In line with IFPRI’s capacity strengthening mission, IFPRI-PNG conducted two half-day mentoring sessions in Lae on February 12th and March 26th, 2026. The sessions focused on how to turn simulated food and nutrition security results of the Food Security Simulator – Papua New Guinea (FSS-PNG) into relevant research papers that inform policy and decision-making in PNG. These sessions were a continuation of a series of validation workshops held in May 2025 and subsequent bi-weekly online mentoring sessions since September 2025, all aimed at testing, refining, and expanding the reach of the FSS-PNG. Participants have drafted two research papers as an output of these workshops, with abstracts submitted to the 2026 PNG Food and Nutrition Conference. The abstracts are a strong indication of the use of the skills gained from the workshops and ongoing mentoring sessions. Participants were drawn from the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Grow PNG and the Lae University of Technology (Lae UNITECH).
Lae (February 12th, 2026)
The first mentoring session, held at the NARI’s headquarters, started with a brief outline of the goal of the session, followed by a recap of the previous sessions that had covered a step-by-step presentation on writing a research paper out of the simulation exercise, aimed at guiding participants on applying their obtained-skill in practical research analysis, interpretation and write-up. The participants then outlined research ideas and the session concluded by wrapping-up and highlighting the next steps. The session sparked collaboration among participants.
Lae (March 26th, 2026)
The second session, held the UNITECH’s Department of Agriculture’s conference room, focused on how to prepare and submit abstracts for the 2026 Food and Nutrition conference to be held in Lae on June. The participants presented their abstracts for feedback and questions for refinement, incorporated comments, and finalized the abstracts. The group then reviewed the next steps for abstract submission.
Key Outcomes
In brief, the key outcomes of the FSS-PNG workshop and its follow-up mentoring sessions are as follows:
- Capacity Built: Participants, including researchers, analysts, professors, and others, left the sessions confident in their ability to use the FSS-PNG to write research papers.
- Two abstracts of research papers resulting from these workshops submitted to the 2026 Food and Nutrition Conference to be held in Lae on June 2026.
- Refinements Identified: User feedback led to suggestions for improving interface clarity, expanding the set of simulated shocks, and making outputs even more policy relevant.
- Connections Strengthened: Collaborations sparked across participants and institutions, including the national research system and development partners.
