Additional staff boost the FRDC’s regional capabilities
Christopher Izzo, Nicole Stubing, Skye Barrett, Leah Fergusson, Alison Connelly and Annabel Boyer. Photo: Kyaw Kyaw Soe Hlaing
By Ilaria Catizone
On 22 April 2016, Senator Anne Ruston officially opened the FRDC’s new Adelaide office. This location will be shared with the Grains Research and Development Corporation and Wine Australia and will house six FRDC staff members.
Wayne Hutchinson began working with the FRDC from Adelaide in February 2016, and is now joined by five more newly appointed staff members. Alison Connelly and Leah Fergusson will job-share the role of support officer at the FRDC, assisting project managers with management of funded projects from conception to completion, while also managing the meetings for the Research Advisory Committees (RACs) that approve these projects. They are an experienced job-sharing team, having had a similar work arrangement at the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre (Seafood CRC) where they worked for seven and five years, respectively. Alison Connelly also worked at Dbusiness Events. While at Seafood CRC Leah Fergusson obtained a diploma in management and they both worked closely with the FRDC team, which they now look forward to getting to know better.
Executive director of the FRDC Patrick Hone (right), shares out prawns at the launch of the new FRDC office in Adelaide.Photo: James Knowler
Nicole Stubing joins the FRDC in her first position in industry after finishing her undergraduate studies. She recently graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Science in natural resources (honours). She already has a solid network of contacts within the fishing and aquaculture sectors and research community of South Australia, which she acquired while working with the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) and the oyster industry as part of her honours year. She is now taking on a six-month cadetship with the FRDC.
Skye Barrett joins the FRDC Adelaide office as a full-time project officer (research) and will work closely with the New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australian RACs to manage projects from each jurisdiction. She has a family background in the SA commercial fisheries sector and holds a Bachelor of Science in marine biology (honours) as well as a Graduate Certificate in economics. She has been employed at SARDI as a research officer, working predominantly in the wild fisheries program since 2010.
Christopher Izzo also joins the FRDC Adelaide office as a full-time project manager (research) and will work with the Commonwealth, SA, Tasmanian and Victorian RACs to manage projects in these jurisdictions. Chris Izzo has a diverse research background in fisheries and fish biology. He has a doctorate from the University of Adelaide and has worked on various commercial species ranging from cockles to sharks.
The Canberra office has also had some changes, with Annabel Boyer joining as the new communication officer. She has an extensive background in journalism. Before taking on the role at the FRDC, she spent two years in Mongolia working with a small not-for-profit organisation on a project to investigate Mongolia’s media companies. This was an opportunity to experiment with different methods of information collection in a newly democratic country and it also gave her an interest in research and getting a picture of the world through statistical analysis.
