Rate My Professor Cooper Schouten

Dr Cooper Schouten serves as a Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Southern Cross University, where he directs the Bee Research and Extension Lab and leads the Bees for Sustainable Livelihoods Research Group. He earned his Bachelor of Environmental Science (BEnvSc), Bachelor of Science (Honours) (BSc Hons), and PhD from Southern Cross University. His academic journey began in 2012, inspired by encounters with honey hunters in Timor-Leste during a New Colombo Plan scholarship, which highlighted dangerous traditional practices and ignited his focus on beekeeping for sustainable livelihoods and environmental protection. Schouten's research centers on strategic beekeeping industry development with an applied focus benefiting beekeeping businesses. Key interests include agribusiness, honey bee nutrition, biosecurity, varroa mite integrated pest management, queen bee breeding, post-harvest handling and marketing of bee products, and gender equity via participatory apiculture approaches. He possesses extensive international experience in beekeeping research, capacity building, training, and extension across the Indo-Pacific region, including Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Fiji. He oversees two Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) projects: LS-2014-042 and AGB/2022/113, targeting improved productivity, resilience, and profitability for smallholder beekeepers.

In his teaching role, Schouten delivers undergraduate units in Regenerative Agriculture, Pest and Disease Management, Protected Area Management, Ecology, Plant Identification and Conservation, and Science in Society, achieving unit satisfaction scores over 89%. Selected publications include 'Considerations and Factors Influencing the Success of Community-based Conservation Projects: A Case Study of Beekeeping in Timor-Leste' (Bee World, 2019), 'Beekeeping with the Asian honey bee (Apis cerana javana Fabr.) in the Indonesian islands of Java, Bali, Nusa Penida, and Sumbawa' (2019), and contributions to ACIAR reports such as 'Novel Approaches for Increasing Participation in the Honeybee Industries of the Pacific'. He supervises a Master's by research student and three PhD candidates, serves as an Executive Member of the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, editorial board member of Bee World journal, and active member of the NSW Apiarists Association. In 2021, Schouten received Southern Cross University's Early Career Alumnus of the Year award for his contributions to international agricultural development.