Food Agility CRC is home to 64 PhD students and graduates. Each of them has made an invaluable contribution to our community of researchers and project portfolio. Having amassed over 120 research publications since we started in 2017, we felt it was time to start sharing the success stories of our PhD graduates.
We begin with Allister Clarke, who joined our HDR program in 2019 and combined his PhD thesis with one of our very early CRC projects; Enhancing Rice Provenance and Quality Prediction. Following the completion of that project, Allister joined the project team on Rangelands Carbon.
As part of Allister's PhD, he spent time working in the SunRice offices, as well as completing research for his own thesis, titled 'Rapid Analysis of Grain Quality'. After a successful PhD and post-doc at CSU, he took on the role of Sustainability Facilitator at Rabobank Australia, which is where we catch up with him today.
1. Hi Allister. Tell us about the most rewarding element of doing a PhD.
Allister Clarke (AC): In my instance I had a great opportunity to join an industry project. This gave me the not just the opportunity to do an ‘apprenticeship’ of sorts in research with Charles Sturt University (CSU), but to also have the rewarding experience of being closely aligned with SunRice and the Australian Rice industry. I found that the strong ambitions of SunRice in research and innovations to continually improve their business operations and farmer support really kept me motivated within the project and feeling like I was playing a part in a bigger industry effort.
2. What else did you value about your PhD experience?
AC: This project helped me make some great connections in both the Australian rice and grains industries, and fortunately some great connections to the US rice industry through a study tour I completed in 2022.
Through CSU and Food Agility CRC I was also afforded numerous opportunities to present on my work, which allowed me to grow the network that I could share my work with, but for me also give me some great skills and practice in public speaking and in particular speaking about research and development in agricultural sciences.
As I was able to get with my Post Doc role too, it’s also given me a greater awareness and understanding of how university researchers work with industries and industry-based researchers. This is something that I think will be invaluable for me going forward, particularly now being out of academia but still likely to have numerous connections to industry and university lead developments in agriculture and environmental sciences.
3. During and following the completion of your PhD, you went straight to research project work - what was the biggest lesson from that experience?
AC: Transitioning into the Rangelands Carbon project was a big shift in many ways and was the hardest part of my time in research at CSU, but one that I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to do and importantly to learn from.
While some skills and understanding remained across both projects, from data and modelling in rice to data and modelling in rangelands, the shift in domain to a focus on land condition and grazing management and its influence on soil and vegetative carbon sequestration was a steep learning curve.
This shift in domain also lined up with a change in project management and partnership both on the CSU side, leaving the team I had worked with during my PHD and also on the industry side, shifting to working closely with CiboLabs.
However, the support from CSU and CiboLabs and the wider project team gave me the chance to keep learning in this space and be encouraged where needed. Like in my PHD project, the strong sense of commitment from the industry partner in AACo also provided a strong motivation to keep working to gain skills in this domain and have a sense of adding value to the project.
4. What are you most excited about with new role at Rabobank?
AC: In my new role I’m really excited about the opportunity to stay connected to innovation and transition in agriculture from the industry/banking perspective, all the way from the farm level through to the industry and supply chain partners.
The opportunity to stay connected to innovation and transition in agriculture from the industry/banking perspective is motivating. Especially the chance to do this across a range of sectors and regions, rather than the nitty gritty in one industry or region, as can be the case in some academic projects. I’m looking forward to seeing the way our food and fibre sector transitions to keep up with potential shareholder, market and regulatory drivers. I believe Rabobank has a big role to play in supporting, recognising and rewarding our clients during this transition.
5. What's your top advice to someone starting PhD journey?
AC: Get a mentor, and if you can get two! I think it’s important to have external guidance at varying stages of your professional and academic career. While your supervisors are important for this, for some of them it’s been a long time since they started their PHD or transitioned into anew project or domain, so the experience of dealing with those early career pressures may not be front of mind. You can achieve this by networking with someone who has recently finished or is close to completion of a PhD, as they can be a valuable asset both for technical learning, but also for friendship and for someone to sympathise and empathise with what you're working on.
6. What’s the value of CRC engagement for HDR study and student?
AC: For me it is the industry connection, which is really great opportunity for HDR students to learn and understand the motivation of agribusinesses to engage in research and how they see the potential benefits being realised. However, if you want to fully realise the benefits and connections as a student you need to have that drive and self-determination to succeed.
On the other side, I think the benefit for the industry/business partner of engaging in a university project with an early career researcher is overlooked and understated. For a business/industry project partner this can be a great chance to be involved and provide the necessary experience that ensures that research expertise exists in their industry in the future.
As has been well documented, a PHD can be a very hard journey, particularly financially, so It can be a hard sell to get the best and brightest students from undergraduate degrees to continue down this path when other available jobs can offer significantly higher salaries and salary growth. This can then lead to a scenario where there’s fewer young researchers coming through and the established researchers nearing retirement have no clear succession plan in place. I think agribusiness that get involved in CRCs and where possible support students through top-up scholarships can offer acritical solution to encouraging great students into research. By doing so they can ensure that their industry has a stream of great young researchers coming through that understand the nuances of their industry and gain passion and respect for their domain.
Allister Clarke's publications
Combined location online weather data: easy-to-use targeted weather analysis for agriculture
