NOT many people can say their work has helped millions of people. That's not the case for agricultural scientist TJ Higgins.
Dr Higgins has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his work in creating a bug resistant crop suitable to be grown in western Africa.
With his international team, the 76-year-old created modified cowpea crops that are resistant to the damaging legume pod-borer.
Cowpeas, or black-eyed peas, are a major source of protein for 200 million people in West Africa, sometimes referred to as "poor-man's meat".
But they're also attractive to many pests.
Through breeding a special gene into cowpeas, Dr Higgins and his African colleagues have given the plant its own built-in insect protection.
In late 2019, the first insect-resistant cowpea variety was approved in Africa.
"This is a great honour from my US colleagues and recognises our combined efforts with the African Agricultural Technology Foundation to improve food security among some of the world's poorest farmers," he said.
Dr Higgins was approached for the project following his work with crops in Australia.
"I started out using the technology I had developed here on Australian crops like chickpeas, lupins and peas," he said.
Trials were first carried out in the CSIRO's greenhouses at Black Mountain in Canberra before selected crops were tested in Puerto Rico, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Malawi in Southern Africa.
"I'm most proud of the fact we've been able to release new varieties in Nigeria so far," Dr Higgins said.
"Many African governments don't have the money themselves to invest in agricultural science, but so many people live in rural areas so agriculture is very important for them."
Dr Higgins was able to alter the makeup of the crop using genetic modification.
"Genetic modification has a lot of opposition because people are concerned about it for a variety of reasons," he said.
"But I wouldn't be doing it if I thought there was any danger to people."
He explained that due to public concern, the process to get approval to work using genetic modification for food was very extensive and costly.
Dr Higgins first became interested in agricultural science as a young boy on his parents' farm in Ireland.
"I was always impressed at how hard my parents worked, particularly my mother," he said.
"I wanted to make agriculture a little bit easier."
Dr Higgins joins CSIRO scientist Toby Walsh as a newly announced American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow.
Professor Walsh was recognised for his for his leadership and significant contributions to automated deduction, constraint programming, and fairness in artificial intelligence.
His work in artificial intelligence has focused on enabling computers to do tasks that require intelligence, ranging from how to route trucks more efficiently, to how to best allocate donated kidneys to patients.
CSIRO chief scientist Cathy Foley congratulated the pair on being internationally recognised for the quality and impact of their research, "adding to CSIRO's more than 100 years at the forefront of global scientific excellence".
