Jenny thrives in changing R&D scene

She juggled extensive studies with employment and motherhood and witnessed the changing face of research as more and more women entered the field.

"I grew up on the Crawford family farm near Strathalbyn where my brothers still farm," she said.

"My husband farms at Langhorne Creek on a 200-hectare irrigation property growing carrots, broccoli and prime lamb.

"We shifted to Adelaide so our three children could go to school and he commutes to the farm."

Dr Davidson studied Agricultural Science at the University of Adelaide and after graduation took up a position as a plant pathologist for PIRSA.

"I spent three or four years researching barley leaf scald," she said.

"I did a masters in the same topic so I was working and studying at the same time."

Dr Davidson had several years out of research when she and her husband started their family, and spent time working on community projects such as Landcare, water and soil conservation.

When her youngest child started school she went back into research, at about the same time SARDI was formed.

"It was essentially the same organisation but with a different name," she said.

"I was a research officer and looked at field peas and yield decline.

"That was about 1995 and I have worked for SARDI continuously since then on a number of different research projects."

Throughout this time, Dr Davidson has predominantly worked on pulse crops.

A core topic has been ascochyta blight in pulse varieties.

"Plant breeders have done a lot of work introducing resistance to disease and up until a couple of years ago the disease was under control but it has changed and there is now less resistance," she said.

"We are identifying the pathogen variability in the disease and looking at region-by-region responses on crops."

Dr Davidson said women were better-represented in research than when she started out.

"I remember when I started my first job and my boss said I had to go to the Murray Bridge Agricultural Bureau for a seminar with about 100 people," she said.

"Throughout the day people were starting their talks with 'ladies and gentlemen' but then the minister showed up and said 'lady and gentlemen' and I realised I was the only woman there.

"But now there are more women in research, ag extension and agriculture generally as well as being farmers, so it is vastly different."

Dr Davidson said she thought unconscious barriers had been put in the way 30 years ago but now people were accepting that women could also do these things.

"There was a time when we couldn't even study ag science, so I think there has been a social change and it is very positive," she said.

Not one for rest, Dr Davidson obtained a PhD in blackspot of field peas three years ago while working and has no intention of slowing down.

"In research you build up a lot of knowledge across a long period of time so in your mature years you have a lot to offer," she said.

"The reduction in funding for research has created issues and pressures with a constant need to apply for more funds and ensure resources are maintained.

"By resources I mean the people who have been in the lab for 20 years or more and are highly skilled and knowledgeable.

"Often they work on contracts and if the funding lapses they move on, which means we lose that skill set and it can take years to train a new person and for them to acquire those skills."