Please click on the project numbers below to access more information on the ACIAR project. If you are interested in developing a research proposal aligned to the projects below, please email the ACIAR Graduate Assistant Officer at aciarga@usp.ac.fj. The Graduate Assistant Officer will assist you in contacting the relevant project leaders.
Hotlink to ACIAR research project | Discipline | Research project title | Scholarship location | Australian University | Australian Project contact |
AGB/2014/057 | Agribusiness | Pacific Agribusiness Research in Development Initiative Phase 2 (PARDI 2) | Fiji and Samoa | University of Sunshine Coast | Lex Thomson mailto:Lex.thomson@gmail.com |
ASEM/2016/101 | Social Sciences | Climate-smart landscapes for promoting sustainability of Pacific Island agricultural systems | Fiji | University of Western Australia | Bryan Boruff mailto:bryan.boruff@uwa.edu.au |
FIS/2014/060 | Fisheries | Developing pearl industry-based livelihoods in the western Pacific | Fiji | University of Sunshine Coast | Paul Southgate mailto:paul.southgate@usc.edu.au |
FIS/2018/155 | Fisheries | Agriculture and fisheries for improved nutrition: integrated agri-food system analyses for the Pacific region | Fiji | University of Wollongong | Neil Andrew mailto:nandrew@uow.edu.au |
FST/2014/067 | Forestry | Enhancing value added products and environmental benefits from agroforestry systems in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific | Fiji | Griffith University | Helen Wallace mailto:helen.wallace@griffith.edu.au |
FST/2016/147 | Forestry | Improving Agroforestry Policy for Sloping Land in Fiji | Fiji | University of Queensland | Tyron Venn mailto:t.venn1@uq.edu.au |
FST/2016/158 | Forestry | Domestication and breeding of sandalwood in Fiji and Tonga | Fiji | CSIRO National Research Collections | David Bush mailto:david.bush@csiro.au |
HORT/2014/077 | Horticulture | Enhanced fruit production and postharvest handling systems for Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga | Fiji and Samoa | University of Sunshine Coast | Steven Underhill mailto:sunderhi@usc.edu.au |
HORT/2014/078 | Horticulture | Aligning genetic resources, production and post-harvest systems to market opportunities for Pacific island and Australian cocoa | Fiji and Samoa | Queensland Dept of Agriculture & Fisheries | Yan Diczbalis mailto:yan.diczbalis@daf.qld.gov.au |
HORT/2014/080 | Horticulture | Integrating protected cropping systems into high value vegetable value chains in the Pacific and Australia | Samoa | CENTRAL QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY | Phil Brown mailto:p.h.brown@cqu.edu.au |
HORT/2016/185 | Horticulture | Responding to emerging pest and disease threats to horticulture in the Pacific Islands | Fiji and Samoa | University of Queensland | Michael Furlong mailto:m.furlong@uq.edu.au |
LS/2014/042 | Livestock | Increasing the productivity and profitability of smallholder beekeeping enterprises in PNG and Fiji | Fiji and Samoa | Southern Cross University | David Lloyd mailto:david.lloyd@scu.edu.au |
LS/2017/033 | Livestock | Improving small ruminant production and supply in Fiji and Samoa | Fiji and Samoa | University of New England | Frances Cowley mailto:fcowley@une.edu.au |
LS/2019/119 | Livestock | Enhancing the Management of Antimicrobial Resistance (EMAR) in Fiji | Fiji and Samoa | CSIRO Biosecurity Flagship | Paul Debarro mailto:Paul.Debarro@csiro.au |
SMCN/2016/111 | Soils | Soil management in Pacific Islands: investigating nutrient cycling and development of the soils portal | Samoa | CSIRO Agriculture Flagship | Ben Macdonald mailto:ben.macdonald@csiro.au |
Potential research topics
Please click on the project numbers below to access more information on the ACIAR project. If you are interested in developing a research proposal aligned to the projects below, please email the ACIAR Graduate Assistant Officer at aciarga@usp.ac.fj. The Graduate Assistant Officer will assist you in contacting the relevant project leaders.
Research Focus | Possible thesis topic | Australian research agency and contact | Scholarship location | Hotlink to ACIAR research project | ||
Horticulture | ||||||
Fruit Production Systems
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PhD topic
Is Huanglongbing (citrus greening disease) a potential risk to citrus production in the Pacific? (study area Samoa). Masters topics How do Pacific smallholder farmers currently source pre-harvest and postharvest extension knowledge and expertise? (study area in Tonga and/or Samoa). Smallholder farmer motivations, incentives and resistors to increased citrus production (study area in Tonga and/or Samoa).
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Professor Steven Underhill, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Samoa | HORT/2014/077
Enhanced fruit production and postharvest handling systems for Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga
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Coconuts | Phenotyping Coconut diversity.
Diagnostics of exotic pests and diseases. Improving tissue culture techniques. Business case for replanting coconuts. Senile coconut resources in Samoa Impact of Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (CBR).on export potential of the products processed from the nut. |
TBC please contact lwess@usc.edu.au
or sunderhi@usc.edu.au for more information.
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Samoa | HORT/2017/025
Safeguarding and Deploying Coconut Diversity for Improving Livelihoods in the Pacific Islands
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Protected Cropping Systems
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Masters topics
Irrigation systems in protected cropping systems. Variety selection in protected cropping systems. Pest and disease management in protected cropping. |
Professor Phil Brown, Central Queensland University
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Fiji and Samoa | HORT/2014/080
Integrating protected cropping systems into high value vegetable value chains in the Pacific and Australia
|
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Integrated Pest and disease management | Masters topics
Diagnostics for pest and diseases. Improving extension systems through plant doctors and village plant health clinics. |
Professor Mike Furlong, University of Queensland
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Fiji and Samoa | HORT/2016/185
Responding to emerging pest and disease threats to horticulture in the Pacific Islands
|
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Forestry | ||||||
Gender | Gender dimensions of employment in the forest products processing sector. | Robbie McGavin, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Queensland
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Fiji | FST/2019/128
Coconut and other non-traditional forest resources for the manufacture of Engineered Wood Products
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Value-chains | Pacific value-chain for engineered wood products. | |||||
Restoration | Use of nut tree enrichment in forest restoration. | Professor Helen Wallace, Griffith University.
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Fiji | FST/2014/067
Enhancing value added products and environmental benefits from agroforestry systems in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific |
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Fisheries | ||||||
Post-harvest Processing | Masters topics
Utilization of pearl oyster tissue by-product as fertilizers for food.
Optimizing the nutrient composition and improving the post-harvest processing yield of Holothuria fuscogilva in Fiji.
Assessing the fish-aggregating effect of pearl culture infrastructure. |
Professor Paul Southgate, University of the Sunshine Coast
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Fiji
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FIS/2016/122
FIS/2019/122 Towards more profitable and sustainable pearl-industry based livelihoods in the western Pacific |
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Aquaculture products for improved nutrition | Masters topic
Application of seaweed to develop new food products. |
Dr Libby Swanepoel,
University of the Sunshine Coast
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Fiji | FIS/2019/125
Improving nutrition through women’s and men’s engagement across the seaweed food chain in Kiribati and Samoa |
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Livestock | ||||||
Small ruminants | Masters topics
Natural and chemical worm control methods in sheep.
Value chains for sheep and goats and their meat in Fiji and Samoa.
The social role of sheep and goats in Fijian and Samoan cultures.
Labour for sheep and goat production systems.
Reproduction and health in sheep and goats. |
Professor Frances Cowley, University of New England
|
Fiji and Samoa | LS/2017/033
Improving small ruminant production and supply in Fiji and Samoa |
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Market and consumption analysis
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Implications of market context, and consumer purchasing and consumption patterns for policy, investment and development options in the sheep and goat meat sector in Fiji and Samoa. | rodd@focusgroupgo.com
University of Sydney
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Fiji and Samoa | LS/2018/183
Sectoral analysis and investment requirements for improving Fiji and Samoa small ruminant sector |
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Policy and institutional research in areas of agriculture, trade, public health, and food safety
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Analysis of current policy and institutional barriers and opportunities affecting competitiveness and public health outcomes in goat and sheep meat sector in Fiji and Samoa.
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Value chain and stakeholder research
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Analysis of actors and indirect stakeholders with the motivation, capability and willingness to facilitate necessary changes and investments in the sheep and goat value chains.
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Soils and Land Management | ||||||
Circular Economy | What are the opportunities to utilise waste streams for improved agronomic production? | Dr Ben MacDonald, CSIRO
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Samoa | SMCN/2016/111
Soil management in Pacific Islands: investigating nutrient cycling and development of the soils portal |
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Soil water testing | Utilisation of soil water sensors (fullstops and chameleons) to understand nitrate leaching and irrigation scheduling.
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Intensification and intercropping | Intensification of cropping systems by using intercrops and double taro cropping. | |||||
Soil testing
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Developing fertiliser recommendations from ‘quick’ soil field test kits.
Characterising soil chemical properties using mid-inferred spectroscopy.
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Water and Climate | ||||||
Climate change and food security | What are the medium and longer-term impacts of climate change on agricultural production and food security along defined ‘reef-to-ridge’ transects encompassing different crops and systems?
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TBC please contact lwess@usc.edu.au
or sunderhi@usc.edu.au for more information.
|
Samoa and Fiji |
WAC/2020/178 Climate Risks and Decision Making for Transformational Adaptation to Climate Change in Agriculture and Land Systems in Pacific Island Countries
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What are the vulnerabilities and opportunities for agricultural production (crops and systems) in each segment of the ‘reef-to-ridge’ transects in the light of increasing climate change pressures?
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What are the implications for agricultural production in each segment of the ‘reef-to-ridge’ transects of adopting as the climate change adaptation response (1) adjusting practices and technologies, (2) changing systems, or (3) transformation? | ||||||
To what extent can a region employ climate projections, vulnerabilities, and adaptation options to assess the optimum timeliness for transfer from incremental to transformational adaptation? | ||||||
What existing and potential weather and climate services would most strongly support transformational adaptation, and how would the two be best integrated? | ||||||
What mechanisms and processes enable integrating transformational adaptation into existing decision-making processes for agriculture and land use? | ||||||
Other research topics | ||||||
Pacific food systems | Citizen-centred innovation to reshape Pacific food systems –identifying entry points for change. | Dr Libby Swanepoel,
University of the Sunshine Coast
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Fiji | FIS/2019/125
Improving nutrition through women’s and men’s engagement across the seaweed food chain in Kiribati and Samoa |
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Eating behaviours | Perceived environmental influences on eating behaviours in the Pacific. | |||||