Gayathri Rajagopal, ARC UAF PhD student, enjoys success in the IFAMA student case study competition

Written by Gayathri Rajagopal

In May 2021, a PhD candidate from the ARC centre for Uniquely Australian Foods, Gayathri Rajagopal, participated in the global IFAMA (International Food and Agribusiness Management Association) student case study competition along with three other research students from SAFS UQ.

Every year IFAMA conducts a student case study competition along with an International conference in food and agribusiness. The case study competition is conducted in two rounds; a preliminary round in which students have to crack a real world case study in 24hours and submit a written report; the advancing teams/ finalists in the second round are given an extension of the same case for which they have to come up with solutions in 4 hours and present to a panel of judges.

Gaya and her team were presented with the case scenario of a company in the alternate protein industry called the Perfect Day. Reflecting on the first round, Gaya thinks it was one of the most stressful days of her life but it was also a platform to see how much acquired knowledge one can apply to a given scenario when put to test. The team’s written report that was judged by a team of 18 judges led them to be the only Australian finalist in the competition.

In June 2021, IFAMA conducted the final round along with their international conference and Gaya’s team achieved third place in the graduate division. Gaya believes it has been a great experience in her agribusiness learning journey and career and she hopes to travel to Costa Rica next year for IFAMA 2022.