Archive for: Fiji

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Dr Chandan Kumar

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Senior Scientist
Dr Chandan Kumar currently works at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), Queensland Government. Chandan does research in Timber Drying, Mathematical Modelling and Simulation, Forest Resources Characterisation, Engineered Wood Products such as particleboards and glulam, Non-destructive Evaluation, Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering, Timber Durability.
Topics of interest:
Timber drying, wood quality investigation
Laos (Dr Khamtan Phonetip), Fiji

Dr Cooper Schouten

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Lecturer, Project Leader
Dr Cooper Schouten’s research passion is developing impactful international agricultural research programs for the benefit of Australia and partner countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
Yes, up to 3 students.
Topics of interest:
Beekeeping, honey bee nutrition, biosecurity, queen bee breeding and genetics, post-harvest handling and marketing, training, education and extension, and gender equity and participatory approaches to agriculture
Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
Ministry of Agriculture Fiji
Biosecurity Authority of Fiji
Fiji Beekeepers Association
Coffee Industry Cooperation
PNG Department of Agriculture and Livestock

Dr Hirdesh Kumar Sachan

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Assistant Professor Crop Science College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Fiji National University, Fiji
Dr Hirdesh Kumar Sachan is an Assistant Professor of Agronomy (Crop Science) and Head of the Department Crop Science, College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry at Fiji National University (FNU), Suva, Fiji. He has been involved in research and tertiary teaching since 2006. He is on the editorial board of 4 scientific journals and regularly review for other journals. Dr Sachan has published more than 32 journal papers, two books and four book chapters and presented over 9 conference papers. His career goals are to contribute to the development of the agricultural industries through research and student training. His interest areas are Soil fertility; Abiotic stress management-salinity; Cropping and Farming systems; Climate change in relation to crop production, Organic agriculture, Sustainable agriculture, Agrometeorology, and Weed management.
Topics of interest:
• Using taro macro and micronutrient contents to determine soil and management constraints
• Soil carbon dynamics under different land-use systems
• Soil plant available water and implications of a changing climate on production systems
• Using taro macro and micronutrient contents to determine soil and management constraints
Assistant Professor Agronomy (October 2012 to date) 10 years
College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Koronivia Campus,
Fiji National University
Courses taught:
Bachelor: Agronomy and Agrometeorology, Agronomy of field crops, Agriculture water management
Masters: Applications of Climate Studies in Agriculture; Advance Concepts in Crop Production; Cropping and Farming Systems; Organic Farming and Sustainable Agriculture, Advances in Weed Management, Rainfed Farming, Crop Management in Problem Soils

Dr Sara Amin

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Senior Lecturer, Discipline Coordinator Sociology, The University of the South Pacific; Adjunct, School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University
Dr Sara N. Amin is Senior Lecturer and Discipline Coordinator of Sociology. She completed her PhD in Sociology at McGill University and has a background in mathematics (BSc, McGill) and international development (BA, McGill). Prior to joining USP, she worked at the Asian University for Women (Chittagong, Bangladesh) and was an International Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University. Her research and teaching interests centre on the sociology of identity, gender, migration and education.

Her research has been funded by various organisations including the British Academy, the Australian Research Council, Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council, the Fulbright Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

She is passionate about teaching and using research to empower students and communities. Sara is Bangladeshi-Canadian and grew up in Thailand.
Yes. 2 Masters and 1 PhD student
Topics of Interest:
Topics that link to gender, religion, indigeneity, identity-linked conflicts, migration, education, social development.
7 years tertiary teaching experience with USP with Pacific Island students from 13 countries and territories
MA and PhD Supervisions of PIC students
Organizing member of the Pacific Criminology Collective

Associate Professor Rowena Maguire

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Associate Professor, Law School, Queensland University of Technology
Dr Rowena Maguire is an Associate Professor within the School of Law and Centre for Justice at QUT. She is the research leader of the Environmental and Social Governance Research Group. Rowena holds a visiting fellow position at Strathmore Law School, Nairobi, Kenya and was formally a Research Affiliates at the Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research. Rowena’s research is…
Yes – 1 or 2 more students. My school is bringing in a limit of 4 supervisions.
Topics of Interest:
Feminist approaches to agriculture policy
Feminist approaches to climate policy
Gender and agriculture policy
Gender and climate mitigation and adaptation policy
Loss and Damage mechanism
Climate governance and justice in the Pacific
UNFCCC governance
Climate displacement and migration in agriculture sector
Just Transition Policies
Gender and Technology adoption in agriculture
Fiji – ACIAR project work (Talanoa Consulting, MoE and MoA) and PhD supervision of Fijian students studying climate displacement

Samoa – ACIAR project work (SWAG)

Solomon Islands – ACIAR project work (COYES)

Dr Natalie Jones

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Lecturer in Rural Development and Research Fellow, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences
Dr Natalie Jones is an applied anthropologist that is dedicated to advancing the role of social science in agriculture and natural resource management within interdisciplinary teams. Her research interests involve understanding how people perceive and interact with environmental systems.
Natalie has established a strong track record in applying cognitive constructs, including mental models and values, to explore how people make sense of and relate to their environment, particularly in relation to water resources. Two of her publications are placed in the top 1% of the academic field of Social Sciences (Clarivate, 2020). Natalie has an interest in designing and implementing participatory processes to support decision-making.
She is currently co-leading the Regenerative Agriculture Group within the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences. The focus of this inter-disciplinary group is to advance knowledge and practice of regenerative agriculture to increase social and ecological resilience within Australia’s agri-food systems. She is also leading the social component an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research in Fiji which aims to develop a value chain for converting senile coconut trees into engineered wood products.
Natalie has conducted applied social science research within a number of interdisciplinary teams involving governments, research organisations, non-governmental organisations and Indigenous groups. She has published more than 25 academic papers and book chapters.
Natalie is a Lecturer of Rural Development within the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences. Prior to taking up her position at UQ, Natalie was a Researcher at the Australian National University working in the Resource Management of the Asia Pacific Program. This involved working as a social scientist in an international collaboration with CIRAD – Agricultural Research for Development, to evaluate 34 participatory modelling projects globally. She has undertaken consultancies with various natural resource management groups within Australia, including Healthy Land and Water and Seqwater.
Currently not available to supervise any students.
Topics of interest:
Social science related to natural resource management and agriculture
Research experience in Fiji working on an ACIAR project with SPC

Dr Richard Markham

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Adjunct Associate Professor (Sustainable Development), ACPIR
Dr Richard Markham trained as an entomologist (PhD Imperial College, UK, 1981)
1980s biological control of crop pests and weeds in East Africa
1989-95 IPM of grain storage pests, West Africa and Central America
1995-01 CGIAR System-wide Program on IPM – Africa, Asia, Americas
2003-08 INIBAP Conservation and use of GR – banana, cocoa, coconut
2008-18 ACIAR Research Program Manager – Pacific Crops and Hort.
Yes, up to two per year.
Research Topics of Interest:
Ecology and management of crop pests
2008-2013 Based in Suva, Fiji, Research Program Manager for ACIAR Pacific Crops (including the ACIAR PG Scholarship Program at USP)
and covering seven South Pacific island countries.
2013-2018 ACIAR Research Program Manager for Horticulture, covering same 7 PICs, plus additional Asian and African countries

Dr Royford Magiri

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Assistant Professor
Dr Royford Magiri is an Assistant Professor of Veterinary Microbiology in the Department of Veterinary Science, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at the College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Fiji National University. He studied his PhD in Vaccinology and Immunotherapeutics at the School of Public health, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. His other qualifications are MSc. In Clinical Studies and Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine both from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He has been involved in tertiary teaching for the last 10 years in areas of Veterinary surgery, Veterinary internal Medicine, Reproduction and obstetrics, Immunology, Microbiology and Virology, Immunotherapeutics, adjuvants and antibiotics, vaccine, vaccination and infectious diseases, Animal welfare and ethics working first in Kenya, Canada and Fiji. Dr Magiri’s main area of research is Mechanism of Action of Adjuvants and Immunotherapeutics Agents, Antimicrobial resistance and susceptibility, and Climate Change. Microbiology, Immunology and Disease Pathogenesis, Biotechnology, Development of vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Improving Vaccines through Formulation and Delivery. Dr Magiri is also a member of East Africa Community Small Scale Farmer’s Policy Think Tank, Kenya Veterinary Board, Kenya Veterinary Association, and Fiji Veterinary Association in addition to being a consultant in veterinary disease control and management. He has published numerous journal and conference papers in areas Veterinary Medicine, Immunology, Microbiology and Veterinary pathology.
Topics of Interest:
Effect of climate change on livestock production and infectious diseases
Dr Royford Magiri has 3 years of experience in teaching and research in the Pacific in the areas of Veterinary Science, One Health, Antimicrobial Resistance and Climate Change.

He closely works with the ACIAR, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and medical services, Fiji Co-operative Dairy Company Limited, Pacific Community (SPC), BAF, and CSIRO.
Currently Principal Supervisor to 3 Masters students
Co-Supervisor to 1 PhD student

Dr Ben MacDonald

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Group Leader
Dr Ben Macdonald is developing improved agricultural production systems through the measurement of nutrient and water fluxes within agricultural and natural ecosystems. His research also focuses on the quantification of gaseous exchange between the land surface and the atmosphere and the key processes responsible for emissions from agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Currently Dr Macdonald is leading research projects in Australian cotton production systems with a focus on nitrogen use efficiency and nutrient cycling within root cropping systems of the Pacific Island Countries and Territories.
Topics of interest:
Soil carbon
Soil Health
Water quality
Dr Macdonald has worked in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu.
Have been Principal Supervisor to 8 PhD students and have Co-Supervised 8 PhD students.

Prof Michael Furlong

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Professor
Prof Michael Furlong’s research focuses on the biological control and integrated management of insect pests. Understanding the ecological and biological relationships between insects and their natural enemies (pathogens, parasitoids and predators) and the interactions between these natural enemies is fundamental to effective biological control and is central to my research. Strategies which manipulate natural enemies to enhance their impact on pest populations are under development, examples include:
• Integration of biological stressors and fungal entomopathogens for improved control of insect pests
• Reduced insecticide inputs combined with the provision of adult food sources to enhance endemic parasitoid performance
• Utilising inducible plant defences to manipulate pests and improve the effectiveness of natural enemies.
Externally funded research projects concentrate on the development of sustainable pest management strategies for insect pests in developing countries. In Indonesia the structure and function of the natural enemy complexes attacking the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) and the cabbage cluster caterpillar (Crocidolomia pavonana) are being determined. In Samoa the biology and ecology of the egg parasitoid Trichogramma chilonis is being investigated and the possibility of its release as a biological control agent of C. pavonana in Fiji, Tonga and Solomon Islands explored. Research in Fiji is focused on quantifying field resistance of the diamondback moth to commonly used insecticides. An insecticide resistance management strategy has been developed and will be implemented in collaboration with UN-FAO.
I cannot take on any new students in 2023.

Principal Supervisor to 10 PhD students.
Co-Supervisor to 5 PhD students.

The Pacific Supervisor Register is an initiative of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). © University of the Sunshine Coast – 2023.

     

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