Researchers making it matter
Our program comprises multidisciplinary research uncovering important insights into agribusiness, food and trade.
To learn more about our individual researchers or to get in touch with them, click through to their Griffith Experts profiles.
Robin E Roberts
Lead—GriffithAgribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Robin is an Associate Professor, the research lead for agribusiness and trade in the Griffith Asia Institute, and an academic in the Griffith Business School. She is an internationally recognised scholar working at the nexus of applied industry research that has demonstrated impact in the Asia-Pacific region. Her research career has been devoted to identifying opportunities to advance food trade and market insights for industry and communities in the region. Her research interests include mapping export opportunities, profiling markets, value chain research, consumer insights and new product development. Robin has understanding and a dedicated interest in South East Asia, and specifically the China market, which makes her a valuable researcher in the field of agribusiness. She is the author of a number of books and book chapters including Contemporary International Business in the Asia-Pacific Region (Cambridge University Press 2019), International Marketing: 4th Asia-Pacific Edition (Wiley 2013) and has over 40 refereed and industry works on agribusiness trade and consumer insights.
Dominic Smith
GriffithAgribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Dominic is an Associate Professor in the Griffith Agribusiness research team, based in the Griffith Asia Institute. He has extensive senior experience in international development roles across academia, research, research and implementation agencies, the private sector and NGOs . Dominic's work has a concentration on agriculture, rural development, food systems, value chains and marketing, pro-poor development, and decentralised finance and planning.
He has around 30 years of research and development experience throughout Southeast and East Asia and a strong track record of successful acquisition, implementation and management of complex programs and projects. Most recently, he has led a suite of research for development projects supporting governments and private sector agribusiness-related decision-making in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines.
Zannie Langford
GriffithAgribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Zannie is a Griffith University Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient in the Agribusiness research team of the Griffith Asia Institute. Her current research explores technology-driven changes in development financing in Indonesia and the Pacific. She has also undertaken a range of applied research projects focusing on land tenure, global value chains, smallholder agribusiness and rural development financing in Northern Australia, Indonesia and the Pacific. She is the author of a number of journal articles, book chapters and industry reports and has two books in-press - Assembling Financialisation: Local actors and the making of agricultural investment (Berghahn books) and Globalisation and livelihood transformations in the Indonesian seaweed industry (Routledge). She has been awarded over $1.5 million in fellowship and grant funding, most recently to lead a DFAT funded KONEKSI Collaborative Research Scheme project exploring the impacts of climate change on seaweed farming in Indonesia.
Shannon Stone
GriffithAgribusiness
Shannon is the GriffithAgribusiness Communications Officer. She is eager to publish stories from our researchers and to see the program outcomes shared with a wider audience across the University and externally.
Sara Quach Thaichon
GriffithAgribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Sara is a member of the Griffith Asia Institute and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing. Her research interests include services marketing, marketing research, consumer behaviour and relationship marketing. Sara's research has been published in leading marketing journals including, but not limited to, the Industrial Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Strategic Marketing and Marketing Intelligence and Planning. She has led a number of research projects across a number of industry sectors. Given the applied and collaborative nature of much of her research, this enables her to effectively work and coordinate with a wide variety of stakeholders such as customers, businesses and policymakers.
Wei Shao
GriffithAgribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Wei is a Senior Lecturer, a member of the Griffith Asia Institute, and the director of the Master of Marketing program in the Griffith Business School. She is teaching in the areas of relationship marketing, corporate communications, public relations, and entrepreneurship marketing.
Wei has significant market research experience in the Asian Pacific region encompassing tourism studies, consumer behaviour, luxury branding, and digital and social media marketing. She has collaborated with internationally recognised scholars and published in highly ranked journals.
Amber Marshall
Griffith Agribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Amber is a member of the Griffith Asia institute and a Lecturer in the Department of Business and Strategy and Innovation. Her research interests include digital AgTech and data adoption, digital inclusion ecosystems, remote telecommunications infrastructure (both technical and social), and digital skills and capability development.
Amber's research has been published in the Journal of Rural Studies, and she has presented her work at international conferences such as the World Congress of Rural Sociology. Her most recent work has investigated digital AgTech adoption from an ecosystems perspective, culminating in an industry report and article in Information, Communication and Society.
Maria Dharmesti
GriffithAgribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Maria is a Research Assistant and an early career researcher in the GriffithAgribusiness team. Her research interests include branding, marketing communications, market research design, and consumer behaviour. Maria is currently involved in research relating to food trade and consumer insights in Southeast Asia.
Tarni Cooper
GriffithAgribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Tarni is a veterinarian holding a BSc (zoology) and a BVSc (Hons). She is a veterinarian and social researcher with experience in One Health, communication for development, and agricultural livelihoods in Southeast Asia and East Africa. Tarni has collaborated with interdisciplinary teams on a broad range of research for development initiatives, including investigating the socioeconomic and livelihood impacts of African Swine Fever in Southeast Asia and the Pacific regions.
She is currently contributing to the multi-agency Global Burden of Animal Diseases project, in policy and social impact methodology development and analysis. Tarni is currently completing her PhD studies on a systems approach to livelihood-sensitive veterinary antimicrobial-stewardship in Vietnam.
Park Thaichon
GriffithAgribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Park is an Adjunct Research Fellow with the Griffith Asia Institute. His main research interests include relationship marketing, tourism marketing, marketing management, digital marketing, technology and consumer behaviour. He has published in over 45 A-ranked journal articles since 2015 and has served as a guest editor for the Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Australasian Marketing Journal, Marketing Intelligence and Planning and World Marketing Congress.
Peter Johnson
GriffithAgribusiness, Griffith Asia Institute
Peter is a Senior Horticulturist and Adjunct Industry Fellow with the Griffith Asia Institute.. He is a recognised international researcher having worked in Australia and across South East Asia for over 25 years.
Peter has significant horticulture export development experience, particularly in sea freight and supply chain technology improvements including controlled atmosphere shipping using an integrated value chain approach. He is currently involved in research and development activities relating to mango production and trade in Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. Peter has published over 30 industry and government papers relating to tropical fruit crop research.
Contact us
If you'd like to know more about our research or get involved, contact the Agribusiness team.