Critical Friends of the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability: planning workshop at UQ Gatton

Join Head of School, Professor Sagadevan Mundree, together with alumni and industry leaders for a day’s workshop at UQ Gatton.

Focusing on the 3 priority themes identified during round table discussions in March (industry collaboration and partnership; a sustainable workforce; and educational and industry pathways), we will brainstorm and map out actionable strategies. Strategies which — as collaborative approaches between UQ, alumni and our communities — can start to address some of the major challenges facing the agricultural industry today.

Joined by alumni guest speakers, current students and recent graduates, we’ll spend the morning setting the scene and hearing different perspectives (with ample time for group discussion), followed by a tour of the Gatton campus and a light lunch.

In the afternoon we’ll move into small groups and brainstorm 3 concepts (one per group). Our goal is to end the day with 3 actionable initiatives that have the potential to make a positive change.

Fine-tuning and specifics of the initiatives will happen after the workshop, but your participation in this event at this stage of development is crucial, so that the needs of your industry and community are factored into our approach.

We sincerely hope you can join us and help to make this a truly collaborative day!

Register

Agenda

Meet our guest speakers

Julia Spicer OAM
Bachelor of Environmental Management (Honours), 2001

Julia is a seasoned entrepreneur and a champion for start-up and business entrepreneurialism in rural, regional and remote communities. She runs a consulting business, Engage & Create Consulting, and a co-working space, The Goondiwindi Business Hub.

Among her many achievements are an Order of Australia Medal for service to the community through a range of organisations, which she was awarded in 2022. Later that year, Julia was appointed Queensland’s Chief Entrepreneur, a voluntary role she held until May this year. She’s recently been elected to the Goondiwindi Regional Council, and holds several voluntary roles, including as an Advisory Board member for Humans of Agriculture.

Julia is Deputy Chair of the AEA (Australia’s Economic Accelerator) Advisory Board, leveraging her experience in research commercialisation and innovation, and passion for community and industry growth, to support the sustainability of regional Australia. She has also recently been appointed to the Future Drought Fund Drought Innovation Hubs Advisory Committee.

Tim Neale
Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours), 1995

Tim is the co-founder of DataFarming, a digital agriculture platform servicing over 35,000 farms across 50 countries with satellite imagery every 5 days. Tim has managed over 30 industry research development and extension projects for a broad spectrum of clients in grains, horticulture, cotton, viticulture, sugarcane, turf, and tree crops.

Considered a thought leader in the agricultural technology space, Tim has received several awards for his work, including Rural Consultant of the Year by Kondinin Group and ABC Rural, Innovation and Technology Award by Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce, and Queensland ICT Entrepreneur of the Year by Pearcey Foundation.

The business was also recently awarded Australia’s Best AgriTech 2023.

Tim was honoured with the Gatton Gold Medal for leadership in agricultural technology and significant impact on sustainable agricultural production in 2023’s UQ Alumni Awards.