{"title":"Building human capacity, capability and future leaders for Australia’s rangelands","authors":"John A. Taylor, P. Erkelenz, A. Churchill","doi":"10.1071/RJ20052","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Maintaining a skilled, knowledgeable and adaptable workforce in Australian rangeland enterprises and research, development and extension/adoption (RD&E/A) organisations is a varied and challenging task, compounded by trends of sustained losses of human capacity through senior retirements and short-term appointments over the last decade. Concerns for how to fill these gaps while gaining the skills and knowledge needed for a successful career and leadership roles were raised by students and young professionals in the World Cafe session and throughout Early Career workshops and activities at the 2019 Biennial Conference of the Australian Rangeland Society (ARS). This paper responds to these expressed information needs through drawing on literature, experiences shared by session participants, and existing ARS members currently working in the rangelands in diverse roles to provide insights into two main areas: (i) skills and knowledge for personal development and future success in the rangelands across three broad classes of occupation/careers (i.e. advisors, researchers, and producers), and (ii) skills and knowledge that will be expected of future leaders in the rangelands. We outline a variety of options for professional development in the early stage(s) of a career working on aspects of sustainable production systems and pathways to leadership throughout a career in the rangelands. We note the apparent lack of formal rangeland-specific education in Australia, and suggest that this is a major impediment to efforts to build skills and knowledge to ensure the viability of the livelihoods and the integrity of our rangelands. Finally, we believe that the ARS has the potential to play a more central role in inspiring interest and passion for the rangelands, in providing current information on (i) range science and management-relevant education and training opportunities in Australia and internationally, and (ii) leadership development and training opportunities; and in facilitating and supporting mentoring to develop and retain human capacity for a resilient future.","PeriodicalId":20810,"journal":{"name":"Rangeland Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2020-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Rangeland Journal","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ20052","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Maintaining a skilled, knowledgeable and adaptable workforce in Australian rangeland enterprises and research, development and extension/adoption (RD&E/A) organisations is a varied and challenging task, compounded by trends of sustained losses of human capacity through senior retirements and short-term appointments over the last decade. Concerns for how to fill these gaps while gaining the skills and knowledge needed for a successful career and leadership roles were raised by students and young professionals in the World Cafe session and throughout Early Career workshops and activities at the 2019 Biennial Conference of the Australian Rangeland Society (ARS). This paper responds to these expressed information needs through drawing on literature, experiences shared by session participants, and existing ARS members currently working in the rangelands in diverse roles to provide insights into two main areas: (i) skills and knowledge for personal development and future success in the rangelands across three broad classes of occupation/careers (i.e. advisors, researchers, and producers), and (ii) skills and knowledge that will be expected of future leaders in the rangelands. We outline a variety of options for professional development in the early stage(s) of a career working on aspects of sustainable production systems and pathways to leadership throughout a career in the rangelands. We note the apparent lack of formal rangeland-specific education in Australia, and suggest that this is a major impediment to efforts to build skills and knowledge to ensure the viability of the livelihoods and the integrity of our rangelands. Finally, we believe that the ARS has the potential to play a more central role in inspiring interest and passion for the rangelands, in providing current information on (i) range science and management-relevant education and training opportunities in Australia and internationally, and (ii) leadership development and training opportunities; and in facilitating and supporting mentoring to develop and retain human capacity for a resilient future.
期刊介绍:
The Rangeland Journal publishes original work that makes a significant contribution to understanding the biophysical, social, cultural, economic, and policy influences affecting rangeland use and management throughout the world. Rangelands are defined broadly and include all those environments where natural ecological processes predominate, and where values and benefits are based primarily on natural resources.
Articles may present the results of original research, contributions to theory or new conclusions reached from the review of a topic. Their structure need not conform to that of standard scientific articles but writing style must be clear and concise. All material presented must be well documented, critically analysed and objectively presented. All papers are peer-reviewed.
The Rangeland Journal is published on behalf of the Australian Rangeland Society.