Today, Tamsyn’s passion for the poultry industry is contagious; she is the Director of Poultry Hub Australia based at the University of New England in Armidale, runs a poultry research laboratory at Deakin University in Geelong and has set up a program to help young people facing employment barriers enter the poultry industry.
She has also been selected to participate in Course 28 of the Australian Rural Leadership Program (ARLP), sponsored by AgriFutures Australia’s Chicken Meat Program. Tamsyn joins 28 other like-minded leaders across different agricultural sectors for the 15-month program, which aims to build leadership capability in people in rural regional and remote Australia.
Tamsyn grew up in the Yarra Valley as the eldest of four kids and has always had an insatiable inclination to figure things out, which ultimately led her to pursue a career in science.
“I love solving problems and that’s what science is all about,” she says.
A thirst to learn
It was Tamsyn’s desire for feedback, wanting to know how she can improve and striving to become a better leader that led her to apply for the ARLP.
“As a scientist, I love feedback. If I do something, I want to know how I can do it better next time. Over the years, I have had opportunities to do leadership courses, but haven’t felt they really pushed me; I’m hoping the ARLP is really going to test me. I want to be a better leader; I want to find out where my weaknesses are and how resilient I am. I think this program is going to do that.”
Tamsyn hopes participation in the ARLP will give her the skills to try and address some of the issues her industry, and rural Australia more generally, are facing.
While undertaking a PhD in Plants and Forestry, Tamsyn was asked to apply for a job with CSIRO, funded by the Poultry Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).
“The CRC program brought together industry and research and the exposure took me from being a very academic scientist to someone who was more applied. I had many opportunities to meet people within the poultry industry and learnt so much during my 14 years there.”
“I was then encouraged to apply for my role at Poultry Hub, but couldn’t give up my interest in research, so I still run a research lab down at Deakin in Geelong.”
Tamsyn says she loves working with the poultry industry and coming up with solutions to the major challenges and hurdles it faces.
“People within the industry are just so giving of their time, they are happy to chat, happy to help, it is a wonderful environment to be part of.”
“One of our biggest pain points is attracting people to work in the industry. I want to see a change in dialogue from people saying, ‘oh I work on a chicken farm’, to recognising they are contributing to sustainable food production.”
“People don’t realise poultry is extremely sustainable, and as we get closer to 2050 when we are predicted to experience major global food shortages, we need to get people to be more excited about working in the industry.”
Engaging youth
Tamsyn and Poultry Hub Australia have developed a program to support young people gain employment in the poultry industry. The program was awarded funding through the Youth Employment Innovation Challenge, a NSW State Government initiative, and more recently received Federal Government funding which will enable its growth, with plans to roll out across Australia.
“We’ve done a number of things recently with youth experiencing significant barriers to employment, particularly in the New England region where there is close to 16% youth unemployment. A lot of these kids need confidence, someone to believe in them and give them an opportunity. There are companies employing 30 plus people a month, so hopefully we can start to bridge that gap. It is a really big project, but we’re confident it will make a big difference.”
