Jessica Kriticos and Jowell (Joey) El-Darwiche, two of our PhD students, recently presented their research at the Crawford Fund’s 2026 Annual Conference, held at Parliament House in August. They attended by invitation of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, a partner on their respective projects, and were part of the conference’s first-ever inclusion of student research — this year’s theme was “Emerging Voices Shaping Regional Integration for a Food Secure World.”

It was a standout event for both. Joey and Jessica received strong interest in their work from attendees. For Jessica, the conference’s food security focus offered a valuable chance to expand her perspective from the day-to-day detail of doing a PhD:

“It was good to zoom out and remember that the point of it all is to keep people safe, healthy and fed! The other PhD presentations were a real highlight of the day.”

Joey had a similar reflection, noting the value of connecting her project to bigger-picture, long-term goals:

“Since the conference was more focused on food security rather than biosecurity, it was interesting to recognise the long-term effects of our work and what type of science is being done for those larger scale aims.”

Both students also received positive feedback on their presentation skills. Joey credits much of this to the training she received at our February Training Retreat. Jessica received a lovely piece of unsolicited feedback: a representative from UNE, who works in management and leadership training, praised her presentation and asked whether she’d had formal communications training. She has – but only through the Training Centre!

We’re proud of our students: Jessica and Joey did the hard work of turning that training into excellent presentations and the confidence to speak in front of a crowd at Parliament House. Congratulations and thank you for representing the Training Centre so well on this national stage.