Academy Fellow Professor Lindsay Falvey has won the prestigious Crawford Fund Medal.
Professor Falvey is Chair of the International Livestock Research Institute, based in Nairobi, Kenya. For four decades, his passionate commitment to agricultural science has fuelled major advances in global food security.
The Crawford Fund Medal recognises people who have made considerable and continued contributions to international agricultural research through the Fund’s programs and related activities.
Professor Falvey’s experience begun in the Australian tropics in 1972 and continued in various nations across Asia and the world. His research has laid foundations for research and development policies in multiple countries.
He has completed high-security missions to preserve research infrastructure and personnel in conflict situations, from working for the World Bank in post-1989 Russia to aid-based projects in war-ravaged Iraq.
The Emeritus Professor of the University of Melbourne holds two adjunct appointments in Thai universities and is currently writing on the role of agricultural science in philosophy.
He was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 1997. He is Chair of the ICM Agrifood Award Selection Committee and an active member of the Agriculture Forum.
The citation from Profesor Falvey’s higher doctorate noted his work combined “technical, social, environmental, policy and historical research in the developing world (and) challenged the simple importing of agricultural technology.”
His research, it added: “… demonstrated that indigenous knowledge and culture is critical to sustainability, food security and human development, thereby potentially benefitting millions of persons participating in international development projects.”
World Food Day oration
As 2019 Crawford Fund Medal Awardee, Professor Falvey will be delivering an oration at the University of Melbourne on 16 October, World Food Day.
His presentation, titled NextGen Scientists Needed to Build on Historic Successes of Agriculture R4D, will explore global challenges in agriculture research.
“More than 30 per cent of the world was hungry in the 1960s; today it’s around 15 per cent. Population doubled in that time. The huge success of feeding an extra 3 billion people ranks as one of humanity’s greatest feats.
“Agricultural science underpinned those successes through a wealth of innovative research for development conducted in diverse environments and cultures around the world.
“Now, 50 years on, a new generation of agricultural scientists and thought leaders is needed to carry on this scientific and humanitarian work the face of such complex and ‘wickedly’ inter-related problems as world poverty and hunger, global warming, and mass migration.”