University of Western Australia
Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at The University of Western Australia David Pannell has been selected as a 2023 Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in the United States, an honour rarely conferred on those living outside the US.
Fellows are selected based on their continuous contribution to the advancement of agricultural or applied economics through research, outreach, teaching, extension, administration and additional contributions.
Professor Pannell, Co-Director of the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy at UWA, is a prodigious producer of published research, a highly active and engaged public policy analyst and communicator, and an accomplished teacher, mentor and academic administrator.
Image: 2023 Fellow of the US Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, Professor David Pannell
His research spans a diverse range of topics, including farm-level economics of complex innovations, with his 2006 review paper on adoption of agricultural innovations a standard reference in the field.
He conducted the first serious economic analyses of herbicide resistance, now a major issue globally, and he initiated and co-created ADOPT, the widely used tool for quantitative prediction of adoption of new agricultural practices.
Professor Pannell’s research has been published in seven books and 200 journal articles and book chapters and has been recognised with awards from the US, Australia, Canada and the UK, including the 2009 ARC Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Research.
His 2020 co-authored article in Science on “Harnessing multiple models for outbreak management” contained a framework that was used to provide advice on COVID-19 to US President Joe Biden’s White House.
Professor Pannell, who received his received his BSc, BEc and PhD from UWA, has been President of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, co-editor of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics and is Associate Deputy Editor for Climatic Change.
At UWA he has received an ‘Excellence in Teaching Award’ and the ‘Vice-Chancellor’s Award in Research Mentorship’ and has mentored five early-career researchers to win and lead research grants of between $500,000 and $1.3 million each.
Image: Professor Pannell (centre) teaching in the field
In 2015, Professor Pannell developed and presented the first massive open online course (MOOC) on agricultural and resource economics. The introductory course ‘Agriculture, Economics and Nature’ has had 66,000 students enrol, drawing many students to the topic for the first time.
On his blog, Pannell Discussions he has published more than 380 articles since 2004 on a wide range of economic, agricultural and environmental issues.
Professor Pannell will be recognised at the 2023 AAEA Annual Meeting in Washington DC, along with five other members of the 2023 Fellows cohort.