Rate My Professor Fay Rola-Rubzen

Fay Rola-Rubzen is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Agriculture and Environment at the University of Western Australia, having joined the Agricultural and Resource Economics group in 2018. She serves as Deputy Director of the Centre for Agricultural Economics and Development. Her academic qualifications include a BSAgEcon (Hons cum laude) from the University of the Philippines Los Baños and MEc and PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of New England. Prior to UWA, she held senior roles at Curtin University, including Dean of Research at the Faculty of Business and Law, Deputy Dean of Research and Development and Director of Higher Degree by Research at Curtin Business School, and Associate Professor in the School of Agriculture and Environment and School of Management. Earlier positions encompassed Senior Lecturer at the Muresk Institute of Agriculture, Curtin University of Technology, and Core-Project Leader for Desert Businesses at the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre. Her career reflects extensive experience in farming systems research, analysis of farmer behaviour under risk and uncertainty, agribusiness and supply chain analysis, and poverty and social analysis.

Rola-Rubzen specializes in agricultural and development economics, with research interests encompassing sustainable agricultural development, poverty and food security, behavioural economics, farmer behaviour and technology adoption, gender and participatory development, economic modelling including bio-economic modelling, benefit-cost analysis, and monitoring and evaluation. She contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals including Zero Hunger, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water, and Partnerships for the Goals. She leads the behavioural science team in the $30 million GRDC-funded RiskWi$e national risk management initiative and has led multi-country ACIAR-funded projects such as 'Understanding Farm-Household Management Decision making for Increased Productivity in the Eastern Gangetic Plains' and the socio-economics component with gender mainstreaming in 'Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification' in South Asia. Key publications include 'Analysis of Gender-Inclusive Rural Transformation and Policies in Pakistan' (2025, Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies), 'Can credit promote rural transformation? Evidence from district-level data in Bangladesh' (2025, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications), 'Does Rural Transformation Reduce the Gender Wage Gap? An Empirical Study of Sustainable Development in Bangladesh' (2025, Sustainable Development), and 'Effect of irrigation on rural transformation and income at the district level in Bangladesh' (2025, PLoS One). She has consulted for UN-FAO, UN-ESCAP, International Rice Research Institute, Asian Development Bank, and ACIAR. Motivated by childhood experiences of poverty and food insecurity in the Philippines, her work emphasizes empowering women in agriculture to enhance household incomes, education, and nutrition.