2 IDRC-SEARCA alumni bag Excellent Paper Award

2 February 2016

IDRC-SEARCA alumni, Ms. Sreyneang Chheun (second from left) and Mr. Bouavonh Biachampah (rightmost), receive “Excellent Paper Award.”

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Mr. Bouavonh Biachampah and Ms. Chheun Sreyneang, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)-SEARCA alumni from Chiang Mai University (CMU) and the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), respectively, have been conferred the “Excellent Paper Award” during the Seventh International Conference on Environmental and Rural Development (ICERD) held on 16-17 January 2016 at the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The two were among the eight awardees, and bested more than 84 papers which competed during the conference themed “Environmentally-friendly Agricultural and Rural Development.”

Mr. Biachampah’s winning paper discussed the results of his master's thesis titled, “Impact Assessment of Land Use Change on Ecosystem Services and Livelihood Security of Rural Highland Communities in Lao PDR,” which he conducted during his MS studies in Agricultural Systems Management. Meanwhile, Ms. Chheun’s award-winning research is on “The Cassava Marketing in Pailin Province, Cambodia,” which was conducted as part of her thesis under the MS Agricultural Economics program.

Mr. Biachampah is a lecturer at Dongkhamxang Agriculture Technical School in Vientiane, Lao PDR while Ms. Chheun is a research assistant of the Centre for Livestock Development Studies, RUA.

The Seventh ICERD 2016 is held in conjunction with the Third IDRC-SEARCA Annual Fellowship Plus Conference-Workshop, an annual roving conference under The Southeast Asian Upland Agriculture Fellowship project of SEARCA and IDRC.