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Agricultural extension has played a central role in building the capacity of smallholders for decades. In efforts to improve extension outcomes, demand-driven approaches have emerged to better align extension content with smallholder context. The aim of this paper is to explore the challenges facing demand-driven extension in Papua New Guinea.

Exploratory case study methodology was used to explore the challenges facing demand-driven extension from the perspectives of 11 practitioners experienced in community engagement in Papua New Guinea.

Although there is great potential for demand-driven extension, this research found extension services in Papua New Guinea are ill-equipped to introduce and sustain a resource-intensive approach like demand-driven extension. It further found that rural farmers who extension organisations have long neglected lack the necessary skills and trust to gain from these services.

A limitation of this research is that it only reflects the opinions of practitioners working in Papua New Guinea. Further research featuring a broader sample of value chain actors connected to extension would provide a more complete understanding of the potential challenges to demand-driven engagement in this context.

With a growing interest among development projects to utilise demand-driven engagement with farmers, this research is the first study to explore the challenge facing this promising approach in Papua New Guinea.

In the highly gendered academic sector, womens’ high participation rates have not translated into equal career progression with men. Existing literature suggests that early career publication success is a good indicator of long-term publication success. This research is intended to provide a better understanding of whether the notions of success espoused by neo-liberal universities align with the subjective measures of what constitutes academic success for women ECRs (early career researchers).

The study examines the perceptions of nine successful women ECRs at an Australian university. It uses collaborative autoethnography with thematic analysis of participants’ self-reflective narratives on being a successful ECR.

Five themes were identified. One focussed on objective academic success, which included publications, grants and citations. The other four themes – living a balanced life, making a difference, labour of love and freedom and flexibility – offered more subjective views of success. These included: research making a contribution to society, undertaking research they are passionate about, having autonomy in their role and achieving work-life balance.

The findings demonstrate that women define success in broader terms than neo-liberal universities, and future studies should consider these divergent definitions. Universities committed to equality should understand differences in how women may approach career progress and incorporate this into support processes and in alignment of individual and university goals.

This research offers unique insights into the experience of post-doctoral employment for women in the academic environment and the factors influencing their success in this early career phase.