International Development Panel & Networking Event - Brisbane

Date: Thursday 15 October 2026
Time: 5:30pm-9:00pm
Venue: The Gallery Bar, Loft West End, Brisbane
(Light refreshments included)

Are you interested in a career in international development?

Join us for an evening of insights, connection and networking with people working across the sector.

Hear from speakers working across:

• 🌱 Agriculture & environment

• ⚖️ Law & policy

• 🩺 Medicine & health

Discover what it’s really like to work in international development, hear about career pathways and opportunities, and connect with organisations and professionals working in the field.

Hosted by RAID Network, Word Food Forum - Australian Youth Chapter (WFF AYC) and Westpac Scholars.

SPEAKERS

Dr Jessica Bogard
Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Agriculture and Food

Jessica is a Senior Research Scientist in the field of nutrition-sensitive agriculture, fisheries and food systems with CSIRO Agriculture and Food, based in Brisbane. With a background in dietetics and public health nutrition, she is interested in understanding how agriculture and food systems can be leveraged to improve nutrition and health outcomes, particularly among vulnerable population groups including women and young children. Her recent work has focused on developing methods and tools to evaluate healthiness and sustainability of food environments in low and middle income countries. She is also the 2021 winner of the international APEC Aspire Prize for Innovation, Research and Education. She completed her PhD at the University of Queensland which examined the contribution of fish to nutrition and food security in Bangladesh. Before joining CSIRO she worked for WorldFish, one of the CGIAR centres, developing approaches to integrate nutrition considerations into their work on food security related to fisheries and aquaculture. Her field research experience has been largely focused in Bangladesh and the Pacific Islands.

Dr Julius Kotir
Senior Lecturer, School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, University of Queensland

Dr Julius Kotir is a Senior Lecturer in Agribusiness, Rural Development and Economics in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability. His academic and research interests focus on understanding and managing the long term sustainability of coupled socio economic and environmental systems. A key area of interest is the development of decision support tools and models that evaluate the impacts of alternative pathways and policy options under uncertain global futures. His work adopts an interdisciplinary approach that combines participatory co design, field based research methods, systems thinking, and system dynamics modelling to develop both qualitative and quantitative simulation models that support evidence based decision making.

Julius currently applies these tools and methods to address a broad range of complex agri environmental challenges, including international and rural development, food security, farming systems economics, agrifood and digital twin supply chains, climate smart agriculture, water resources management, farmer adoption of innovative practices, and agribusiness policy design and analysis.

Dr Hannah Churton
Strategy and policy adviser, QUT

Dr Hannah Churton is a strategy and policy adviser and recent PhD graduate specialising in systems change, stakeholder engagement and the development of emerging sectors. Her research examines the policy, institutional and market conditions shaping the commercialisation of high-value bioproducts from horticultural loss feedstocks, with a broader focus on sustainable food systems transitions. She brings extensive experience across government, international organisations and the not-for-profit sector, including diplomatic and multilateral roles in Pacific and fragile-state contexts. Dr Churton is passionate about translating complex sustainability challenges into practical policy solutions and supporting emerging industries to move from ambition to implementation.