Spotlight on the collaboration and innovation shaping WA agriculture
What an incredible day of ideas, connection and collaboration at WAARC’s inaugural Showcase 2025 – brought to life by the generous speakers, presenters and panellists who shared their time, expertise and passion for advancing agricultural research in Western Australia.
About 150 attendees filled the The Maali room at Perth Zoo on 29 October 2025 including researchers, farmers, students and industry leaders for a day designed to highlight the progress already being made in agricultural R&D in this State, and the exciting possibilities and pathways ahead.
Guests heard directly from those leading and shaping research and took part in conversations that are building a stronger, more resilient future for the sector.
To open the day, we began with a powerful and heartfelt Welcome to Country from Whadjuk Noongar Elder Vaughn McGuire, followed by opening addresses from WA Agricultural Research Collaboration (WAARC) Director Dr Kelly Pearce and Member for South Perth Geoff Baker MLA (on behalf of The Hon Jackie Jarvis MLC).
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Principal Economist and The University of Western Australia (UWA) Emeritus Professor Ross Kingwell, shared an insightful keynote address on the agricultural R&D landscape in WA. WAARC Strategic Research Managers Dr John Statton and Dr Kirsty Moynihan were then invited to provide overviews of their research portfolios, setting the stage for the day ahead.
Our gratitude to all research leaders who showcased WAARC’s portfolio of collaborative projects:
- Dr Caitlin Moore (UWA) – Agrivoltaics
- Dr Ron Yates (DPIRD and Murdoch University) – Harvestable Annual Legume Options (HALO)
- Dr Clinton Revell (DPIRD) – Cropping Enabled Cattle
- Geoff Thomas (DPIRD) – Lupin Disease Resistance
- Clint Hansen (Maaman Marra Boodjar) and Dr David Blake (Edith Cowan University) – Transformative Aboriginal Agricultural Methods (TAAM)
- Dr Andrew Fletcher (CSIRO) – N-ABLE
- Prof Daniel Murphy (Murdoch University) – SMART SPRAYS
- Prof Rajeev Varshney (Murdoch University) – Wheat Nitrogen Use Efficiency.
Each presentation demonstrated the impact of collaboration across institutions, industries and disciplines.
To kick off the afternoon sessions, WAARC Capacity Building and Extension Program Lead Jenny Crisp highlighted the Collaboration’s Needs Gap Analysis and facilitated the PhD Panel Discussion.
A special shout-out to our outstanding Postgraduate Program student presenters who shared their research:
- Roberto Lujan Rocha (UWA) – A novel approach for scalable weed prediction and mapping to enable integrated weed management in Western Australian cropping systems
- Georgia Welsh (Murdoch University) – The effect of providing edible shelter (in the form of shrubs or crops) during lambing on ewe behaviour and lamb survival
- Selassie Ahiakpa (Curtin University) – Assessing the potential of native Australian legume (Faboideae) species as grain crops – a proof of concept for new crop development
- Darcy Lefroy (UWA) – Human factors affecting the adoption and diffusion of emerging biotechnologies
- Ben Camer-Pesci (Murdoch University) – Seaweed solutions to dairy farm effluent: Bioremediation and bioproduction
- Sundara Link (Curtin University) – Optimising genetic resistance to barley net blotch through mutagenesis.
Thanks also to Chloe Rout (UWA), Yunlong Huo (Murdoch University) and Mohitul Hossain (Curtin University) for sharing their experiences of undertaking a PhD in 2025 in the student panel discussion.
We closed with an inspiring cross-sector discussion on collaboration, led by WAARC Independent Chair Terry Hill AM, with panellists Leanne Cunnold (Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth – AROSE), Nicole Roocke (Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia – MRIWA), Dr Jake Kendrick (Centre for Advanced Technologies in Cancer Research – CATCR) and Dr Kelly Pearce (WAARC).
The insights shared, and the opportunities sparked, show just how powerful collaboration can be when industries unite around shared purpose, challenges and innovation.
A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to contribute to making the WAARC Showcase 2025 such a success. Your expertise and enthusiasm made the event a true celebration of WA’s agricultural research community.
