Currently working towards his PhD with the Agribusiness Profitability (C4AP) team, Michael is investigating the resilience of Australian farming businesses. Prior to joining the Centre for Crop and Disease Management, Michael completed a range of academic qualifications including a Bachelor of Arts in Military Studies (UNSW) in 1981; a Master of Information Science (UNSW@ADFA) in 1994; and an MBA (with Distinction) (Curtin) in 2016. His career has spanned several decades with international leadership roles in management, operations, consulting, and project settings across diverse areas including Defence, professional services, resources, biosecurity, and construction. Along with his experience and previous degree studies, Michael brings well developed skills in project management, risk management and organisational improvement to his research.
Michael’s PhD research examines organisational resilience as the missing factor in considerations around why some farming businesses persist in the face of continuous disruptions that adversely impact production, profit, and sustainability. Focussed on WA Wheatbelt grains and mixed farming businesses, the research will develop an Australian-centric farming business organisational resilience model. The resulting model is being positioned for use alongside existing sustainability and financial frameworks, providing new insights to support production improvement, business decision-making, and longer-term business viability.
PhD Project Title: Resilience as a determinant of the viability of agri-food production.
Supervisors: Prof Mark Gibberd, Dr Julia Easton, Dr Zhanglong Cao, Dr Jacob Hawkins