously, Erizal was a Senior Researcher and Team leader for agriculture economics and rural development study, completed by the Indonesian Center for Agro-Socioeconomics Research and Development (ICASERD).

 

For more information about the Global Development Dialogue Series

Global Development Hub, UQ