Dr. Alois Ndrewou is the Director of the Centre for Natural Resources Research & Development (CNRRD) at the University of Goroka (UoG), Papua New Guinea. His research and teaching focus on rural development, agriculture, education, the environment, land tenure, geography and sociology. His PhD research (Curtin) examines the livelihood adaptation and coping strategies of smallholders in two cocoa-farming communities in the Dagua area of East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, in response to a financial shock which progressed into a prolonged income-stress caused by the infestation of cocoa pod borer. Alois has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Technology, Papua New Guinea, a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of Goroka, Papua New Guinea, and a Master of Agricultural Studies (Water and Land) from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Bartholomew Apis is an Agronomist with the Coffee Industry Corporation working under the Research and Innovations Program. His research focuses on understanding and managing agrophysiological changes within coffee’s biophysical systems to enhance productivity, resilience, and long-term sustainability. Bartholomew’s research centres on developing and understanding climate-resilient coffee farming systems, with an emphasis on climate variability, shade management, balanced nutrition, evaluation of coffee varieties, and improved agronomic practices. His research seeks to enhance sustainable coffee systems through evidence-based agronomy, farmer-focused innovations, and research-driven strategies that support the long-term viability of Papua New Guinea’s coffee sector. He is currently studying for his Master’s in Agriculture & Environment at the University of Sydney under the Australian Awards Scholarship program. 

Carlos Hildago, Oil Palm Industry Corporation (OPIC), is an Agricultural Extension officer.

Dr. Ceridwen Spark is a Senior Research Fellow in the Global, Urban and Social Studies Department at RMIT University. She has conducted projects on Indigenous place-making, intercountry adoption, gender and education, gender and leadership, transnationalism in the Pacific and community and belonging in Melbourne. Since 2007, most of Ceridwen’s research has focused on gender in the Pacific, particularly Papua New Guinea. https://www.rmit.edu.au/contact/staff-contacts/academic-staff/s/spark-dr-ceridwen

Georgina Numbasa is a Geography Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Geography at the University of Papua New Guinea. Georgina’s main area of research expertise is urbanisation and change in Papua New Guinea. She has conducted research on urban informal settlements and land tenure security and the impact of climate change on communities in urban informal settlements. Georgina’s more recent work is exploring how different land tenure arrangements facilitate or constrain the adaptive capacity of migrant settlers in the informal settlements of Wewak to respond to climate change.

Prof. Glen Banks is Head of School of People, Environment and Planning at Massey University. His research is primarily focused on the socio-economic and cultural dimensions of large-scale, private sector investment in the extractive industries in Papua New Guinea. This research is framed by theoretical concerns with development, local agency and empowerment. He is currently conducting collaborative research which critically examines private sector claims of corporate social responsibility in the tourism and resource extraction sectors, based on case studies in Fiji and Papua New Guinea. This research connects with applied contracted research and consultancy for institutional and private sector actors in the extractive sector in the region. https://www.researchgate.net/project/Alternative-approaches-to-business-on-customary-land-in-the-Pacific

Dr. Ian Newton, Principal Entomologist with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries has a PhD in entomology (University of Queensland) and over 26 years of experience as an applied entomologist, working in horticulture and tree crops for the past 20 years, with considerable experience in coffee, mango, avocado, other fruit, berry and tree nuts. Ian has extensive knowledge and experience leading IPM RD&E, including research on insect biology and ecology, biological control, cultural control, insect pathogens, biopesticides, chemical control and pheromone trapping. He is currently project leader for ACIAR project HORT/2018/194, ‘Protecting the coffee industry from Coffee Berry Borer in Papua New Guinea and Australia’. https://au.linkedin.com/in/ian-newton-7b4466254

Jessica Fearnley-Pattison is a development officer at NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. She is passionate about communicating and working with growers and the industry on challenging issues. Her main research areas include developing adaptation strategies to a changing climate, improving soil health and extension. Jessica was recently appointed as the National Extension Manager for the Australian cherry industry and is the project lead for the industry’s extension and communication project, funded by Hort Innovation. Jessica is an active member of the cherry industry, presenting at the National Cherry Conference and numerous webinars and workshops. She has extensive experience in regional grower groups, holding the Frontline Advisor position for Orange for the APAL Future Orchards program. Jessica also coordinated the National Cherry Conference in 2024. Jessica is currently studying for her PhD through a partnership between NSW DPIRD and the University of Tasmania and is investigating soil carbon sequestration in perennial orchards. She is also currently collaborating on an ACIAR project examining climate impacts on coffee production and the adaptation options for smallholder farmers in Papua New Guinea.

Dr. Lilly Sar is the Director for the Centre for Social and Creative Media, University of Goroka, Papua New Guinea. She joined the University of Goroka in 2016 and coordinates the postgraduate program in Communication for Social Change. Her research interests are in systems approaches in addressing rural livelihood issues, evaluation of social change processes and the use of LEGO Serious Play methods for creating meaning through story telling. She has also documented indigenous knowledge on natural resource management including local drought coping strategies to address food and nutritional security.

Linda Bina, is the Women in Coffee Coordinator for the Coffee Industry Corporation Ltd, PNG. Linda is a mid-career researcher and development practitioner whose focus is on women and youth, building resilient coffee systems, and supporting the livelihoods of smallholder coffee farming households. Linda is currently studying for her M.Phil at Curtin under an ACIAR John Allwright Fellowship. 

Linus Pileng, PNG Oil Palm Research Association (PNGOPRA), is a Trainee Socioeconomic Supervisor in the Smallholder and Socioeconomic Research Section.

Dr Mark Thomas,  is a senior soil scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), specialising in aligning land uses and farming systems with specific soil types. His extensive background in modern land resource assessment allows him to assess soil conditions to guide both opportunities and risks associated with different land use options, including the management practices for choices to be sustainable. Mark has experience in working across Australia, the Pacific, Asia, and Africa, supporting various sectors ranging from smallholder and commercial farmers to government policymakers.

Matilda Hamago is the Senior Socio-Economist and currently the Acting Manager for Research & Innovation Program with the Papua New Guinea Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC). She has worked with the CIC for 25 years. Matilda received a John Allwright Scholarship (ACIAR) and completed her Masters of Philosophy at Curtin University in 2019. Her research investigated the role and impact of female extension officers on the participation of women in export crop production in Papua New Guinea.

Dr. Mike Bourke is an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University. He has been continuously involved in research, training, consulting and development in PNG agriculture since 1970. He has expertise in many aspects of rural livelihoods, agricultural production, food production and food security in PNG. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Agriculture and was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Logohu by Papua New Guinea in 2015. Mike has published over 200 papers on PNG agriculture; and has written and edited 12 books on PNG and Pacific agriculture. He has conducted fieldwork in all 85 rural districts of PNG. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Richard_Bourke2

Dr. Mark Busse is a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Auckland. His research concerns social organisation, reciprocity and markets, intellectual and cultural property, and inequality with a geographic focus on Papua New Guinea, where he has done ethnographic research in three distinct societies over the last 35 years. His current research focuses on urban food security in Papua New Guinea through a long-term ethnographic study of the fresh food marketplace in Goroka, the capital of Eastern Highlands Province. This research is funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden Fund. http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/people/mbus006

Dr. Mike Webb, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is a Senior Research Scientist in plant nutrition and soil chemistry. Over recent years, his research has developed into an understanding of how nutrients move into, through, and out of agricultural farming systems – especially in the tropics. He has worked with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for 21 years. Mike is leading the agronomic component of the project ‘Improving livelihoods of smallholder coffee communities in Papua New Guinea’.

Merolyn Koia, PNG Oil Palm Research Association (PNGOPRA), is a Socioeconomic Supervisor in the Smallholder and Socioeconomic Research Section.

A. Prof. Paul Nelson, James Cook University, has 20 years of experience in crop/soil/water research. He is a soil scientist with research and leadership experience in industry, government and university sectors. His research focuses on land management in the tropics, and he is focussed mostly on how natural processes and management influence the sustainability of tropical cropping systems, including soil condition, nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas emissions.

Prof. Regina Scheyvens is Co-Director of the Pacific Research and Policy Centre at Massey University. Her research focuses on the relationship between tourism, sustainable development and poverty reduction, and she has conducted fieldwork on these issues in Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, the Maldives and in Southern Africa. She is also very interested in gender and development, sustainable livelihood options for small island states, and in theories of empowerment for marginalised peoples. Recent collaborative projects explore economic development on customary land in the Pacific, links between tourism and the SDGs, and links between corporate social responsibility and development in the Pacific. https://www.researchgate.net/project/Alternative-approaches-to-business-on-customary-land-in-the-Pacific

Robert Nailina is the Acting Enabling Environment Leader of the Enabling Environment Section in the Cocoa and Coconut Institute (CCI), East New Britain. Robert has been involved in coordinating the fieldwork components of projects in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Dr. Séverine Bouard is a human geographer from the Institut agronomique néo-calédonien (Institute of Agronomy, New Caledonia). In close collaboration with a large network of experts from France, Australia and Canada, she has participated in or led more than twenty research programmes on Pacific indigenous livelihoods and natural resource management (water, wildlife or mineral resources). She has studied the commodification of nature and modernisation trends, and the interface with indigenous discourses that foreground attachment to water and land and sense of place. By focusing on the trajectories of people and territories, she highlights social change at work. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Severine_Bouard

Steven Nake, PNG Oil Palm Research Association (PNGOPRA), is the Head of Smallholder and Socioeconomic Research. Steven has been involved in coordinating the fieldwork components of projects in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Dr. Veronica Bue is a Senior Lecturer at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology (UniTech). She teaches agricultural extension and rural sociology. Her research areas include: household food security, household dietary intakes and patterns, smallholder livelihoods and evaluation and impact assessments of farmers’ skills uptake and practice change. Veronica is currently examining opportunities and constraints faced by women in their engagement in small, medium and large-scale agricultural enterprises in the Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea.