The Crawford Fund, established as an initiative of the
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is a learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems. It was founded in 1975 as one of Australia's then four learned academies (now five) ...
(ATSE) in 1987, is a national support organisation for
international agricultural research.
History
According to a paper prepared by its founder Derek Tribe in July 1998 , the origins of the Crawford Fund derive from a May 1986 meeting of the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food ...
(CGIAR) in Ottawa which considered the need for “Broadening Support for International Agricultural Research”. The focus was to be on funding for the CGIAR Centres and increased public awareness of the benefits that flow from agricultural research for development. In order to carry the message to a range of audiences it was decided that national support organisations should be established in member countries, starting with the USA, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
During 1986, Tribe, with support from the Australian aid agency
Australian Development Assistance Bureau (ADAB, later Australian Aid), the
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is an Australian Government statutory agency in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio, reporting to thMinister of Foreign Affairs ACIAR was established under ...
(ACIAR) and the CGIAR Secretariat, explored the possibilities of establishing a national support organisation in Australia. Finding strong support in academic, political and business circles, he concluded that the Academy of Technological Sciences (and Engineering) would be an appropriate home for such an organisation.
The organisation was named the Crawford Fund in honour of
Sir John Crawford.
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]
Purpose
At the time the Fund was established, ATSE defined its role as making "more widely known throughout Australia the benefits that accrue both internationally and to Australia from international agricultural research, and to encourage greater support for, and participation in, international agricultural R&D by Australian governmental and non-governmental organisations and, in particular, the industrial, farming and scientific communities in Australia".
After some years, an independent assessment determined that the Crawford Fund was "an independent and value-adding element of the Australian aid program". This stimulated the Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
to support the Fund’s mission: to increase Australians' engagement in international agricultural research, development and education for the benefit of developing countries and Australia.
Governance
The Crawford Fund is governed by its own Board and includes the CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
. the national chair of the Board is John Anderson John Anderson may refer to:
Business
*John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland
* John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...
.
Activities
The main activities of the Crawford Fund include awareness-raising to increase support for international agricultural research, the organisation of short-term practical training for agricultural researchers from developing countries, master classes for emerging research leaders, and two types of awards.
The Public Awareness Program includes an annual conference at Parliament House, Canberra
Parliament House, also referred to as Capital Hill or simply Parliament, is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, and the seat of the legislative branch of the Australian Government. Located in Canberra, the Parliament building is ...
. The annual conference focuses on a selected aspect of international agricultural research, showcasing eminent speakers and promoting an intensive round of high-level meetings and media publicity. Since 2010, conferences have included:
* Biodiversity and World Food Security (2010)
* The Supermarket Revolution in Food: Good, Bad or Ugly for the World's Farmers, Consumers and Retailers? (2011)
* The Scramble for Natural Resources: More Food, Less Land? (2012)
* Agriculture, Mining and Development: Bread from Stones? (2013)
* Ethics, Efficiency and Food Security: Feeding the 9 Billion Well (2014)
* The Business of Food Security: Profitability, Sustainability, and Risk (2015)
* Waste Not, Want Not: The Circular Economy to Food Production (2016)
* Transforming Lives and Livelihoods: The Digital Revolution in Agriculture (2017)
Since 1985 the Fund has hosted the Sir John Crawford Memorial Address. Notable speakers include Ross Garnaut
Ross Gregory Garnaut (born 28 July 1946, Perth) is an Australian economist, currently serving as a vice-chancellor's fellow and professorial fellow of economics at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of numerous publications in schol ...
, Frances Adamson
Frances Jennifer Adamson, (born 20 April 1961) is an Australian public servant and diplomat who is the 36th Governor of South Australia, in office since 7 October 2021.
Early life and education
Adamson was born in Adelaide, South Australia, ...
, Catherine Bertini
Catherine "Cathy" Bertini is an American public servant. She is the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate. She was the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program from 1992 to 2002. She served as the UN Under-Secretary for Management fr ...
, Florence Chenoweth
Florence Alletta Chenoweth (2 April 1945 – 26 June 2023) was a Liberian politician and agriculture and food security specialist. As minister of agriculture in Liberia, she was the first woman to hold such a position in Africa. She also held se ...
, Craig Venter
John Craig Venter (born October 14, 1946) is an American biotechnologist and businessman. He is known for leading one of the first draft sequences of the human genome and assembled the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. ...
, Shridath Ramphal
Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal (born 3 October 1928), often known as Sir Sonny Ramphal, is a Guyanese politician who was the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, holding the position from 1975 to 1990. He was also the foreign minister of ...
and Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the Lis ...
.
The Crawford Fund supports a range of other activities designed to encourage public awareness of the importance of international agricultural research for development. The Fund supports the preparation of various publications. The Fund also organises other events such as meetings and conferences at the state level in Australia. For example, in 2011 the Crawford Fund sponsored a conference in Brisbane on the theme of 'A Food Secure World'. One of the aims of meetings of this kind is to provide the opportunity for eminent international speakers to address agricultural topics of global importance in Australia.
Since its establishment, the Crawford Fund has provided training to about 8,000 researchers, research managers and farmers in dozens of developing countries. Two kinds of training are provided:
* About 25 training awards are made each year to enable individual researchers from developing countries to undertake customised training in Australia in specific aspects of a wide range of topics in agriculture, forestry and horticulture.
* Additionally, about 30 multi-participant training courses are conducted each year either in developing countries or Australia, covering a wide range of topics in agriculture and forestry by teams of experts from CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...
, universities, state agriculture departments, etc.
Approximately 40% of training awards and training courses are linked to ACIAR projects.
The Crawford Fund also conducts Master Classes
A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed.
"Masterclass" is also ...
. These are high-level courses aimed at mid-level researchers and emerging research managers who undertake a short period of training (typically two weeks) on particular research issues. The maximum number of participants in any one class is set at approximately 20 people. Participants are hand-picked, as are the trainers.[For an evaluation of one of the master classes, see J.R. McWilliam, R. Sdoodee, and L. Marlow (1997), 'Evaluation of the Crawford Fund master class in biotechnology: A tracer study of participants, their sponsoring institutions and course providers', Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Publication code EEU-WP 27, ]
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The Crawford Fund provides two prestigious training fellowships from a private donor:
*The Derek Tribe Award, awarded biennially to a senior researcher from a developing country; and
*The Sir John Crawford Fellowship, awarded annually to a young researcher from a developing country.[
]
References
External links
* {{official, https://www.crawfordfund.org/
Organizations established in 1987
Scientific organisations based in Australia