The Fish Innovation Lab's First Ever, In-Person Annual Meeting
All photos are provided by Gulam Hussain, Fish Innovation Lab Asia regional coordinator, and Rebecca Jeudin, Fish Innovation Lab monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) advisor.
By Alaina Dismukes
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish held its first ever, in-person Annual Meeting. This internal meeting, held in New Orleans from February 27 through March 1, brought together partners from around the world to collaborate on the work being done in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, the Pacific Islands, Peru, the Philippines, and Zambia.
"It was a real pleasure for all the Fish Innovation Lab teams to have our first meeting altogether and in person," said Fish Innovation Lab Director Mark Lawrence. "Since the Fish Innovation Lab activities were launched in 2020, teams have not previously had the chance to gather together in one location until this year."
The meeting included keynote speakers, panel discussions, presentations by project teams, and much more, but for most, the highlight of the meeting was getting to know other researchers from different teams and discussing possible cross-collaborations.
"One of our most important goals for this meeting was to foster collaborations between these teams who are implementing in Africa and Asia," Lawrence said. "By collaborating and sharing lessons learned, the teams found common strategies that can be used for sustaining their activities' innovations and impacts."
Scroll down to see photos from the Fish Innovation Lab's Annual Meeting.
Mark Lawrence opened up the Annual Meeting with a few remarks.Team members started day one with a team building exercise.Here are two of our fearless leaders from the Fish Innovation Lab, (left) Shauncey Hill, Fish Innovation Lab Program/Finance Manager, and (right) Shivaun Leonard, USAID Agreement Officer's Representative for the Fish Innovation Lab.The day one keynote speaker was Stella Williams, Founder of Nigerian Women in Agricultural Research for Development (NiWARD).The day two keynote speaker was Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, Director, Nutrition, Health & Food Security Impact Area Platform, CGIAR.Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum provided a few remarks about the value of the Fish Innovation Lab not only to MSU but also to its many partners both in the U.S. and abroad.This group of participants gathered outside of the main conference room to see the 15 posters created by masters and PhD students and postdoctoral researchers affiliated with the Fish Innovation Lab's activities.Here, participants joined in on a breakout session to collaborate on different questions pertaining to the Fish Innovation Lab's work.Panels of Fish Innovation Lab researchers kept the discussions lively and fruitful.Mark Lawrence (right) thanked Shauncey Hill (left) for all she has done for the Fish Innovation Lab over the last few years. Hill's passion, dedication, and hard work are much to thank for the Fish Innovation Lab's successes.The Fish Innovation Lab's Annual Meeting may be over, but the conversations haven't stopped there. Several members are continuing to collaborate and work together in an effort to increase the impact and sustainability of the lab's activities.
