Project Leaders

Dr Mary Johnson, RMIT Research Fellow, is currently providing overall project leadership. She has over 25 years of experience working within Australia and internationally in agriculture, natural resource management, education and community development. Her project work with farmers, indigenous and rural communities focuses on partnerships and capacity building. As well as providing the overall project leadership, Mary manages the sociology research component of the project and the overall research framework.

Mr Noel Vock, RMIT Industry Fellow, will currently providing support and advice to the Project Leader as well as managing the extension development and research. He has over 40 years of experience as an agricultural extension practitioner in Australia and over 20 years of experience in international extension projects in the Philippines, China, Cambodia and the Middle East.

Dr Canesio D. Predo, Associate Professor at UPLB, is currently leading the economic research component of the project. He has over 20 years of experience in natural resource and environmental economics research in the Philippines as well as in many countries in Southeast Asia. He has implemented projects on cost-benefit analysis of farmers’ land use decisions, resource and ecosystem services valuation.

Ms. Anne Shangrila Y. Fuentes, Assistant Professor at UP Mindanao, is currently responsible for implementing the sociology research component of the project sites, in conjunction with Dr Johnson. She has worked for over 20 years on gender and sexuality research, as well as providing teaching and training in these areas. She is also the Project Manager for the PCAARRD-UPMin-Landcare-LIFE Project, which is working in parallel collaboration with the ACIAR Mindanao Agricultural Extension Project on further development and testing of the project's extension model.

Mr Ben Aspera is currently a Philippines-based Consultant to the project under RMIT, where he provides on-ground mentoring and implementation advice to the project site teams. He is also the project's security adviser. He has more than 20 years of experience in community development, peace building and agricultural extension projects in the Philippines, serving as both a participant in and consultant to a range of government, NGO, donor, and humanitarian agencies. He is also a former Executive Director of the Landcare Foundation of the Philippines Inc (LFPI).

Ms Emily L. Garcia is currently a Philippines-based Consultant to the project under RMIT, where she provides mentoring support and advice on administrative and financial issues. She has been involved with ACIAR projects in the Philippines for more than 30 years including being a pioneering member of the ACIAR-Philippines Australia Landcare Project from 1999 to 2012, where she served both SEARCA and LFPI as Administrative Manager and Research Assistant.