The David Burch Prize is for the best paper presented by a post-graduate student at the annual AFRN Conference. The prize of $500 and a certificate will be awarded to the student judged to have delivered the most outstanding paper in terms of the contribution to knowledge in agri-food studies.
The competition is open to all post-graduate students presenting an unpublished paper, at the conference, primarily prepared by them. Co-authored work is accepted where the student is the presenter and primary author.
As judging will be based on the oral presentation, a written paper is not required. Students matching these criteria will be automatically entered into the competition at Agri-food conferences.
About David Burch
In 1992, Professor David Burch organized a meeting of like-minded agri-food researchers that sowed the seeds for the Agri-food Research Network. He then became the Network’s convenor for its first 10 years. The David Burch Award honours his role as having been a key figure in building the Network. He is associated with developments that raised the profile of the Agri-food Research Network – including mentorship, facilitating a program of publications from network meetings and not least, instituting the well-known Agri-food Trivia Night.
Professor Burch had a long and fruitful career in agri-food studies. In 1980, he earned a PhD from Sussex University in the UK for his work on the Green Revolution in Sri Lanka. He later worked at the School of Biomedical and Physical Sciences, Griffith University, Australia for 33 years until his official retirement in 2009 when he was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor. Following his retirement, he joined The University of Queensland as an Honorary Professor, where he continued his work on power in food supply chains and the financialisation of agriculture. A key focus in much of his work was on the inequities in food distribution, particularly the ways in which patterns of income distribution, technological development and urban consumption have impacted on the rural poor of the Global South.
David was a generous mentor and colleague. Throughout his academic career, David continually put others before himself, giving students as much as he could, and inspiring them to become the next generation of critically engaged scholars. Up until 2010, he had never missed an annual conference, but due to ill-health was not able to attend many afterwards.
In recognition of David’s contribution, in 2012 the Agri-food Research Network established an annual David Burch Prize for Best Student Paper.
David Burch sadly passed away in 2024. The Network is proud to honour his legacy through this award.