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  • Reimagining Collaboration Project
    • Australia-Vietnam Beef Cattle Symposium >
      • Symposium Overview
      • Chương trình hội thảo
      • Symposium Program
      • Bài trình bày của hội thảo
      • Symposium Presentations
      • Tiểu sử Diễn giả
      • Presenter Biographies
      • Symposium News Links
      • Symposium Videos
      • Symposium Photo Gallery
    • Trade Delegation 2024 >
      • Welcome Messages
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      • Program Overview
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      • Delegation Photo Gallery
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    • Cattle and Beef Price Maps >
      • Cattle and Beef Price Maps for Vietnam
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    • Interactive Trade Maps >
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Presenter Biographies

Session 1: Current beef cattle industry, markets and trade situation, priorities, and outlook 

Prof. Dr. Hoang Kim Giao 
Prof. Dr. Hoang Kim Giao is the Chairman of the Vietnam Ruminal Husbandry Association (VINARUHA) and the Director of the Dairy Research Institute at TH True Milk Group. He has a long and distinguished career in the livestock sector, having served as the Director of the Department of Livestock, the Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture, and the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). He is also a lecturer of genetics and animal breeding at Agricultural University No.2. He has a doctorate in embryology technology from Bulgaria and a specialization in livestock reproduction, especially artificial insemination and embryo transfer. He has led several projects on dairy farming development and bovine embryo transfer in collaboration with JICA, Japan and Belgium.  

hoangkimgiao53@gmail.com 
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Mr. Tony Harman  

Tony Harman is the Agriculture Counsellor based at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi, having moved to Vietnam with his family in September 2020 to take up the role. Posted by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Tony has nearly 30 years professional experience working on a wide variety of agricultural industry matters across a range of government departments. Tony has qualifications in agricultural science and agricultural economics. 

tony.harman@dfat.gov.au 
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Mr. Mark Harvey-Sutton 
Mr. Mark Harvey-Sutton is the CEO and Company Secretary of the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council (ALEC), a peak industry body representing the livestock export sector. He joined ALEC in January 2019, after working for various organisations in the rural sector, such as the National Farmers’ Federation, the Sheepmeat Council of Australia, and the Cattle Council of Australia. He also has experience in the Australian Government, where he held positions in the Department of Agriculture and the Minister’s office for Regional Australia. He has a law degree from James Cook University, a legal practice diploma from the Australian National University, and a company directors’ certificate from the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is a qualified lawyer in the ACT. He is a respected and experienced leader in the livestock industry, with a strong understanding of the issues and challenges facing the sector. 

 
ceo@livexcouncil.com.au 
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Mr. Wayne Collier 
Before becoming CEO of LiveCorp in 2021, Mr. Collier spent nine years leading various initiatives, including market access, regulation, innovation, training, and research and development. His analytical skills and industry knowledge have enabled him to provide technical advice and contribute to policy development. He has facilitated market access for over 21 markets and represented LiveCorp in the Middle East, China, and Indonesia. 

Mr. Collier holds degrees from Deakin University and Monash University. His interest in land management and primary industries led to roles in both federal and Victorian agriculture departments, equipping him with strong governance knowledge, policy formulation, and technical advisory skills. 

wcollier@livecorp.com.au 
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Mr. Spencer Whitaker  

Spencer Whitaker is the Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), Market Development Manager for Asia Pacific. Spencer is based in Hanoi and his role covers the marketing and business development programs across three of industry’s priority emerging markets; Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines as well as the livestock export program for the Asia Pacific region (excluding Indonesia). MLA has recently significantly invested in this region, with Spencer moving from his previous post as the Trade and Access Manager for the MENA region in Dubai, to head up programs in these emerging markets with the support of locally engaged staff across the region and a regional manager and office in Singapore. 
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swhitaker@mla.com.au  
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SeSSION 2:​Meeting net zero emission targets in the beef cattle sector 

Dr. Margaret Jewell 

Program Manager - Environmental Sustainability 
Meat and Livestock Australia 

Dr Margaret Jewell is Meat & Livestock Australia's (MLA’s) Program Manager - Environmental Sustainability. She is an Agricultural Scientist with a PhD in plant genetics and 15 years’ industry experience. Margaret is privileged to be a position that enables her to work with red meat producers, agricultural industry stakeholders, and national and international research organisations, non-profit organisations, and governments. Her work contributes to improved production of red meat (which is fundamental for human nutrition), directing investment into grazing management opportunities to improve and rehabilitate vast areas of Australia’s land mass, and worthy global challenges such as food security, biodiversity depletion, and climate change. Margaret is committed to ensuring that Australian agriculture can prosper while remaining sustainable and contributing to Australia's greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. 

 

mjewell@mla.com.au 
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Mr. Guy Williams  

Guy Williams is an Executive Director at Pollination and has worked at the leading edge of innovation and strategy in biodiversity and natural capital for the past 20 years, providing science-based solutions to solve new and emerging global challenges. A professional ecologist with a focus on elevating nature with businesses as a means to manage risk and capitalise on new environmental markets. Prior to joining Pollination Guy has held global roles with some of the largest global consulting and advisory firms, as well as being an integral part in the development of many nature-related frameworks and standards such as the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosure, and GRI Biodiversity. Based in Hanoi, Vietnam Guy currently sits on expert advisory panel of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity Credits and Science Based Targets Network and is deeply involved in driving nature action across the agriculture and finance sector. 

guy.williams@pollinaitongroup.com 

LinkedIn profile ​
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Dr Le Thi Thanh Huyen
 
Dr. Le Thi Thanh Huyen is the head of the Livestock System and Environment Research Department at the National Institute of Animal Science. She has over a decade of experience with the Uplands program, focusing on sustainable land use in Southeast Asia’s mountainous regions. Her PhD research centred on sustainable beef production. She coordinated ACIAR beef projects LPS/2015/037 and AGB/2020/189 and has led various national and international livestock projects. Her expertise lies in working with farmers, coordinating farmer groups, and developing livestock value chains for household farms. Her research also focuses on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change in the livestock sector.
 
lehuyen1973@yahoo.com
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Professor Ben Hayes  

Centre Director, Animal Science 
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation 

Professor Hayes has extensive research experience in genetic improvement of livestock, crop, pasture and aquaculture species, with a focus on integration of genomic information into breeding programs, including leading many large-scale projects which have successfully implemented genomic technologies in livestock and cropping industries. Author of more than 300 journal papers, including in Nature Genetics, Nature Reviews Genetics, and Science, contributing to statistical methodology for genomic, microbiome and metagenomic profile predictions, quantitative genetics including knowledge of genetic mechanisms underlying complex traits, and development of bioinformatics pipelines for sequence analysis. Thomson Reuters highly cited researcher in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. 

 

b.hayes@uq.edu.au 
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SeSSION 3: ​Profitable forage and fattening systems 

Mr. Greg Pankhurst  

Feedlot Consultant, Lampung Livestock Pty Ltd   

Mr Greg Pankhurst is a livestock expert with over 30 years of experience in Asia, especially Indonesia. He started his career as the feedlot manager for Tipperary Indonesia, an Australian-Indonesian joint venture, where he managed 17,000 head of cattle in Sumatera. After surviving the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, he partnered with Dicky Adiwoso, a local Indonesian businessman, and Consolidated Pastoral Company, owned by the Packer family, to build two modern feedlots in Sumatra. He has been involved in the importation, feeding, and marketing of more than 2 million head of Australian cattle in Indonesia. Currently, he is a shareholder of Frontier International, a leading supplier of live cattle to Vietnam and Indonesia. He also serves as the Chairman of Queensland Livestock Exporters Association and the Head Consultant for Lampung Livestock, which provides consultancy services to feedlots across Southeast Asia and Australia. 

greginindo@yahoo.com 
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​Dr. Rodd Dyer 
 
Rodd is an agri-food, agribusiness, and international development professional, with over twenty years’ experience working as a program manager, researcher, and consultant throughout Australia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and China. Rodd spent seven years as the Agribusiness Research Program Manager with the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR). Prior to that he spent six years with Meat and Livestock Australia as Project Manager for the Northern Beef Program. Rodd’s broad practical experience has been shaped by nine years working as a researcher in the Northern Territory of Australia, two years as a beef cattle technical officer in northern Queensland and two years with one of Australia’s largest pastoral companies.   

Rodd is co-founder and Director of FocusGroupGo Asia Pacific (FGG AP), a small Vietnam based research, project management and consultancy company. Since 2018, FGG has successfully completed over forty projects throughout the Asia Pacific. 


rodd@focusgroupgo.com 
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​Mr. Hoang Van Hoang
 
Mr. Hoang Van Hoang is the Director of Vietnam HLT Co., Ltd., a company that provides veterinary products, services and tools for raising large cattle in Vietnam. He has a Master’s degree in Livestock Engineering and a career goal of connecting and developing a large cattle industry in Vietnam. He has been leading HLT for more than three years, growing its customer base to over 30,000 and its technical support staff to nearly 20 across Vietnam. He is also the founder and host of HLT CHANEL/GIAI PHAP CHAN NUOI HIEU QUA, a popular online platform that offers technical advice and reviews of livestock farms in Vietnam. He has nearly 220,000 followers on YouTube and Facebook.  

Hoangvan.85vn@gmail.com 
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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Kim Dang 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Kim Dang is the General Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock Production (DLP) under the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development (MARD). He is a former Dean of the Faculty of Animal Science at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA). He has a DVM from VNUA, an MSc in Animal Health and Production, and a PhD in Animal Production from the University of Liege, Belgium. He has over 24 years of experience in animal science, livestock production, and biotechnology. He has conducted research on various topics such as by-product use, antimicrobial use, antibiotic residue, and antibiotic alternative in livestock. He has published more than 130 scientific papers on these topics. He is also interested in developing strategies and policies for transforming and sustaining the livestock sector.  
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pkdang2000@yahoo.com 
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SeSSION 4: ​PROFITABLE FORAGE AND FATTENING SYSTEMS II

Emeritus Professor Dennis Poppi
 
Dennis Poppi is an Emeritus Professor of Animal Nutrition at the University of Queensland. He has been involved in ACIAR projects in Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vanuatu, as a visiting scientist to Brazil and Uruguay and in MLA projects across northern Australia, all looking at ways to improve beef production systems. 

d.poppi@uq.edu.au ​
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Dr. Mélanie Blanchard
 
Dr. Mélanie Blanchard is an animal scientist at CIRAD's Selmet Unit (Mediterranean and Tropical Livestock Systems Unit). She was based at the National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) in Hanoi, Vietnam, for 6 years and now works at CIRAD in Montpellier (France). She serves as a scientific coordinator for the ASSET project and is a member of the Research & Training Platform in Partnership ASEA, focusing on agroecology in South-East Asia. 

 

Melanie’s research is centred on the integration of crop-livestock and the co-design of innovations to foster sustainable farming system development. She investigates the transition of livestock systems and practices of crop-livestock integration in Southeast Asia. Her work includes assessing the productive and environmental efficiency and impact and collaborating with stakeholders to co-design innovative livestock systems. This encompasses forage production options, manure management, feeding systems, and animal mobility.  

 

melanie.blanchard@cirad.fr 
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Dr Steve Petty

Dr Steven Petty is the General Manager of the Clean Agriculture and International Tourism (CAIT) cattle business.  He is a highly experienced, published, agricultural consultant with a strong technical and scientific background who has a practical approach and is focused on the economic sustainability of cattle and farming businesses. He has over 35 years of experience managing businesses, analysing the economic performance and management of cattle businesses and developing these businesses. More recently he has been involved in supporting producers working with carbon projects. 

Steven has worked in North Australia for over 35 years and is married with 4 children.  He has a pilot license, enjoys living in rural Australia, swimming, and running. 

steve@spektrum.net.au 
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Dr. Dinh Van Tuyen 
Mr Tuyen has 27 years- experience in Ruminant nutrition and husbandry. He started his career at Cattle Research Division of the National Institute of Animal Sciences in 1996 and had been working for the Institute as a researcher till 2012. During the period of 16 years working for the Institute, he had spent 4 years in The University of Queensland, Australia, to obtain a PhD degree in nutrition for beef cattle and 1 year in Wageningen University, The Netherlands, to complete a Postdoctoral Program in roughage processing. He moved to work as a Product Manager Cattle for De Heus LLC Vietnam, the leading animal feed company in Vietnam, in 2012 where he has been focusing on nutritional and technical aspects of feeds for beef and dairy cattle. Working in both academic and industrial environments has allowed him to turn scientific knowledge into the practical implications for livestock production in general and cattle production in particular. 

 

minhphat0507@gmail.com 
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Dr Nguyen Thi Vinh 

Dr. Nguyen Thi Vinh, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Animal Science at Vietnam National University of Agriculture, is a lecturer in the Department of Biology and Zoology. Her research focuses on animal feed, genetics, and breeding, contributing to nearly 40 international and national publications. As Vice Dean, she oversees scientific research and international cooperation. Dr. Vinh also coordinates an international project aimed at enhancing human resources in Animal Husbandry for the university. Her dedication to her field and commitment to education make her a vital asset to the institution and the broader scientific community. 


ntvinh@vnua.edu.vn 
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SeSSION 5: ​Improving breeding and genetics in Vietnam

Dr. Pham Thi Kim Dung 

Dr. Pham Thi Kim Dung is the Head of Animal Breeding division at the Department of Livestock Production (DLP), where she has been working since 2009. She has over 27 years of experience in livestock production, animal genetics and breeding, and estimated breeding values (BLUP). She holds a Bachelor of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine from Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) and a PhD in Animal Genetic and Breeding. She is a prolific researcher and author of many scientific publications on animal genetics and breeding, livestock development policies, and livestock husbandry laws and regulations. She has received several awards for her contributions to livestock production and development, including an award from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and the Young Scientist Award from the Crawford Fund of Australia.  


kdtd3d@gmail.com ​
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Professor Ben Hayes 
Centre Director, Animal Science
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
 
Professor Hayes has extensive research experience in genetic improvement of livestock, crop, pasture and aquaculture species, with a focus on integration of genomic information into breeding programs, including leading many large-scale projects which have successfully implemented genomic technologies in livestock and cropping industries. Author of more than 300 journal papers, including in Nature Genetics, Nature Reviews Genetics, and Science, contributing to statistical methodology for genomic, microbiome and metagenomic profile predictions, quantitative genetics including knowledge of genetic mechanisms underlying complex traits, and development of bioinformatics pipelines for sequence analysis. Thomson Reuters highly cited researcher in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
 
b.hayes@uq.edu.au
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Professor Wayne Pitchford 

Director, Davies Livestock Research Centre, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide 

Professor Wayne Pitchford has been teaching Animal Breeding and Genetics, Livestock Production and Meat Science at Adelaide University since 1992. He is currently Director of the Davies Livestock Research Centre and leader of the University’s AgriFood and Wine strategic plan. He has been an executive and program leader in Beef CRCs, non-executive director of Pork CRC and supervised postgraduate students in Sheep CRC. Recently he has been a program leader in the Advanced Livestock Management Technologies program. He has produced 270 publications and supervised 40 PhD and 57 Honours students and is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. He runs a farm with his wife and son. 
wayne.pitchford@adelaide.edu.au 
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​Dr. Phung The Hai
 
Dr. Phung The Hai is the Deputy Director of the Vietnam Ruminant Breeding Centre (VINALICA) and the Secretary General of the Vietnam Ruminant Husbandry Association (VINARUHA). He has been working as a main researcher at VINALICA since 2003, focusing on cattle reproduction and reproductive diseases. He obtained his PhD from the Vietnam National University of Agriculture in 2013. He has led and participated in several scientific research projects on livestock husbandry, veterinary medicine, breeding, and nutrition at the national and ministry levels. He has also been managing the breeding facility of male cattle producing frozen semen and breeding females since 2016. He is actively involved in the activities of VINARUHA, a professional association for ruminant livestock.  

phungthehai@gmail.com 
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SeSSION 6: ​Applied approaches to breeding and genetic improvement

​Assoc. Prof. Dr Le Thi Thuy
 Assoc. Prof. Dr Le Thi Thuy is the Director of the Vietnam Institute of Animal Science and Technology (AHAV) and the Head of the International Relations Department of the Ruminant Livestock Association (VINARUHA). She has a strong background in genetics, animal breeding and biotechnology, and has worked as the Head of the Animal Genetics Molecular Lab at the National Key Laboratory for Animal Cells and the Deputy Head of the Department for Scientific Management and International Cooperation at NIAS-MARD. She is also a postgraduate lecturer on biotechnology application in livestock production at several universities and institutes in Vietnam and Germany. She holds a post-doctoral degree from NIAR, Japan on animal genetic technology and conservation. She is currently leading a state-level project on applying science and technology to build a high-quality beef cattle farming model in Son La province.  
​
kimthimaithanh@gmail.com 
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Mr. Tim Schatz
 
Tim Schatz is currently the director of the Livestock Industry Development section of the Northern Territory Department of Industry Tourism and Trade. He has worked for the department for 22 years and previously worked in beef cattle research for the Queensland Department of Primary Industries as well as gaining experience on commercial cattle properties.  

Tim completed a Bachelor of Rural Science at the University of New England and a Masters on heifer fertility at Charles Darwin University. The areas of cattle research that he has worked in are heifer fertility, crossbreeding, selective breeding, rotational grazing, nutrition and supplementation. 

darwinite@live.com.au 
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Dr. Kieren McCoskerSenior Research Fellow, Centre for Animal Science 

Kieren McCosker is an expert in tropical beef production, holding a degree in Agriculture Science - Animal Science from the University of Queensland and a Ph.D. from the School of Veterinary Science at the same institution. He has around 20 years of experience in investigating production issues in the northern beef production system and Southeast Asia. In addition to his work in northern Australia, Kieren has collaborated on several research activities aimed to improve smallholder productivity in Indonesia. His current research projects focus on various aspects of beef production, including the impact of heat stress, paddock infrastructure and nutrition on calf mortality and the utilisation of remote technologies for detecting crucial production events, such as calving and maternal behaviours. Additionally, Kieren is actively involved in various research initiatives focused on quantifying and mitigating methane production in the beef production sector. 

k.mccosker@uq.edu.au ​

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Mr. Neil MacDonald
Neil MacDonald has worked in tropical animal production for 40 years, mostly in the Northern Territory of Australia.  This included some projects in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia. He retired from the position of Director of Livestock for the Northern Territory in 2019 and now does part-time consultancy work related to cattle and buffalo research in Northern Australia and Asia. He has particular interest in breeding cattle and commercial systems, and also in buffalo. 
 

Neilmacdonald1951@gmail.com 
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SESSION 7: ​Modernizing processing, value adding and integrity systems 

Mr Greg Butler 
 
Greg Butler is a meat industry consultant with over 20 years of experience in various markets across the world. He provides expert advice, training, and implementation on commercial viability, product quality, consumer satisfaction, marketing, design, infrastructure, food safety, quality assurance, and market assessment for live cattle traders, feed lots, abattoirs, processors, wholesalers, hypermarkets, supermarkets, retailers, food service, and manufacturers. He has delivered successful training outcomes and increased sales and profits for his clients in Australia, Middle East, Asia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Uruguay. He has also designed and delivered the Australian Meat Seminars training program to promote Australian company brands and products. He is a well-connected and respected professional in the meat industry, with a wide network of key stakeholders and industry bodies. 

gbutler86@bigpond.com 
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​Dr Michael Patching
General Manager – Founder, Alta Food and Agriculture 

Dr Michael Patching is a veterinarian, animal welfare expert, and Asian market commentator. Michael has been involved in the Vietnam beef and cattle industry directly since 2015 as manager of Vietnam and then Southeast Asia for Meat & Livestock Australia. He now runs his own consultancy business, Alta Food and Agriculture Pte Ltd out of Singapore. Michael is dedicated to finding commercial and practical ways to improve animal welfare in abattoirs globally for businesses to remain profitable but also meet religious and community expectations. Michael also provides insights on regional trends and analysis in the meat and livestock sector in Asia. 

michael@altafoodagri.com 

www.altafoodagri.com 
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SESSION 8: ​Key stakeholder messages and next steps for collaboration 

Associate Professor Dominic Smith


Dominic is an Associate Professor in the Griffith Agribusiness research stream based in the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University.  Dominic's work has a concentration on agriculture, livestock and animal health economics, rural development, food systems, value chains and marketing, pro-poor development, and decentralised finance and planning. He has 31 years research and development experience throughout South-East and East Asia and is currently leading the policy, social and economic impact assessment of the Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) case study in Indonesia and the Australia Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Grant project "Reimagining collaboration in the Australian and Vietnam beef cattle sectors".

Linkedin ​
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​A number of Asia Beef Network activities received grant funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade under the Australia-Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Grant Program

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