An agricultural manager who oversees international aid and development projects has won UQ’s inaugural Vice-Chancellor’s Alumni Equity and Diversity Award.
Dr Ben Mullen, the Agriculture and Natural Resources Manager at UQ’s main commercialisation arm, UniQuest, was presented with the award on at the UQ Centre on May 14.
The award recognises UQ graduates who have championed the equitable and inclusive treatment of under-represented groups.
UQ-trained environmental engineer Lizzie Brown (nee Webb), was highly commended for her work with Engineers Without Borders Australia, which helps disadvantaged communities through education and sustainable engineering.
Dr Mullen manages international aid and rural development work for UniQuest covering rural and agricultural production, training and micro-finance projects in developing countries of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
His team has spent the last 18 months working on a trade-focused plant health project in the Mekong region which has included work in Burma (Myanmar) to access high value export markets for mung beans and pidgeon peas.
He said he was nervously waiting to hear from any of his colleagues from the Myanmar Agriculture Service since Cyclone Nargis struck on May 4 killing about 32,000 people across the country.
“We have not been able to contact our colleagues in Yangon,” Dr Mullen said.
“They’ve been developing collections at their headquarters and I’m almost positive their laboratories are completely underwater. I was only there last month.”
Since graduating as an agronomist from UQ Gatton in 1984, Dr Mullen has spent the last two decades working on team projects that improve the lives of poor farming families.
He said he had overcome diversity challenges such as cultural and gender issues in his projects by being inclusive of men and women.
In Melanesia and Vietnam he managed programs that included promotion of women’s access to agricultural information in line with their significant contributions to farming and nursery systems.
“You work the angles that are going to fit the culture. In Vanuatu we generally took a family-oriented approach, whereas in Vietnam groups were often split by gender to encourage women’s participation,” Dr Mullen said.
“It’s often really simple things .. Ensuring that you conduct field days or training so that women can get home each evening or having women as trainers.
“Institutionalising support programs to ensure equitable access to information and services is much more complex and requires arguments based on economic, as well as equity grounds.”
Dr Mullen, 47, of St Lucia, said he was a proud UQ alumnus who still kept in contact with his Gatton and St Lucia colleagues.
He was also awarded a Masters in Agricultural Studies in 1995 and a PhD in agricultural Science in 2001, both from UQ.
“Everything I’ve been involved in has always been a team effort. You don’t really make any achievements on your own in development assistance and gains are incremental.”
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Michael Keniger said Dr Mullen and Mrs Brown were excellent examples of UQ graduates who had made impressive international contributions and enhanced diversity issues.
“I’m pleased that both winners really show the quality of UQ’s alumni and how our graduates are forging a better future for many developing communities,” Professor Keniger said.
Media: Dr Mullen (0409 639 493, 3365 7054, b.mullen@uniquest.com.au), Mrs Brown at EWB (0421 934 655, l.webb@ewb.org.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Advancement (3346 3909)
