Bringing multiple stakeholders together, as equal partners to examine complex problems and co-create innovative solutions…too good to be true?

To improve Australia’s preparedness for animal disease outbreaks using foot and mouth disease (FMD) as a model, researchers from CSIRO, Charles Sturt University, and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences are using just such an approach – Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS). Used historically in developing countries to enhance information sharing and problem solving at local levels, AIS can bring systems change by creating space for shared perspective and the co-creation of solutions by multiple stakeholders.

The FMD Ready Farmer-led surveillance project, is working with five different livestock industries, using AIS to flip the traditional top-down deficit model approach to disease surveillance and create a model for transforming how knowledge is co-created, valued and shared. This can contribute to redefining the role evidence-based science communication can play in enhancing Australia’s preparedness for animal disease outbreaks.

Bringing together livestock producers, veterinarians, livestock agents, abattoir representatives, social scientists, etc., the project is tackling complex issues around surveillance and trusting relationships, one discussion at a time.

This project is supported by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), through funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program, and by producer levies from Australian FMD-susceptible livestock (cattle, sheep, goats and pigs) industries and Charles Sturt University (CSU), leveraging significant in-kind support from the research partners.

The research partners for this project are the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), CSU through the Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and the Australian Department of Agriculture, supported by Animal Health Australia (AHA). The project commenced in July 2016 and will conclude in June 2020.

Session

Health Communication

Presenter

Jennifer Manyweathers, Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Biosecurity, Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University and NSW Department of Primary Industry

Co-authors

Yiheyis Maru, CSIRO

Lynne Hayes, Charles Sturt University

Barton Loechel, CSIRO

Jennifer Kelly, CSIRO

Marwan El Hassan, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Science

Rob Woodgate, Charles Sturt University

Marta Hernandez-Jover, Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation

 

When: In Session Wednesday 19^th February, 9:30am-10:30am

Where: Room G01, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton

Hashtag: TBC