BUBIA, MOROBE PROVINCE: The National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) is delighted to welcome Australian volunteers Jenny and Stephen Clark to its headquarters here in Lae, Morobe Province. The Australian Volunteers Program is an Australian Government funded initiative.
The Clarks joined NARI this month and will stay on for 12 months.
They both have a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Jenny has a teaching background and has undertaken previous assignments with the Australian Volunteers Program in Tanzania in teaching and curriculum development.
NARI is excited to have her guidance and support in the development of the Institute’s Training of Trainer programs and in revising and developing institute training policies and guidelines and help develop and guide basic in-house training.
Stephen has a background in the areas of agronomy of temperate pasture grasses and legumes, field work and computer modelling, experimental design and analysis, small plots to larger grazing experiments, and scientific writing for the farming community. He previously worked as a research scientist (agronomy) with the Western Australia Department of Agriculture.
Before coming to PNG, Stephen volunteered in Tanzania with ECHO-East Africa.
At NARI, he will provide mentorship and hands-on training to NARI scientists in scientific writing, ensuring their research findings are effectively communicated and meet international publication standards.
This includes helping scientists in the development of robust research designs, data analysis and presentation, ensuring high quality and impactful research output.
Ms Lina Asiri, the Acting Human Resource Manager with NARI, believes this partnership with the Australian Volunteers Program will create a great opportunity for capacity development to equip NARI’s research teams with long term skills and research methodology, scientific writing, and publication processes to foster sustainable, high-quality research that aligns with NARI’s strategic goals.
Director General Dr Nelson Simbiken personally welcomed Jenny and Stephen to NARI Headquarters. During a short meeting, Dr Simbiken shared NARI’s vision to empower farmers and help them advance from routine subsistence farming to commercial farming as outlined in its Strategic Results Framework 2022-2031 and the Strategic Implementation Plan 2022-2027.
He acknowledged the support of Australia and other development partners in advancing agricultural research in Papua New Guinea.
