Nuffield Australia scholars resume travels after three-year hiatus

More than 100 Nuffield scholars from 15 countries will take to the skies this year, with the agricultural scholarship organisation’s international travel program resuming after three years of pandemic-induced delays. Nuffield Australia chief executive Jodie Redcliffe said the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 caused a backlog of scholars who were still waiting to travel abroad as part of their studies. With travel restrictions now a thing of the past, she said a record number of scholars including 35 Australians would visit about 26 countries in 2023. “We have nine group-organised programs and 104 scholars travelling. . . so it’s more than double what we would normally have in any given year,” Ms Redcliffe said. “COVID is a distant — hopefully — memory to us, and we’ve got our program back on some sort of a normal keel.” Ms Redcliffe, a 2013 Nuffield Australia scholar, made the comments at the Nuffield WA 2023 Annual Sponsors Luncheon, held at Optus Stadium on February 24. The event attracted a sizeable crowd including many scholars from years past, spanning much of Nuffield Australia’s 72-year history. The 2023 group includes 18 Nuffield Australia scholars, of whom five hail from NSW, four from Queensland, three from WA, two each from SA and Tasmania, and one each from Victoria and the NT. The WA recipients are Mingenew grain grower Rebecca Kelly, Goomalling mixed farmer Daniel Dempster and Carnarvon pastoralist Alys McKeough, who between them will visit New Zealand, Canada, USA, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, the UK, France, Spain, Germany and China. “In a normal year, each group would go to five or six countries in five or six weeks, but the tours this year will be four weeks in length and visit four or five countries,” Ms Redcliffe said. “For the first time, we will have one group of scholars travelling in which there are no Australians at all. . . We’ll have Dutch scholars, Zimbabwean scholars, American, Chilean, Brazillian, UK and Irish. “Of the 104 scholars that we have travelling this year, only 35 of those are Australian. . . so it’s an amazing achievement for Nuffield Australia.” Ms Redcliffe said applications for 2024 scholarships would open on March 6, with Nuffield Australia aiming to attract “around 20” scholars. “If you know any good applicants, encourage them to apply,” she said. “We have some new scholarships and one of those is GIWA (Grain Industry Association of WA), so we are looking for two oats scholars in the west, as well as, of course, (grain handler) CBH and (fertisiser compaby) CSBP. “We will also have some drought-specific scholarships from the Federal Drought Fund for 2024 and 2025, so that’s been a big achievement for the Nuffield board and myself to get that up and running.” This year’s Nuffield Australia scholars include beef, lamb and goat producers, grain growers and pastoralists, a dairy farmer, a wine grower and maker, a honey producer, an agronomist, a livestock nutritionist, a veterinarian and a scientist. Among the countries they will visit are Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Germany, France, Spain, UK, Ireland, Norway, China, India, Cyprus, Crete, Turkey, Israel, New Zealand, Indonesia and Kenya.