John Dillon Fellowship

The John Dillon Memorial Fellowship has recently been established by ACIAR in recognition of Professor John L. Dillon’s life-long support for international agricultural research. The Fellowship scheme serves the memory of John Dillon by providing career development opportunities for outstanding young agricultural scientists or economists from ACIAR partner countries who are involved in a current or recently completed ACIAR project. Four to six Fellowships are offered annually.

The Fellowship aims to develop leadership skills in the areas of agricultural research management, agricultural policy and/or extension technologies. This is achieved by providing exposure to Australian agriculture across a range of best-practice organisations involved in research, extension and/or policy making.

Applications close on 31 August of the year prior to the visit program taking place.

The visit programs are tailored by negotiation between ACIAR and the selected Fellow to meet the needs of individual Fellows and their employing organisation. Arrangements for the Fellowships will be flexible, and the following points are intended to indicate features of the program:

• Fellowships normally involve a 5-6 week period in Australia.
• Fellows are hosted by 1-2 Australian organisations (such as a Federal Government Department, a University, a Cooperative Research Centre or State Department of Agriculture) where they spend at least 50 % of their Fellowship period.
• Fellows participate in a formal research management training course in Australia.
• Fellows undertake a structured program of visits to various institutes, including the presentation of relevant lectures.

The Fellow will be selected by the ACIAR Training Committee, according to the following selection criteria: 

• Applicants should be under 45 at the time of application.
• The applicants must be associated with ACIAR bilateral projects that are either active or completed in the last 24 months.
• The Fellow can be associated with either a National Agricultural Research System or a CGIAR centre (if the applicant is involved in an ACIAR bilateral project), but must be a citizen of an ACIAR partner country.

For further information please contact:
Mrs Sharon Harvey, Secretariat
John Dillon Memorial Fellowship
c/- ACIAR, GPO Box 1571
Canberra ACT 2601
Australia
fax + 61 2 6217 0501 
email: harvey@aciar.gov.au [1]

John Dillon

Professor John Dillon was one of Australia’s leading agricultural economists and was the Chair of the ACIAR Board of Management from 1985 to 1994. He played a key role in the review of ACIAR in 1991 that ensured the ongoing role of ACIAR in the Australian aid program.

Prof Dillon started his career as a farmer, and became an economics researcher at NSW Agriculture and CSIRO before joining Adelaide University as a lecturer. In 1965 he was appointed Professor of Rural Economics at the University of New England and at retirement in 1994 became Emeritus Professor. Prof Dillon served on the Boards of five CGIAR centres, was Chair of three, and twice served as the Chair of the committee of CGIAR Board Chairs. He was a strong advocate of international agricultural research, with research, advisory and research management experience in five continents. Prof Dillon was still active in this arena when he died on 5 June 2001.