Dr Nicole McDonald (IG: @nic_agcareers) is a bit of a late bloomer, coming into the ag industry in her mid-30’s in 2014 to put her background in psychology to use by studying a PhD in Cotton Farm Workers’ Experiences of Job Satisfaction. Since that time she has developed her skills as a researcher to work on a number of workforce challenges including employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, and the future of work.

Most recently she has led the grower-practitioner-researcher co-design project, The SHIFT Project, which has taken a grounded approach to support people develop on-farm non-technical skills. Australian agriculture’s core values of curiosity and continuous improvement are what keeps Nic motivated to find ways to use her research to improve the social and human sustainability of the industry.

Her efforts have been recognized in her most recent nomination for the 2024 CSD Cotton Industry Researcher of the Year award.

She currently works in the CQUniversity Institute for Future Farming Systems as a member of the Agricultural Education and Extension research cluster and she is a member of the Career Development Association of Australia.

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