Fiona Dempster

Fiona Dempster is a Research Fellow and Deputy Director at the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, University of Western Australia. She also holds external roles as Research Fellow at the Australian Farm Institute and Research Fellow at Farming for the Future. Her research focuses on agricultural economics, environmental policy, and natural resource management, with a particular emphasis on profitability and adoption of cattle management practices, benefit-cost analysis, and non-market valuation.

Her education includes a BSc and PhD from the University of Western Australia. She has contributed to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to agriculture and environmental sustainability. Recent projects include studies on biocontrol agents, livestock waste bioconversion, and spatial targeting for ecological restoration.

Funding sources include UWA, Meat & Livestock Australia, and the Grains Research and Development Corporation. She has received the Quality of Research Communication Award (2014). Her work bridges academic research with practical farming challenges through collaborations with industry and policy stakeholders.

Key research areas include farmer decision-making under uncertainty, valuing agricultural extension services, and adoption drivers for agricultural technologies. She actively engages with farming communities, drawing on her experience managing a grains and livestock business in Western Australia's northern Wheatbelt.