Bio

Biography

Cécile Godde is a Food Systems Research Scientist at CSIRO-Global Food and Nutrition Security.

She is passionate about the challenges in relation to rural communities and research for development in international sustainable agriculture, at the farm level as well as in a national and global context.

Prior to starting her research scientist position at CSIRO, Cécile acquired other international experiences undertaking a PhD with CSIRO and the University of Queensland and working on conservation and sustainable agricultural development projects for CSIRO, the non-governmental organisation Greening Australia (Australia), the International Livestock Research Institute (Costa-Rica), the multinational MARS Inc. (Brazil) and the French governmental agency for organic agriculture-Agence BIO (France).

Field of Interests

Her main fields of scientific interest include: drivers and socio-economic and environmental trade-offs of agricultural intensification; livestock; grazing systems; land-use dynamics; deforestation and land degradation; climate change and climate variability.

Cecile is also one of 80 female scientists who have been selected worldwide to participate in the world-class leadership, strategic and science initiative and outreach for women: the Homeward Bound Program, which culminates with a month in Antarctica.

Current Role

  • Research Scientist at CSIRO
  • Team lead, Sustainable Food System Futures Team
  • Project lead, CSIRO Team for the DARPA World Modellers Project
  • Inclusion and Diversity Representative, CSIRO Sustainability Program
  • Chair, Scientific Program Committee – XIIth International Rangeland Congress 2025, Adelaide Australia

Academic Qualifications

  • 2019 – PhD – The University of Queensland, CSIRO – Australia
  • 2014 – Master’s degree – Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, AgroParisTech – France

Professional Experiences

  • 2020 – Australian representative at the G20 Experts Meeting on Promoting Sustainable Agriculture Development in Drylands
  • 2020 – Guest Editor – The Rangeland Journal
  • 2017 – Homeward Bound Participant, Year-long Leadership, Strategic, Visibility, Communication and Science program for women in STEM
  • 2017 – Young Scientists Summer Program Participant, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Vienna, Austria
  • 2016 – 2019 – PhD student, The University of Queensland-QAAFI and CSIRO-Agriculture and Food, Brisbane, Australia
  • 2015 – Consultant, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), CATIE research centre, Costa Rica
  • 2015 – Research Assistant, CSIRO – Agriculture Flagship, Brisbane, Australia
  • 2014 – Intern, CSIRO – Agriculture Flagship, Brisbane, Australia
  • 2013 – Intern, Greening Australia Capital Region, Canberra, Australia
  • 2012 – Intern, MARS Inc. Centre for Cocoa Science, Barro Preto, Brazil
  • 2012 – Intern, Agence BIO, Government Department of Agriculture, Food processing and Forestry, Paris

Teaching

  • 2020, Guest lecturer, “Food Systems and Global Change: a wicked challenge”, lycee Benjamin Franklin, France
  • 2020, Guest lecturer, “Climate change and livestock: Impacts, adaptation, and mitigation” – Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences
  • 2019, Guest lecturer, “Food Systems and Global Change”, lycee Benjamin Franklin, France
  • 2019, Guest lecturer, “From Grasslands to Antarctica”, Leadership coursework, The University of Melbourne – Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences
  • 2018, Guest lecturer, “Livestock and Climate Change”, Animal in Society coursework, The University of Melbourne – Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences
  • Talks and workshops at schools (Year 4 to Year 11)

Students Supervision

  • Joe Menesch, The University of Queensland
  • Huizhen Tan, Masters, The University of Queensland, School of Mathematics and Physics, Australia
  • Rachel Hauenschild, Bachelor, The University of Queensland, School of Mathematics and Physics, Australia
  • Theo Lenormand, Masters, AgroParisTech, France
  • Kara Robinson, Bachelor, Monash University, Australia

Academic Conferences

Speaker at the International Rangeland and Grassland Congress 2021 (Remote), Australian Rangeland Conference (Canberra), Australian Society of Animal Production (Sydney), Advancing Ecological Modelling for the Prediction of EID Risk Cutting Edge Symposium (Canberra), the Global Food Security Conference (Montpelier, South Africa and USA), the International Rangeland Congress (Canada), the GEOGLAM Rangelands and Pasture Productivity conference (South-Africa).

Awards and Achievements

Highlights:

  • 2018 – Queensland Women in STEM Prize, Australian Government
  • 2018 – CSIRO Next Generation Directors Award
  • 2018 – The University of Queensland Research Student of the Year
  • 2018 – The University of Queensland – QAAFI Excellence Award

Others:

  • 2019 – Best oral presentation, Australian Rangeland Conference Award
  • 2019 – Global Land Use Program Open Science Meeting (GLP-OSM) poster Award
  • 2018 – The University of Queensland – QAAFI winner – 3MT research pitching competition
  • 2017 – Future Farming Prize – New science that will benefit Animal Health, Virbac
  • 2017 – FameLab Queensland Semi-Finalist – Research pitching competition, British Council
  • 2016 – Best oral presentation, The Australian Society of Animal Production Student Forum

Accreditation

  • Mental Health First Aider
  • Label HandiManager: Training in social responsibility of firms in regards to disabled individuals

Publications

Media outreach and community engagement

Photo credits: ILRI/Stevie Mann