Wendy Hillman and Naresh Rimal in Nepal.Although there are numerous aid agencies making a big impact on some dire situations globally, there is also a unique aspect of food security researchers hope to find a better understanding of.

CQUniversity researcher Naresh Rimal spent part of last year on the ground in one of the challenging commercial agricultural areas of the midhills of Nepal - his home country - to understand how farmers define and understand food security within the context of aid intervention.

It was here in the farming areas south of Mt Everest, Rimal talked to farmers and their families, walked on their farm lands, watched their farming processes and attempted to understand how these farmers manage their farm and their livelihood.  Throughout this data gathering expedition, Rimal hoped to better understand what these farmers understood about food security and their future.

Rimal suggests that such understanding can help agencies work towards the betterment of farming communities in the future. 

While Rimal was in the data collection phase of his research in Nepal, his research supervisor Dr Wendy Hillman decided to spend two weeks overseeing his work on the ground. She hoped to understand the people being reported on and to gain an understanding of the culture and the country. She came away with much more.

"It was a fabulous experience. The people there are just beautiful. The experience of us both working together in the field was extremely good. It was very beneficial for both of us."

Whilst in Nepal, Dr Hillman stayed amongst the people in some of the poorest of communities, unlike her previous visits to Asia which were primarily for holidays.

 "Despite having very little, these people made sure we ate very well during our stay. They couldn't do enough for us."

However, the language was one of Dr Hillman's biggest concerns,. She says that she could have been in trouble a couple of times if it wasn't for Naresh being there to help with the language barrier.

"I couldn't understand the language and very few people spoke any English at all."

One of the valued lessons Dr Hillman came away with was that life doesn't have to be a series of rigid appointments.

"Different cultures have different values on how things get done and when they get done. That brought that home to me that it is not a life and death situation if something doesn't get done today."