CGIAR Science Week

Often described as “Africa’s Optimist-in-Chief”, African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina is widely lauded for his visionary leadership and passion for Africa’s transformation. Former Nigerian Agriculture Minister Dr Adesina was first elected President of the African Development Bank Group on 28 May 2015. He was unanimously re-elected for a second five-year term on 27 August 2020.

With Dr Adesina at the helm, the African Development Bank Group achieved the highest capital increase since its establishment in 1964 when on 31 October 2019, shareholders from 80 member countries raised the general capital from $93 billion to a historic $208 billion. The African Development Bank Group responded boldly and swiftly to the Covid-19 pandemic. On 3 April 2020, the premier development finance institution launched a landmark $3 billion Covid-19 Social Bond followed by a Crisis Response Facility of $10 billion.

 

Lindiwe Majele Sibanda is an animal scientist and a practicing farmer with extensive experience, serving as a policy advisor to numerous African governments and global institutions. She serves on the Nestlé Board and as Chair of the Council at the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe and as Extra Ordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, and member of Champions 12.3, accelerating progress on UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 12.3, halving global per capita food waste.

In January 2023, she stepped down from the position of Professor, Director and Chair of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Food Systems at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa; and has stepped down from the Board of the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg).

She previously served as Board Chair for the International Livestock Research Institution (ILRI); Board Member of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT); and program advisor to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). She also served on the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems and as a member of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Policy Advisory Council. She has served in senior leadership positions in various organizations, including co-Chair of the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA), Vice-President, Country Support, Policy and Partnerships for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and CEO and Head of Mission of the pan-African Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN). She holds a PhD and MSc in Agriculture from the University of Reading, and BSc in Animal Production from the University of Alexandria, Egypt.

She was appointed to the CGIAR System Board in April 2021, and has served as the Chair since January 1, 2023.

Ismahane Elouafi is the Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, effective December 1, 2023.

She previously held the position of Chief Scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Prior to that, she was the Director General at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) based in the United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Elouafi has held several senior scientific and leadership positions, including: Senior Adviser to the Assistant Deputy Minister, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Branch in Ottawa (AAFC), Canada (2006–2007); the National Manager of Plant Research Section (2007–2010); and Director of Research Management and Partnerships Division at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) (2010–2012).

She has worked as a scientist with several international research organizations and has been a member of various strategy expert panels and advisory groups, including the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA), and HarvestPlus. She has been a member of several governance boards, including: the boards of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in the United States; the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) in the United Kingdom; and the Professional Development Institute in Canada.

She was also a member of the Scientific Group for the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and of the CGIAR System Board.

Namukolo Covic is Regional Director, East and Southern Africa (ESA), CGIAR, and ILRI Director General’s Representative to Ethiopia, and CGIAR Country Convenor for Ethiopia. She has over 20 years’ experience on different aspects of food security and nutrition including research, program implementation and leadership development. Most recently she was on the leadership teams of two United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) 2021 action tracks, and is a founding member of the Coalition of Action on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems for Children and All. She co-leads the Governance Working Group of an Independent Expert Group that emerged from the UNFSS that has developed a Monitoring Framework on Food Systems Transformation to guide progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) countdown to 2030. Before joining ILRI, she was a senior research at IFPRI and has worked on projects in several countries, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia. She is recognized for her ability to work at the interface of research, policy, and program processes and has worked extensively with the government of Ethiopia and other African national and regional stakeholders on different fronts of food systems and nutrition. Since 2011 she has supported African Union (AU) efforts on linking agriculture and nutrition in the CAADP process and has served on several AU Task Forces including for the development of the CAADP Results Framework and Biennial Review process, as well as the African Leaders for Nutrition Initiative of the AfDB and the AU. She is a member of the EAT Lancet Commission 2.0.

Dr Simeon Ehui, is a national of Côte d’Ivoire and the United States and has over 30 years of experience in agriculture and sustainable development, building a wide-ranging network of scientific research organizations within the CGIAR system, multilateral organizations, regional bodies, and national governments in Africa and other continents. He joined IITA as Director General in August 2023, from the World Bank, where he was Regional Director for Sustainable Development for West and Central Africa. He previously served as Director of the World Bank’s Food and Agriculture Global Practice. In addition, he was the Bank’s Manager of agriculture and water in South Asia and Africa, as well as Lead Economist and Sector Leader for the Sustainable Development Network in Nigeria, covering a variety of sectors such as agriculture, environment, social, water, urban, transport, and energy. Dr Ehui is also the CGIAR director for Continental Africa and thus serves as a counterpart to key continent-wide institutions. This has led to a step-change in the level, relevance, and depth of CGIAR’s presence in Africa. Dr Ehui is a member of CGIAR’s Senior Leadership Team, which helps guide the global partnership and alignment of efforts to boost food and nutrition security on the African Continent. Before joining the World Bank, Dr Ehui worked for 15 years at CGIAR, managing multi-agricultural research development programs in Africa and Asia for both IITA and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

Professor Appolinaire Djikeng is Senior Director, Livestock-Based Systems, CGIAR, and Director General, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Please read the official announcement about the successors of ILRI and IITA’s Directors General.

He joins ILRI and CGIAR from the University of Edinburgh, where he is currently Professor and Chair of Tropical Agriculture and Sustainable Development, as well as the Director, Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) based at the Roslin Institute. He will retain his affiliation with the Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh to strengthen the partnership with ILRI and the CGIAR System. Professor Djikeng previously worked with ILRI from 2009-2016 as Technology Manager and then Director of the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA)-ILRI Hub. He has received numerous awards, including the 2020 Nelson Mandela Justice Award. He was also recognized by the Decade of Health as one of the 10 people in the United Kingdom changing health.

Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes serves as the Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India.  

Trained as a virologist, Dr. Hughes worked in the United Kingdom and Ghana before moving to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria, followed by positions at the World Vegetable Center in Taiwan, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. As the Deputy Director General-Research at both WorldVeg (2005–2016) and IRRI (2016–2020), she contributed significantly to the leadership of agriculture research and development. 

Her extensive experience, spanning 15 years each in both Africa and Asia, provides her with invaluable insights into the realm of international agricultural research. Through her work, and that of her teams, Dr. Hughes has delivered significant impacts across Africa and Asia, enhancing the livelihoods of some of the most economically disadvantaged communities. She has also overseen various programs addressing critical issues such as strategic innovation, sustainable impact, and cross-cutting research support. 

The impact of Dr. Hughes’ work in shaping research and development for food and nutrition security extends to multiple crops and their protection, forming the foundation for sustainable intensification and, importantly, improved livelihoods for the rural poor in developing nations. Her commitment to these causes is reflected not only in her extensive publication record but also in her keen interests in plant health, epidemiology, gender equity, nutrition, and the innovative fields of remote sensing and digital agriculture. 

Bram Govaerts is Director General (Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer) of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). He is renowned for pioneering, implementing and inspiring transformational changes for farmers and consumers in meeting the sustainable development challenges. He brings together multi-disciplinary science and development teams to integrate sustainable, multi-stakeholder and sector strategies that generate innovation and change in agri-food systems. His initiatives, excellence in science for impact and the partnerships he inspired have resulted in improved nutrition, nature conservation, and national and international resilience and food security.

In 2003, Govaerts received the Development Cooperation Prize from the Belgian Federal Government. In 2014 he was awarded the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application — endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation and awarded by the World Food Prize — for the development of sustainable agricultural systems. In 2018 he received the Premio Tecnoagro, awarded by an organization of 2,500 Mexican farmers. He is a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. In 2020, Govaerts was elected as Fellow by The American Society of Agronomy for his outstanding contributions to the field of agronomy.

Govaerts holds a PhD in Bioscience Engineering – Soil Science, a master’s degree in Soil Conservation and Tropical Agriculture, and a bachelor’s degree in Bioscience Engineering, all from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

Guillaume Grosso is the Deputy Executive Managing Director of CGIAR.

Previously, Mr. Grosso has served in leadership roles across multilateral institutions, non-profit organizations and the private sector, most recently as Director, Private Sector and Sovereign Engagement, Donor Relations and Campaigns at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. He has also served as Co-Chair of several international summits on global health. Mr. Grosso also founded and directed ONE France and held senior roles at the OECD Development Centre and the African Development Bank.

Mr. Grosso has launched or helped grow several organizations and public-private partnerships, shaping strategies, engaging in successful policy dialogue, securing multi-billion-dollar funding, and driving critical institutional reform. His leadership of high-level engagement in the G7 and G20 forums has helped to position key development and health issues.

A Board member of France Medias Monde and The World Association of Children’s Friends, a nonprofit chaired by Princess Caroline of Monaco, he has also contributed to Gordon Brown’s Education Commission as Non-Executive Director until it concluded its work in June 2023. He is a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Arts and was recognized by INSEAD’s 2021 Force for Good Award for his leadership and achievements in the service of the common good.

A graduate of Ecole des Mines de Paris and Collège des Ingénieurs, Mr. Grosso also holds an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD.

Simon Heck is Senior Director, CGIAR, and was appointed Director General of the International Potato Institute (CIP) in February 2023.

Prior to this appointment, he led CIP’s research and development projects portfolio designed to intensify, diversify and strengthen the resilience of agri-food systems with sweetpotato-related technologies. He is responsible for setting priorities that respond to changing country, regional and global demands and that contribute to CI) and CGIAR long-term strategic objectives and goals.

He joined CIP in 2012 as Deputy Program Manager for Sweetpotato in Africa where he led the regional Scaling-Up Sweetpotato through Agriculture and Nutrition (SUSTAIN) project in 2013 and the Sweetpotato Program in 2014. He previously worked with the WorldFish Center, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).

An anthropologist by training, Simon has extensive experience leading research and development projects in agriculture, aquatic resources and environmental management. He has been chair of the Agro-Enterprise Learning Alliance for Eastern and Southern Africa and has contributed to policy and strategy development in several regional and national institutions in Africa. His disciplinary expertise is in social science and he has contributed to CGIAR research on resilience of social and ecological systems, food security, social development indicators, land tenure, and innovation systems. He has a PhD in Social Anthropology from Boston University.

Dr Baboucarr Manneh is Regional Director, West and Central Africa, CGIAR, and Director General, Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice). Please read the official announcement about his appointment.

Dr Manneh, a Gambian national, has nearly three decades of experience in agricultural research and development, including program management and leadership. He led the AfricaRice Genetic Diversity and Improvement Program and was the Center’s Regional Representative for the Sahel, based in St Louis, Senegal, with administrative oversight over seven West African countries. Thanks to his expertise in crop breeding and seed systems, Dr Manneh successfully coordinated the Africa-wide Rice Breeding Task Force involving breeders from over 30 African countries, leading to the release of over 80 climate-resilient rice varieties to help vulnerable farmers cope with climate change. He has cultivated strong partnerships with national and international organizations in Africa and Asia, and has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities for agricultural research and development, especially in West and Central Africa. Prior to joining AfricaRice, he served as the Director of Research for the Gambia National Agricultural Research Institute. Dr Manneh’s research work is widely published in international peer-reviewed academic journals. He obtained his PhD degree in Plant Breeding and Crop Physiology in 2004, and an MSc in Crop Science with specialization in Crop Breeding in 1998, from Wageningen University, Netherlands. He is fluent in both English and French.

Essam is WorldFish’s Director General and CGIAR’s Senior Director of Aquatic Food Systems. He is a leading interdisciplinary systems thinker, researcher and policy adviser with deep roots in the economics of the ocean and fisheries. Prior to stepping up to the helm at WorldFish, Essam was the Global Lead for Climate Resilience and Environmental Sustainability.

While he was with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), he was the Head of Blue Economy. In addition to his academic and professional experience as a fisheries scientist, he has worked in both governmental and non-governmental research institutes on a wide range of topics, such as the economic valuation of environmental goods and services and fiscal reforms to connectivity between high seas and territorial waters and the climate change and food security nexus; all with a strong focus on influencing policy processes to promote fair, inclusive and sustainable ocean-based economies at national and global levels.

Hailing from Eritrea, Essam has more than 19 years of international, multi-country experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, (South, South East and East) Asia, Latin America and Europe. He has advised many governments including (and not limited to) Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cambodia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Myanmar, Vietnam, Albania, Egypt and Lebanon.

He is a member of several advisory bodies including the Group of Experts for the second cycle of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects of the United Nations.

Khuloud Odeh is the Global Director of Digital and Data. She brings a unique blend of education, IT organization leadership, change stewardship, and a deep understanding of global and local sustainability challenges. A thought leader on digital innovation for impact, she successfully led mission-driven organizations transformative digital strategies and roadmaps that build organizational resilience, align with their priorities, contribute to sustainable growth, increase agility, and accelerate innovation.

Before joining CGIAR, she spent 18 years in executive IT leadership roles in national and international organizations, including VP, Technology and Data Science and CIO, at the Urban Institute; Director of IT at Grameen Foundation; and CIO at CHF International (now Global Communities). In addition, she has worked on USAID-funded activities in more than 40 countries, mainly in the technical aspects of program impact assessment, monitoring, evaluation, and performance reporting systems, and worked extensively in the development and evaluation of management systems and technologies for microfinance programs and mobile technology for the poor. She holds a Ph.D. in Information Technology and Engineering from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA; a master’s in strategic leadership towards sustainability from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden; an MSc in computer science from the American University in Washington, DC; and BSc in computer science from the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan.

Recently, she was named one of eight global Nonprofit Tech Fellows with Okta for Good for 2021, an initiative that aims to amplify the voices of leaders across the nonprofit sector advocating for sector-wide movement toward better use and implementation of technology. In 2020, she was recognized as a nonprofit finalist for the CapitalCIO of the Year ORBIE Awards. In 2018, she was named one of the Power Women of Tech in Washington, DC, according to DCA Live, and one of twenty CIOs to follow on Twitter for digital transformation wisdom according to The Enterprisers Project.

Juan Lucas Restrepo is Global Director of Partnerships and Advocacy, CGIAR, and Director General of the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). A Colombian and French national, he worked in the agricultural domain, both in the public and private sectors, for the past 25 years. He has significant experience in policy, value chains, markets, and leading agricultural research. He has supported the work of CGIAR through the various governance roles he held over the years in the Committee of Genetic Resources Policy, Oversight and Executive Committees, and as the representative of the Colombian Government on the CIAT Board of Directors as an ex-officio member. Among other positions, in Colombia, he served as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as the Executive Director of AGROSAVIA, the largest agricultural research organization in the country, and as Chief Commercial Officer of the National Federation of Coffee Growers. As its Chair, he also led the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR), hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and its efforts to better integrate the agricultural research for the development community, with change and innovation by farmers. He holds a degree in civil engineering from Universidad de los Andes and an MS in agricultural economics from Cornell University. 

Mark Smith is Senior Director of Water Systems, CGIAR, and Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Formerly IWMI’s Deputy Director General – Research for Development, he brings more than 25 years of research and program management experience in water resources, agriculture, climate and sustainability. He was formerly Director of the Global Water Program at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), where he led innovative, multi-regional programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America addressing river basin management, transboundary cooperation and water governance, climate change adaptation and nature-based solutions. He led IUCN advocacy of water-related policies and strategies in UNFCCC, Ramsar Convention, Rio+20 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as delivery of support for national and regional-level policy innovation and scaling of water systems change. Before IUCN, he was a Research Group Leader at CSIRO delivering analysis of environmental policy and management, strategies for sustainable development and support for planning and implementation of integrated water, land and ecosystem management. As a scientist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), he worked in partnership with ICRAF on projects investigating the impacts of agroforestry on water resource management and productivity in smallholder farming systems. He has a PhD in ecology and resource management from the University of Edinburgh and a Master’s in climatology from the University of Guelph.

Johan Swinnen is Managing Director of Systems Transformation, CGIAR, and Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). He presently serves as a co-lead of the finance lever of the UN Food Systems Summit, is a Commissioner in the Food Systems Economics Commission, Co-Chair of the Think20 (T20) Task Force on Climate Change, Sustainable Energy, and Environment, and also a member of the Champions 12.3 Leadership Group to Reduce Food Loss and Waste (SDG Target 12.3) and the Africa Europe Strategic Task Force on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. Prior to joining IFPRI, he was professor of economics and director of the LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance at KU Leuven (Belgium) and senior research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. He has also served as a lead economist at the World Bank and economic advisor to the European Commission. He earned his PhD from Cornell University and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Göttingen and the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra. He is a fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association and the European Association of Agricultural Economists, and past president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists. 

Sonja Vermeulen is Managing Director of Genetic Innovation, CGIAR. She has served as Director of Programs at the CGIAR System Organization since 2019, coordinating the delivery of the CGIAR Research Programs and Platforms, and the development of the 2030 Research and Innovation Strategy. She previously held posts as WWF’s Global Food Lead Scientist, Head of Research at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS),  Director of the Programme on Business and Sustainable Development at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and Research Fellow at the University of Zimbabwe. She is an Associate Fellow at the Sustainability Accelerator at Chatham House in London and served as a Commissioner on the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Sustainable Diets. She holds a BA and MA in Natural Sciences, with a major in plant genetics, from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Tropical Resource Ecology from the University of Zimbabwe, and a PhD in Population Biology from Imperial College London. 

Hildegard Lingnau serves the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAiR) as
Executive Secretary since 2021. She committed herself to this unique network of networks with more
than 1.000 institutional members representing 13 constituencies interested in transforming the agrifood system to harness research for sustainable development.
Hildegard is passionate about reducing poverty and hunger and enjoys working since 34 years at the
interface of research and action with CGIAR, FAO, WFP, OECD, BMZ, GIZ, IDOS et al. and countries all
over the world (in France, Italy, Palestine, Kenya, Cambodia, Rwanda).
Hildegard qualified as a Professor at University and holds different academic degrees from 5 different
Universities.

Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim is a Mauritian politician and biodiversity scientist who served as the sixth president of Mauritius from 2015 to 2018. She worked as Managing Director of CIDP Research & Innovation (formerly Cephyr, Centre for Phytotherapy Research). Previously, she was a Professor with a personal chair in Organic Chemistry at the University of Mauritius (2001) and where she served successively as Dean of the Faculty of Science and Pro–Vice Chancellor (2004–2010). She also worked at the Mauritius Research Council as Manager for Research (1995–1997). She served as the Chairperson the International Council for Scientific Union – Regional Office for Africa (2011–2014). In 2015, her nomination for the Presidency of Mauritius, put forward by then-PM and fellow Militant Socialist Movement member Anerood Jugnauth, was unanimously approved by the Mauritian National Assembly. She resigned in 2018 amid a financial scandal during the prime ministership of Pravind Jugnauth. The office of president remained vacant until December 2019, when Prithvirajsing Roopun took office. In the meantime, Vice President Barlen Vyapoory functioned as acting president.

Nicoline de Haan is a senior researcher with more than 15 years of expertise in gender, rural livelihoods, agriculture, and natural resource management. She is presently the Director of the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform. Previously, she served as the leader of the gender team at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Before ILRI, she led the work on gender, poverty and institutions under the CGIAR program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) examining the implications of inequity in access and control over natural resources, and finding options to ensure inclusive benefit sharing. In her previous position at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) she led the global socio-economic team on animal health, where her main responsibility was reducing the impact of animal diseases on the livelihoods of smallholders, and especially women impacted by avian influenza. She holds a PhD in rural sociology from University of Missouri, Colombia, USA.

Nompumelelo Obokoh (nee Masubelele) holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biotechnology from the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK. She is the CEO of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and the former Chairperson of the Board of the National Research Foundation (NRF) (October 2018 – November 2022). She also serves as an independent non-executive Director of FruitSA. With more than 18 years working in agricultural research and innovation systems with a focus on biotechnology, Nompumelelo has led multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary, and multi-national teams and efforts to improve sustainable agricultural productivity for small-holder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to extensive research experience in South Africa, she has worked and engaged with various stakeholders in the agricultural innovation value-chain throughout Southern, East, and West Africa. She has a strong background in biotechnology, capacity building, advocacy, private-public partnerships – including with NARES, intellectual property rights issues, and scaling up agricultural technologies. She was appointed as a Commissioner in the South African Presidential Commission on the 4th Industrial Revolution and has held various leadership positions as an Executive (General Manager: Bioeconomy) at The Innovation Hub Management Company, CEO of AfricaBio (an independent non-profit association in the biotechnology sector) and as Divisional Head for Innovation Support and Protection of Companies & Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), and with the African Agricultural Technology Foundation in Abuja, Nigeria and Nairobi, Kenya. Prior to this, she was a Senior Manager at the Agricultural Research Council in South Africa and a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, UK. She has received several awards and accolades including the Mandela Cambridge Scholarship, Mandela Magdalene College Scholarship, Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society, as well as the Rothamstead International – African Research Fellowship. She was featured in the 2020 Women’s Report: Celebrating Black Women’s Excellence and by the Art of Superwomen – A Woman Belongs: In The Biotechnology & Agricultural Industry.

Jean Claude Rubyogo is the Lead, Global Bean Program and Director, Pan Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA)
currently working on Crops for nutrition and health. She is interested in  Climate action Agrobiodiversity Digital inclusion Gender, Youth, and Inclusion Regions in Africa and the Americas. Jean Claude, Global Bean Program and Director, Pan Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) bean program of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

In the last 20 years, he has worked as the Seed Systems Specialist leading a multi-country public-private partnership initiatives and multi-disciplinary teams developing and deploying sustainable and impact-oriented bean seed systems and complementary management to serve more than 27 million smallholder farmers (58% being women) across several PABRA member countries.

Jean Claude has led several seed systems initiatives across other legumes (beyond beans). He is also contributing to the ongoing professional development of about 300 plant breeders collaborating in the Demand Led Breeding (DLB) Community of Practice. Jean Claude has extensively published several articles, books and book chapters on bean seed systems and technology delivery systems models. He has focused on impactful seed systems research and development, technology delivery systems and research product commercialization.

Dr. Kalibata has served as the President of AGRA since 2014, where she leads the organization’s efforts with public and private partners to ensure a food secure and prosperous Africa through rapid, inclusive, sustainable agricultural growth, improving the productivity and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in Africa.
From 2019-2021, Dr. Kalibata also served as the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, a catalytic process at the start of the Decade of Action to improve food systems around the world to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Agreement. Prior to joining AGRA, Dr. Kalibata was Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) from 2008 to 2014, where she drove programs that moved her country from a food insecure to a food secure status and became a reference point for other countries that sought to deliver agriculture transformation.
Dr. Kalibata also sits on various boards, councils and commissions including the Global Commission on Adaptation, the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, the Global Panel for Agriculture & Food Systems for Nutrition, the Global Agriculture & Food Security Program (GAFSP), the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, the Malabo-Montpellier Panel, the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions and the Global Commission on Climate Overshoot, among others. Dr. Kalibata has a distinguished track record as an agricultural scientist, policy maker and thought leader, and she holds a doctorate in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is recipient of many prestigious awards including but not limited to the Yara Prize, now the Africa Food Prize, in 2012, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Liège in 2018, an Honorary Doctorate from McGill University in 2019, and the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal in April, 2019 for her work to drive Africa’s agricultural transformation through modern sciences and effective policy thereby improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
In 2022, she received an Award from World Farmers Organization recognizing her leadership in mobilizing farmers’ contribution to the Food Systems Summit. She was also feted by Prince Albert II of Monaco for leading efforts towards Africa’s food security and prosperity through inclusive and sustainable agricultural growth to secure livelihoods of millions of smallholders farmer since 2014.
In 2023, Dr. Kalibata was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the 28th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As a member of the COP28 President’s Advisory Committee, Dr. Kalibata will contribute to the development and implementation of strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Éliane Ubalijoro, PhD is Chief Executive Officer of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and Director General of ICRAF. An accomplished leader with a background in agriculture and molecular genetics, she serves on several boards and has been recognized for outstanding contributions in the areas of innovation, gender equity, and sustainable prosperity creation.

Born in Rwanda and raised on three continents, Dr Ubalijoro knew from a young age that she wanted a career in service to the world. She earned a bachelor’s degree in general agriculture and a master’s and doctorate in molecular genetics from McGill University, where she studied improving productivity in agriculture. With a career spanning academia, the private sector, and the non-profit and international development sectors, she started as a scientific director in the biotechnology sector working in molecular diagnostics, later pivoting to focus on sustainable development as well as improving the lives of women and smallholder farmers in emerging countries.

Dr Ubalijoro has been a professor of practice for public-private sector partnerships at McGill University since 2008. From 2021 to March 2023, she was the Executive Director of Sustainability in the Digital Age and the Canada Hub Director for Future Earth. She is a member of Rwanda’s National Science and Technology Council and Presidential Advisory Council, the Impact Advisory Board of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet, the Science for Africa Foundation, the Capitals Coalition Supervisory Board, the External Advisory Committee to the Chief Statistician of Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada on Canada’s first Census of Environment, Digital Green and Genome Canada, among others. She is a fellow of the International Science Council.

Prior to going back to academia, she was a scientific director in a Montreal-based biotechnology company in charge of molecular diagnostic and bioinformatics discovery programmes. This work led Eliane to undertake consulting work in Haiti and in Africa related to sustainable climate resilient economic growth.

Recognized for her work in leadership and gender equity, Dr Ubalijoro is a recipient of the International Leadership Association‘s 2022 awards in women and leadership for outstanding practice with broad impact, and is part of a cohort of appointed International Science Council fellows in recognition for outstanding contributions to promoting science as a global public good. She has facilitated the UNAIDS Leadership Programme for Women at the United Nation System Staff College. Dr Ubalijoro was a member of FemStep, a research network highlighting rural girls’ and women’s perspectives for engendering poverty reduction strategies in Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, DR Congo and Ethiopia using arts-based methodologies. In 2018, She co-facilitated the second Global Women in Science Leadership Workshop in Rwanda with support from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Her career path was featured in Forbes in celebration of International Women’s Day 2019.

Previously, Dr Ubalijoro founded C.L.E.A.R. International Development Inc., a consulting group harnessing global networks for sustainable systems development. She was the Deputy Executive Director for Programs at Global Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) from 2019 to 2021, and was a member of WWF International’s Board of Trustees and the Crop Trust’s Executive Board. She is a co-editor of the 2021 book Building Resilient African Food Systems after COVID-19 and has served as a member of the Expert Consultation Group on the Post COVID-19 Implications on Collaborative Governance of Genomics Research, Innovation, and Genetic Diversity, as well as the African Development Bank’s Expert Global Community of Practice on COVID-19 Response Strategies in Africa, and is a member of the Africa Space Council.

She has also served as a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) Special Policy Study on Post 2020: Global Biodiversity Conservation.

Dr Aggrey Agumya, a Ugandan national, is the Executive Director and Head of Mission of FARA. He has been a part of the FARA story for the last 18 years when he joined the Secretariat as the Programme Officer of the sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme (SSA-CP), a well-recognized continental Flagship programme of FARA. Thereafter, he served in key programme and leadership positions in FARA, including as Technical Advisor to the former two Executive Directors. In 2016, Dr Agumya was appointed as the Director responsible for stakeholder engagement and communication. In 2020, he was appointed Director for Research and Innovation. In this position, he also served as the de facto Deputy Executive Director. He has been closely associated with most of the significant achievements of FARA.

Prior to joining FARA in 2006, Dr Agumya worked for six years as a Geo-Information Systems analyst at the World Agroforestry Centre within its regional programme for Southern Africa coordinated from Harare, Zimbabwe where he was responsible for identifying priority geographical domains for out-scaling agroforestry technologies. Through his work at the World Agroforestry Centre and FARA, Dr Agumya has acquired a deep understanding of the context, dynamics and drivers of Africa’s agriculture research and innovation landscape.

An alumnus of the University of Melbourne, Dr Agumya holds a doctorate degree in Geo-Information Sciences (GIS). He also holds an MSc in GIS from the International Centre for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC) in Enschede, the Netherlands and a BSc in Surveying and Photogrammetry from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

 

Nancy Rapando s a sustainable agriculture specialist with broad experience in Africa in program……. management, policy analysis, and technical advisory work. She has worked with diverse actors across East, Central and Southern Africa on food systems, agriculture value chains, natural resource management, climate change, and food and nutrition security. Nancy has worked with Solidaridad, Biovision Foundation and WWF, organisations that continue to shape her work on sustainable food systems. Nancy holds an M.Sc. in Agronomy from Egerton University (focused on ecological food systems) and now pursuing her Ph.D. in Climate Change and Adaptation from the Institute of Climate Change and Adaptation at the University of Nairobi. Nancy is passionate about nature-positive agriculture that allows farms and communities to become resilient to climate change while reducing negative impacts on biodiversity.

Dr. Eliud Kiplimo Kireger is the Director General/CEO of KALRO. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Managing Director/CEO of the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya. Dr. Kireger attained his Ph.D. in Plant Eco-physiology from the University of Wales, (UK), MSc in Genetics and Tree breeding from the University of Toronto (Canada), and a BSc in Forestry from Moi University (Kenya). He has trained in Conflict Management and Resolution, Strategic Leadership, Company Directorship, and Change Management among others. He was an Appointed Member of the board of management of Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) where he chaired the Audit committee.

Dr. Canisius Kanangire, is the Executive Director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) since July 2021. An astute administrator, academician, and internationally recognized professional, Dr. Kanangire is an experienced technocrat with a wealth of knowledge in leadership and management of international institutions, including developing strategic partnerships and networks at regional, continental, and global levels with great ability for resource mobilization with more than 35 years’ cumulative experience in different leadership roles.

Before joining AATF, he has served in the capacity of Executive Secretary at the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), a pan-African inter-governmental institution and a delivery mechanism on water and sanitation for the African Union; the Executive Secretary at the Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC); as the Regional Manager of its Capacity Building Program and later Head of Strategic Planning and Management at the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI).

A one-time lecturer and Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Rwanda, Canisius was also a member of the Board of Directors of ISAR (the Rwandan Institute for Agricultural Research) restructured into the current Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB). Dr Canisius Kanangire holds a doctorate degree in Aquatic Sciences and Master’s degree in Freshwater Ecology from the University of Namur, Belgium.

Dr Tenkouano holds a PhD in Genetics and an MSc in Plant Breeding, from Texas A&M University, USA; and a diplôme d’ingénieur agronome from the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. His research has focused on genetics, breeding, biotechnology, pathology, agronomy and postharvest strategies, working with multidisciplinary teams to support extension and development of various crops including sorghum, millet, maize, cassava, yam, banana and plantain.

From 2016 – 2023, Dr Tenkouano was the Executive Director, West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD), based in Dakar, Senegal. He joined the Council from the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg, previously the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center – AVRDC), where he served for eight years, first from 2008 – 2013, as the Director, Regional Center for Africa, based in Arusha, Tanzania; and then, from 2014 – 2016, as Regional Director, West and Central Africa, based in Bamako, Mali. Previously, he held a 12-year stint (1996 – 2008), and various positions at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), working on genetics, breeding and improvement of plantain and banana, cassava and yams. From 1994 – 1996, he was the Coordinator, West and Central Africa Sorghum Research Network, International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), in Bamako, Mali.

Dr Tenkouano is actively engaged within the regional and global scientific community, having published widely in refereed publications, through his professional services and memberships, as a member of various regional international committees focusing on research for development, as an awards jurist, and through visiting positions in academia. He has received several recognitions including the CGIAR Science Award for Outstanding Partnership (2009) between AVRDC and ICRISAT).

Alioune Fall, Chairperson of the FARA Board of Directors, and the former Director General of Senegal’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA). He holds a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Agriculture from the Sam Houston State University, Texas, United States, and a Doctorate degree (PhD) in Agricultural Engineering from Michigan State University, United States. Dr. Fall’s career in research spans three and a half decades. He joined ISRA in 1984 as a researcher and rose quickly to become Regional Coordinator of Farm Mechanization and Post-harvest Technology projects. Dr. Fall served as the Scientific Director of ISRA from 2008 to 2013 when he was appointed the Director General. He served as the Chairperson of CORAF’s Board of Directors from 2014 to 2018.

Environmental scientist with specialisation in environmental exposures and health. Experienced leader of technical and scientific groups and contributor to organisational strategy and sustainability in government and tertiary education. Former member of the State Administrative Tribunal of WA; Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University. Former Deputy Chair of EPA WA, and Chief Environmental Scientist EPA Victoria 2017 to 2021 providing operational and strategic environmental advice to government on major projects and development of policies to address critical environmental issues.

A tri-sector experienced international executive with a demonstrated record of working in the public, private and nongovernmental organizations in financial services, energy, oil & gas, and agribusiness industries. Strong community and social services professional skilled in business development, strategic management, consulting, corporate boards, resource mobilization and leadership. A reputation for managing and leading effective teams, successfully starting new ventures and turning around under performing businesses. Multicultural experience with deep passion for adding premium value to institutions and organizational deliverables. Africa Regional Consultant for UNCTAD on natural resources and local economic development and regular speaker/panelist in national, regional and international forums.

Dr. Manuel Otero is an Argentine veterinarian, who graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires.

He holds two master’s degrees: the first in Animal Production from the Tropical Agronomy Research and Teaching Center in Costa Rica (1976-1978), and the second in Rural Development from the University of London (1994-1996).

Dr. Otero assumed the role of IICA Representative in Brazil in January 2011. Previously, he served as the IICA Representative in Uruguay and Brazil; Chief Advisor to the Director General; Director of Programming and Evaluation; and Regional Director for the Andean Region.

Before joining IICA, Dr. Otero was an Agricultural Attaché (1984-1988) under the Argentine Secretariat of Agriculture, based in Washington, DC. He later became Vice President of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) in Argentina (1999-2001).

Dr. Otero speaks Spanish and English and has advanced knowledge of Portuguese. He is the author of numerous technical documents related to international trade, sectoral policies, and the modernization of agriculture.

PROFESSIONAL OBJECTIVE
Facilitate emergence of a modern agriculture sector for food and nutrition security, increased employment, and improved livelihoods through development and dissemination of a package of improved varieties, best cultural practices – including best soil nutrient (fertilizer) rates, and mechanization, to small, medium, and large-scale farmers who are then linked to secondary processors, large commodity traders, and other aggregators.

Patrick Caron has a deep understanding of the interface between science and policy, and leadership experience in steering, negotiating and forging alliances across groups with diverging views and perspectives. He is currently Vice President for International Affairs at the University of Montpellier, where he guides scientific and technical personnel across departments and faculties to consolidate the international ambitions of a university with 50,000 students and 5,000 staff. He is also International Director of the Montpellier University of Excellence, an alliance of 16 regional research and higher education organizations, Director of MAK’IT, the Montpellier Institute for Advanced Knowledge, and President of Agropolis International, a community with 42 member institutions. He was recently appointed as a member of the Scientific Group for the 2021 UN Food System Summit.

He spent much of his earlier career with CIRAD, a French public institution active in agricultural research in over 100 countries, including six years as Director General for Research and Strategy. He served two terms as Chair of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, the science-policy interface of the UN Committee on World Food Security. He holds a PhD in Geography, a master’s in Food and Nutrition, a master’s in Public Health and a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. He is also a certified mediator.

He was appointed to the CGIAR System Board in September 2020.

Rob Bertram is the Chief Scientist in USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, where he serves as a key adviser on a range of technical and program issues to advance global food security and nutrition. In this role, he leads USAID’s evidence-based efforts to advance research, technology and implementation in support of the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future.

He previously served as Director of the Office of Agricultural Research and Policy in the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, which leads implementation of the Feed the Future research strategy and related efforts to scale innovations in global food security efforts, working with a range of partners. Prior to that, he guided USAID investments in agriculture and natural resources research for many years.

Dr. Bertram’s academic background in plant breeding and genetics includes degrees from University of California, Davis, the University of Minnesota and the University of Maryland. He also studied international affairs at Georgetown University and was a visiting scientist at Washington University in St. Louis. He has been especially active in plant genetic resources policy as it relates to research for development, including applications of biotechnology in food security-related research.

Before coming to USAID, he served with USDA’s international programs as well as overseas with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) system.

Since June 2022, I’m the Deputy Director for Research and Strategy at Cirad (Montpellier, France), more specifically in charge of international Relations and Europe. I’m a social scientist with a scientific background (agronomy) and a PhD in Agricultural economics. I worked at the Center of Philosophy of Law in Louvain la Neuve in Belgium on Global Governance of Genetic Resources. I then worked at the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (Iddri) in Paris where I was in charge of the Biodiversity Program. In 2007, I was appointed as Senior Officer at the Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO) where I was in charge of the implementation of the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit Sharing. In November 2009, I joined the French Embassy to the Rome-based UN agencies as Scientific Advisor on Global Governance of Food Security.
Since August 2010, I joined a team of biologists and geneticists at Cirad (UMR AGAP, Montpellier) to work on Governance of Genetic Resources from the perspective of the Research sector. My research focuses on science policy interface in the field of (agro) biodiversity: how global policy impacts science and how science impacts global policy processes.

Dr. Susan Kaaria is the Director of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) program hosted by CIFOR-ICRAF. She has more than 20 years of experience in international development, working with a range of organizations on gender equality and women empowerment. Prior to taking up the position of Director, AWARD, Dr. Kaaria served as the Team Leader for Gender at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), where she provided strategic leadership to the Organization’s technical work on gender, which aimed to support governments and other stakeholders to integrate gender in agricultural policies, programs and strategies. She has previously worked as Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, Office for Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Kaaria holds a PhD in Natural Resource Economics from the University of Minnesota, a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University, the USA, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture from the University of Eastern Africa in Kenya.

Dr. Joachim von Braun is a renowned German agricultural scientist specializing in agricultural policy, bioeconomics, food security, and sustainable resource use. He currently serves as Director of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn and as President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Dr. von Braun has held prominent roles, including Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., and has been influential in various international food security and development initiatives. His extensive research has significantly impacted global agricultural policies and food systems.
He holds a doctorate from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn and has received numerous honors, including the Bertebos Prize and the Justus von Liebig Prize for World Nutrition. Dr. von Braun continues to be a leading voice in global food security, contributing to sustainable agricultural practices and policy-making worldwide.

Experienced Founder with a demonstrated history of working in the political organization industry. Skilled in Corporate Social Responsibility, Rural Development, Journalism, International Relations, and Management. Strong business development professional with a PhD focused in Food Science and Nutrition from University of Nairobi.

Maurizio Martina is Deputy Director-General, supporting the Director General in different external and internal strategic matters.

A national of Italy, he holds both a Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Macerata in Italy. Prior to joining FAO, Mr. Martina served as a Member of the Italian Parliament at the House of Representatives as well as Member of the Agricultural Commission in Rome, Italy. Between 2013 and 2015, he held various roles in the Government of Italy with increasing responsibility both as Delegate Responsible for Expo Milano 2015 and Undersecretary of State of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. From 2014 to 2018, he was Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry in the Government of Italy.

He has joined FAO in 2021, at first as Special Adviser to the Director-General, Office of the Director-General, and then as Assistant Director-General, Office of the Director-General at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

He provides strategic direction and oversight over the Corporate Logistics and Operational Support Stream of the Organization and leads on FAO’s partnerships and cooperation with the Host Government, the European Union, as well as UN entities, civil society organizations, private sector and other non-state actors.

Shenggen Fan (樊胜根) has been director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) since 2009.

Dr. Fan joined IFPRI in 1995 as a research fellow, conducting extensive research on pro-poor development strategies in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He led IFPRI’s program on public investment before becoming the director of the Institute’s Development Strategy and Governance Division in 2005.

Dr. Fan is a member of the Leadership Council of Compact2025, an initiative for ending
hunger and undernutrition by 2025. http://www.compact2025.org

He also serves as the Vice-Chairman of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Food and Nutrition Security, after serving as Chairman of the Council from 2012 to 2014.

In 2014, Dr. Fan received the Hunger Hero Award from the World Food Programme in recognition of his commitment to and leadership in fighting hunger worldwide.

Dr. Fan received a PhD in applied economics from the University of Minnesota and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Nanjing Agricultural University in China.

Dr. Guy FAURE currently works as an expert at DEVCO (European Commission) in Brussels to strengthen the research for innovation portfolio. His activities are aiming at supporting (i) the DeSIRA initiative enhancing research and innovation in Africa, Asia and Latin America (230 millions and 40 projects), (ii) the VCA4D project (value chain analysis for development).
He was director of the “Innovation and Development in the Agricultural and Agri-food systems” Joint Research Unit (CIRAD, INRA, SupAgro) in Montpellier (France). The unit carries out research on innovation system, capacity to innovate of rural actors, impact of innovation on rural development.

In the field of management science he is conducting research on several topics:
• Farming system: analysis of farmers practices and strategies to achieve their objectives and manage their resources
• Farmers’ organizations: practices and strategies to provide technical-economic-social services to farmers and to improve coordination mechanisms with downstream actors within value chains;
• Advisory services : Participatory design of methods and tools to advise and support farmers in their decision making process, analysis and support to strengthen public or private advisory extension service providers, analysis and recommendation to improve the coordination mechanisms between advisory actors.
• Innovation support services : analysis of innovation process and innovation system to improve actors’ capacities to innovate by fostering and coordinating interactions between actors such as research centres, advisory services, famers’ organizations, NGO and private companies.
• Impact of research : analysis of impact of research to improve research centres capacities to do research for development

He conducts research especially in Western Africa and Latin America.

Name of Business: Women Farmers Advancement Network- WOFAN enterprises
Position in the Company: Founder and Executive Director
Country: Nigeria
About the business: WOFAN was founded in 1993 with 28 women and now has over 4,500 groups across 7 Nigerian states where 80% of
this membership are empowered to function productively across the entire agricultural value chain, thereby creating over 5000 functional agribusinesses to poor and female headed households.
Salamatu is an Ashoka fellow, Chevening scholar as Gender & Development specialist and a plant Pathologist. She led the USAID-Nigeria- Water project that targeted 33,000 households in 2011. Currently lead consultant for UNDP-GEF-Food security Project targeting 42,000 youths & recipient of United Nations Information Services “Rare GEM AWARD on MDGs”.

Ph.D. in Applied Computing from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) (2003), holds a master’s degree in Automation from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (1996) at Unicamp, and a bachelor’s degree in Systems Analysis from the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (1988). Since 1989, she has been a researcher at Embrapa Agricultural Informatics, renamed Embrapa Digital Agriculture as of September 2021, where she has led projects in software engineering, artificial intelligence, and scientific computing applied to agriculture. She has approximately 100 technical-scientific publications and 25 software applications on topics including expert systems, abductive logic, fuzzy logic, machine learning techniques, data mining, and text mining for animal management and plant disease diagnosis. She served as General Manager of Embrapa Digital Agriculture from July 2015 to January 2022. From August 2009 to March 2015, she was Head of Research and Development at Embrapa Digital Agriculture. Currently, she is the Responsible Researcher/Director of the Center for Science for Development in Digital Agriculture at Fapesp (CCD-AD/SemeAr) and Coordinator of the AgroDigital Thematic Chamber in the ILPF (Integration of Crop, Livestock, and Forest) network. She has additional training in managerial skills development from Fundação Dom Cabral and advanced management from Amana-Key. She was a member of the Precision and Digital Agriculture Commission of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply (MAPA) and a member of the Agro 4.0 Chamber, created by the ministries of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply (MAPA) and Science, Technology, and Innovations (MCTI) (2018-2022). She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Brazil6.0 Ecosystem, the Board of Directors of SBIAGRO, the Board of Directors of the Eldorado Research Institute, the Advisory Board of Faesp/Senar-SP, the Strategic Committee of the National Agro-Photonics Laboratory (LANAF) of Embrapa, and the External Advisory Committee of Embrapa Rice and Beans. In recent years, she has also been involved in the Agtech movement, participating in acceleration and mentoring programs for startups to contribute to the consolidation of the innovation ecosystem for Digital Agriculture in the country.

Professor – Ruminant Nutrition
Associate Vice President – Food Systems Institute
Director of Strategic Partnerships – Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems
Dr. Adesogan is a Professor of Ruminant Nutrition, the Director of the Food Systems Institute, and the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems. His research focuses on sustainably increasing animal-source food production and consumption; improving forage production, quality, and preservation; and using feed additives, forages, and byproducts to sustainably improve animal production and health.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Board of Trustees officially announced Dr. Yvonne Pinto as IRRI’s new Director General, effective April 22, 2024. Dr. Pinto will also serve as the CGIAR Regional Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific and Country Representative for the Philippines.

Dr. Pinto brings a wealth of experience and expertise to IRRI and CGIAR, having previously excelled in roles such as Director of Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability at Eagle Genomics Ltd., and Managing Director of ALINE Impact Limited. Dr. Cao Duc Phat, Chair of IRRI’s Board of Trustees, said, “Dr. Pinto brings a wealth of experience and expertise to both IRRI and CGIAR. Her life’s work has been dedicated to improving agriculture systems through science, and she has a proven track record in innovation and its commercialization, ecosystems management, gender, monitoring, evaluation, and learning, environmental, social, and governance, design and implementation, capacity building, international development, and policy influence. These experiences will surely contribute to achieving our overall mission.”

Through her work, Dr. Pinto has collaborated with both private and non-government agencies stationed in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. In her most recent role, she led a team that developed a unique AI-augmented software that aims to understand the microbiome in soil, plant, farm, fork, animal, and human gut. The initiative contributes towards data-driven health, disease prevention, and a generative bio-economy with more sustainable farming solutions.

Dr. Pinto has a rich background in plant genetics and has worked in various positions with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gatsby Foundation, UN FAO, and the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College. She sat on various Boards, Program Advisory, and Steering Committees, most notably, as former Chair of the WorldFish Board of Trustees. She also previously contributed to creating the strategy for One CGIAR…

Ms Elizabeth Nsimadala, a Ugandan agriprenuer and smallholder farmer is the President of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF). She is Africa’s representative on the Board of the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO), the past President of the PanAfrican Farmers Organization (PAFO) and a task force member of the AU-EU Cooperation in Agriculture. Ms Nsimadala is also the Vice President of the Africa FAO One Country One Priority Commodity (FAO – OCOP) and a member of the Global steering committee of the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF). She serves on the steering committee of the Pan African Agribusiness Apex Chamber (PAAAC) and the Technical Committee of the Common African Agro-Parks (CAAPs).

Ms Nsimadala sits on the Board of ACTESA/COMESA, chairs the Advisory Board of the National Alliance of Agricultural Cooperatives in Uganda (NAAC) and serves on several national and local farmers’ and cooperative platforms.

She holds an MSc. in Project Planning and Management from Ndejje University and a BA in Social Sciences from Makerere University, both in Uganda. She has experience in leadership, cooperative development, agro-processing, agricultural marketing, logistics management and administrative law.

Ms Nsimadala is a passionate cooperator who has been championing climate change and digitalization of the agriculture sector. As a result of her efforts and support to Farmers Organizations, she has received several local and global recognitions and awards.

– Great international experience and a strong scientific background;
– My PhD thesis received the Vale-Capes Award of Science and Sustainability in Brazil;
– Born and raised in a farmer’s family which was part of the development of Brazilian agriculture;
– Founder of a startup with the mission to bridge the gap between science and Brazilian agriculture, supporting companies, particularly international ones, in the development/introduction of new products;
– 13 years leading important international and public/private partnerships with great institutions in Brazil, the US, and Africa;
– Worked with the largest forest companies in Brazil to improve the sustainability and productivity of planted forests;
– Led a large project between Brazil and the US for the use of synchrotron-based techniques for environmental studies in Brazil;
– As part of an advisory group to the European Commission, wrote the policy paper that should guide the partnership between AU and EU for the green transition in Africa.
– Supporting the development of this nascent great university in Morocco – Mohammed VI Polytechnic University;
– Working on the innovation culture/mindset and framework to support OCP’s sustainable development and innovation goals and to connect our vibrant innovation ecosystem.

Dr. Ravi Khetarpal is the Executive Secretary of Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) since 2017. He has many years of experience in strategic planning, partnerships and institutional growth for promoting the agricultural innovation ecosystem. In his current role he facilitates and promotes networking, capacity building, knowledge management, policy issues and partnerships among countries and Institutions in the region, and facilitates implementation of global and regional projects on agriculture innovation system, phytosanitary compliances, pesticide risk mitigation, agribiotechnology and bioresources, agriculture science technology indicators and risk mitigation for stakeholders in the region. In the past he had served for NARES (ICAR, India) and also as Regional Director of CABI (South Asia).

He holds PhD in Life Sciences (Plant Pathology) from University of Paris. He worked as a Consultant of twelve FAO/World Bank/USDA Projects in Asian countries on biosecurity and compliances to SPS Agreement of WTO and represented Asia as Developing Country Expert in SPS working Group of STDF/WTO. He Chaired the Tropical Agricultural Platform (a G-20 Initiative) from 2020-2022 and is currently serving as a Chair of Global Forum of Agricultural Research and Innovation with Secretariat at FAO.

Dr. Tarifa A. Alzaabi joined ICBA as Deputy Director General in August 2019. She has 20 years of executive and leadership experience in higher education institutions, developing services and strategies through innovation, research, and capacity development.

A social scientist by training, in her current role, Dr. Tarifa A. Alzaabi promotes sustainable agricultural development and transformation of food systems through capacity development, women and youth engagement, as well as agripreneurship. She has launched several programs focused on capacity development such as the ICBA’s Youth Engagement Society (ICBA YES) and contributed to the development of the Arab Women Leaders in Agriculture (AWLA) fellowship program and the training of AWLA fellows.

Dr. Tarifa A. Alzaabi has also presented ICBA’s research-for-development work at many major international conferences and forums, including the international workshop on land degradation and habitat loss on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Saudi Arabia; the international workshop titled “Emergent Materials & Water Energy Nexus: Concepts, Methodologies and Future Applications” by The Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA); and the Global 24-hour Digital Marathon: Food for Earth by FAO, the Future Food Institute and FAO E-learning Academy. She was also part of a Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics workshop organized by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to support women in STEM education.

Dr. Tarifa A. Alzaabi serves on advisory committees and groups, including the UAE’s Ag-Tech Development Committee which aims to transform the country’s agricultural technology sector and enhance domestic food security, and the Global SME Policy Network (GSPN), which is a global initiative that aims to provide data-driven policies for government and international organizations for SMEs from G20 countries. She also participated in the International Forum on Innovation in Agri-Food Systems to achieve the SDGs organized by FAO, which intended to bring model examples of innovation and digital solutions to support smallholder farmers and agripreneurs.

Prior to joining ICBA, she was Director of Dubai Women’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology. She is also an edupreneur and a winner of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum SME Award as Businesswoman of the Year 2015. Most recently, she won an Emirates Women Award 2020 in the category Best Career Achievements.

Dr. Tarifa A. Alzaabi is a graduate of the UAE Government Leaders Program (Executive Leadership) and is certified as a trainer by the UAE Government Leaders Program to represent the UAE internationally and deliver training to local and foreign governments. She holds a Ph.D. in Education (Management and Educational Leadership) from the British University of Dubai and an Executive MBA in Business Administration with honors from the University of Sharjah and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Business Administration from the Higher Colleges of Technology.

Dr. Tarifa A. Alzaabi has represented the UAE at various local and international conferences and has co-authored several education-focused studies and academic papers.

Holds a degree in Food Engineering and a Master’s in Food Science from Unicamp, with a specialization in Nutritional Planning from Ghent University, Belgium, and in Consumer Studies from Guelph University, Canada. Represents MAPA on the Codex Alimentarius Food Labeling Committee (Canada) and the Codex Alimentarius Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology (Japan). Serves on the FAO/WHO expert panel for Food Safety of Genetically Modified Foods and the OECD Task Force for the safety assessment of new foods and feeds. She is a researcher at Embrapa Food Technology, where she coordinates the institution’s participation in the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research of the World Bank) program on Food Biofortification for Improved Human Nutrition, and also coordinates the Biofortification Network in Brazil. She works in the areas of food security, biofortification, and biosafety of genetically modified foods.

 

Juliana joined Nature Food in 2019. She holds an M.Sc. degree in Environmental Protection and Agricultural Food Production and a Ph.D. in Global Food Security from the Institute of Land Use Economics in the Tropics and Subtropics at the University of Hohenheim. Throughout her research, she combined quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the links between farm systems, land use change, the diffusion of low-carbon agricultural practices and sustainability. During her post-docs at Boston University and Wageningen University, she conducted studies spanning socioeconomic and technical factors affecting stakeholders’ decision-making, in support of solutions for complex multi-scale problems related to food systems. Her most recent work targeted the development of food systems transformation pathways and the operationalization of the UN SDGs. Juliana is based in the Berlin office.

Professor Salwa Karboune is a graduate from the University of Marseille, France, in Food Biotechnology. Her main research expertise is in the design and development of new “green” approaches for the synthesis of novel functional food ingredients that can improve the quality and the functionality of food products. Her research program is based on a multidisciplinary approach combining food chemistry, enzyme technology and foodomics and focuses on carbohydrate/protein-based bioactive molecules. Such research is important as the structural and molecular roles of oligo/polysaccharides and proteins in biological systems are increasingly being recognized. Her research work also contributes to the sustainability of the Agri-Food sector by developing innovative biocatalytic approaches to generating highly added value functional ingredients from food-processing by-products. She has also an interest in the development of integrated approaches to translate knowledge into practical applications and new food products.

Her multidisciplinary research program has garnered national and international recognition through the sustained excellence of the research her group conducted. Her research has attracted funding from CFI, FRQNT, NSERC and MAPAQ. Since 2017, she has been the scientific director of The Consortium for Research, Innovation and Transformation (RITA) of Agrifood, an inclusive platform that establishes collaboration between research institutions and the food processing industry. At the national and International level, she is a member of the CFI Science Advisory Board, CIFST’s Scientific Expert Council, INAF executive board, INITIA foundation board and IFT Higher Education Review board. In 2015-2016, she chaired the NSERC Scholarships and Fellowships Selection Committee for Plant and Animal Biology. She is currently a committee member of NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Selection Committee for Biological Systems and Functions. She also serves on editorial and advisory boards for journals in her field. The research of her group has been covered in media, such as McGill Reporter, CBC and Journal of Montreal.

Professor Karboune is passionate about science and active learning, and she is a strong supporter of hands-on projects. She successfully mentored teams of students to first place prizes at the prestigious IFT Food Product Development competitions.

Ismail Serageldin (/ˈsɛrəɡɛldɪn/; born 1944 in Giza, Egypt), Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the new Library of Alexandria, inaugurated in 2002, is currently, Emeritus Librarian, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Library of Alexandria. He serves as Chair or Member of a number of advisory committees for academic, research, scientific and international institutions and civil society efforts, and serves on the Advisory Committee of the World Social Science Report for 2013 and 2016, as well as the UNESCO-supported World Water Scenarios (2013) and the executive council of the Encyclopedia of Life (2010) and Chairs the Executive Council of the World Digital Library (2010). He also co-chaired the African Union’s high level panel for Biotechnology (2006) and again for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in 2012–2013, and was a member of the ICANN Panel for the review of the internet future (2013).

Before that he notably co-chaired the Inter-Academy Panel on Capacity Building for Science in (2003-2004) and was a member of the High Level group for the Alliance of Civilizations convened by the Secretary General of the United Nations (2006-2007). He has held many important international positions, including Vice President of the World Bank (1992-2000), and Chairman Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR, 1994–2000), founder and former Chairman of the Global Water Partnership (GWP, 1996–2000) and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP), a micro finance program (1995-2000) and was professor of the International Savoirs Contre Pauvreté (Knowledge Against Poverty), at Collège de France, Paris, and distinguished professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Serageldin is sometimes referred to as the “most intelligent man in Egypt”.[1]

Serageldin has published over 100 books and monographs and over 500 papers on a variety of topics, including biotechnology, rural development, sustainability, and the value of science to society. He has hosted a cultural program on television in Egypt (over 130 episodes) and developed a TV Science Series in Arabic and English. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering from Cairo University and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Harvard University and has received 38 honorary doctorates.[2]

In August 2017, an Egyptian judge sentenced Serageldin to three and a half years in prison, for alleged management decisions he made prior to 2011.[3] Over 300 eminent persons, including 90 Nobel Prize winners and 20 current and former heads of state, signed a letter supporting Serageldin and objecting to the verdict,[4] and the case was appealed.[5]

On 26 December 2017, the Appeals Court delivered its verdict and dismissed all the charges against Ismail Serageldin. The Court found that all the accusations were baseless. Ismail Serageldin is now declared innocent of all the allegations made against him during the previous seven years.[6]

A driven and passionate award-winning young research professional in the field of VR/AR/MR development at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), an international research-for-development organization focusing on the sustainable use of water and land resources in developing countries. I support research projects on two initiatives namely, diversification in East and Southern Africa also known as Ukama Ustawi (UU) and Digital Innovation in their development of a Digital Twin for the Limpopo River Basin integrating virtual reality and other AI technologies.

I have experience as a sessional lecturer teaching an introductory course in Virtual and Augmented Reality to third-year film and television students at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. I am also a Master’s candidate with a palpable desire to conduct research with a concentration on Immersive and Interactive Media, particularly, its social impact and sustainability on various commercial industries through an inter-disciplinary study across art, science and technology. An ambition for research was further amplified from my participation in various exchange programs in Europe in Sweden, Greece and Germany. I am also the recipient of the Best New Media Project 2023 award as well as Wits Arts Winner for DLA Bootcamp for a VR documentary I produced AFRICA 360. Moreover, I have extensive experience in AI creative technologies and computing in VR/AR, multi-media content creation and educational technologies.

Aly Abousabaa is Regional Director, Central and West Asia and North Africa, CGIAR, as well as Director General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). He is a strategic leader in sustainable development, climate change advocacy, and agriculture research in global dry regions. His scope covers North Africa and the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central and West Asia. In addition to being an active reformer both within ICARDA and One CGIAR, he promotes the global scaling of dryland agriculture innovations to improve the livelihoods resilience of smallholder family farmers under a climate crisis. Prior to joining CGIAR to head ICARDA, he was Vice President of the African Development Bank (AfDB). He led the preparation and execution of the Bank’s key strategies in the areas of agriculture, water, natural resources management, climate change, infrastructure, women, youth and governance. Through mobilizing and managing a portfolio of USD 11 billion, his work made a transformational impact on the lives of millions of people across Africa. At the AfDB, he also helped coordinate climate change negotiations in Africa and acted as Gender Champion. He continues to sit on several international boards and has built up a personal global network of international partners in development. He holds a master’s in civil engineering from Montana State University in the US and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Alexandria University.

Ravinder (Ravi) Khetarpal is an Executive Director of Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), Bangkok since 2017.   Engaged in strategic planning for institutional growth and facilitates and promotes networking, capacity building, policy interventions, knowledge management and partnerships in the region for agri-food system transformation. Co-ordinating and executing a number of regional/ global projects sponsored by USDA, WTO, FAO, ACIAR, EU, GFAR etc in Asia and the Pacific countries, including projects on agricultural innovation system, inclusive digital transformation, phytosanitary compliances to WTO norms, collective action on forgotten foods, strengthening sanitary and phytosanitary compliances for International seed movement, pesticide risk mitigation and so also on One Health.  Worked for National Agricultural Research System in India for three decades mainly contributing towards biosecurity, plant quarantine and germplasm health. Served for CABI – South Asia as Regional Director for seven years. Also served as Consultant for 11 projects of FAO, UNDP and World Bank on compliances of SPS Agreement of WTO.  Serving as the Chairman of Global Forum of Agricultural Research and Innovation.

Joaquin Lozano is Regional Director, Latin America and the Caribbean. From Mexico, he has more than 25 years of experience in international cooperation, political economy, public policy and development. 

In the agriculture and rural development sector, he was the Director of the Latin America and the Caribbean Division in UN’s IFAD, based in Rome, until 2018. He had joined IFAD in 2012 as Sub-regional Coordinator and Programme Manager for Central America, based in Guatemala. In 2014, he received the Extraordinary Leadership IFAD Staff Award. He has also been Senior Evaluation Consultant for FAO in Latin America. 

At the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), he was Lead Specialist for Financial Institutions and Country Coordinator for Mexico. In his country’s Federal Government he served as Head of the Infrastructure Policy and Public-Private Partnerships Unit at the Presidential Office and held other leading positions at the Ministry of Finance and at the National Council for Science and Technology. 

Prior to joining CGIAR, he had been working at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico´s leading private university and amongst the top 5 in the region, in charge of the institution´s strategic alumni engagement, and liaising joint projects with key international organizations like the World Bank. He lectures Macroeconomics and has been awarded the Excellency Diploma. He holds a PhD and a Master of Science in Political Economy from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom, a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Tecnológico de Monterrey, and continuous education Diplomas from Harvard University and the University of Vienna.

Jelle Van Loon is an agricultural engineer with a PhD in biosystems modelling, and over a decade of experience in agricultural research for development in Latin America. He currently serves as Associate Director for Latin America of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood System Program, leading research initiatives aimed at building pathways towards resilient food systems and long-term rural development. Leading the innovations for development team, he coordinates a transdisciplinary team, including aspects like farmers market linkages and responsible sourcing, capacity development, and community-based outreach and explores the multiple interfaces between adaption, adoption and scaling from a socio-technical viewpoint in research for agricultural development.

In addition, Jelle has ample expertise in scale-appropriate mechanization from smallholder farm solutions to precision agriculture applications, has actively progressed to work in innovation systems thinking, and in addition he serves CIMMYT as representative for Latin America in which he focusses this line of work to establish impactful partnerships and innovative business models.

 

Dr Christopher Trisos is a Senior Research Officer at the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). His research focus is on the intersection of climate change, biodiversity and human well-being. Dr Trisos also directs the Climate Risk Lab and the newly formed African Synthesis Centre for Climate Change, Environment and Development (ASCEND) both hosted by UCT. He is a Co-ordinating Lead Author for climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability for the Africa region of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 6th Assessment Report and a member of the Core Writing Team of the IPCC Synthesis Report. He has also consulted on climate change risk and adaptation for the World Bank.

The Climate Risk Lab builds tools to predict when and where climate change risks appear, and how society can respond to climate risks in a way that is rapid, just and equitable. ASCEND provides specialised infrastructure for enabling collaborative teamwork across research, policy, and practice that integrates diverse data and knowledge, and accelerates solutions-oriented research for enhancing action on climate change and development.

Before moving to ACDI, Christopher spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center at University of Maryland, where his research focused on biodiversity, climate change and geoengineering. He completed his doctorate at Oxford. He teaches a graduate course on interdisciplinary and actionable science.

Tabea studied Geography, Political Science and Environmental Management in Berlin and Porto and holds a PhD in Geography from Humboldt University of Berlin. She developed the work for her thesis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and was awarded the “Outstanding Young Scientist” Award by the European Geosciences Union for her work.

Before joining Global Solutions, Tabea was Head of Vulnerability and Adaptation, Co-Head of Science and Co-Head of Programme Strategies at Climate Analytics. She was invited for a Research Fellowship with the Socio-Economic Transformation Group at THE NEW INSTITUTE in Hamburg for the Academic Year 2022/23.

Tabea was also a lead author of the chapter “Water” and a drafting author of the “Summary for Policymakers (SPM)” of the recently published IPCC 6th Assessment Report of Working Group II.

She has published in a number of peer-reviewed journals on topics around climate impacts, vulnerability and adaptation as well as loss and damage

An Notenbaert is a livestock systems specialist with a focus on targeting, land use planning, environmental impact assessment and systems analysis. She has more than 20 years of experience in livestock research for development with a special interest in livestock-environment interactions. She coordinates CIAT’s Tropical Forages Program’s activities in Africa, including several multi-partner R4D projects.

Dr Wambo Yamdjeu is the Director of Knowledge Systems at AKADEMIYA2063. He is an international Agricultural Economist and rural development specialist with over 20 years of experience. Until December 28, 2021 and prior to joining A2063 in his current capacity, Augustin spent 08 years at the AUDA-NEPAD working on various aspects of state capabilities development, strategic policy reforms, facilitation of private sector engagement in the food systems, program design and implementation in the context of translating the political visioning of agriculture transformation encapsulated in the Malabo Declaration, into a set of tangible actions. As such, he has made extensive contributions into knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation, multi-stakeholder engagement platform facilitation, and tailored coaching across different governance levels of the CAADP process.

Before joining the AUDA-NEPAD in September 2013 for the second time, Dr Wambo Yamdjeu had served at the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development as their Task Leader (Advisor) on CAADP and ARD in Africa. This tenure was an eye opener that made him familiar with the political economy, the aid/development effectiveness agenda and discourse. As a versatile thinker, who pays attention to details, Dr Wambo Yamdjeu has increasingly gained interest in the nexus between climate change and the transition towards our changing food systems as the continent seeks to ensure resilience and sustainability.

Always keen on making valuable contributions in both scholar debate and practical field endeavors to problem solving in Africa, Augustin holds a Ph.D. (with distinctions) in Agricultural Economics from the University of Paris-Sud 11, an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from the National Advanced School of Agronomy (ENSA) of Montpellier, France, and an M.Sc. in Agric Engineering from the University of Dschang, Cameroon. Augustin demonstrates fluency in professional French and English.

Kristin Davis is a Senior Research Fellow in the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit, based in South Africa. She conducts research on agricultural extension and education, behavior change, gender, nature-positive solutions, human capital, and agricultural innovation systems. She has authored some 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and policy briefs. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension (JAEE), and was the architect of the New Extensionist Learning Kit, a set of modules containing core competencies for the global extension agent.

Rui Benfica is a Senior Research Fellow in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. Prior to joining IFPRI in 2019, he worked with the Research and Impact Assessment Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), where he undertook research in areas relevant for the overarching goal of overcoming poverty and achieving food security and nutrition, development and dissemination/outreach of policy research outputs, the design and implementation of impact assessments of the Fund’s interventions in client countries in Asia and Latin America, and economy-wide modeling analysis to inform IFAD’s Country Strategies. He was also Associate Professor of International Development at Michigan State University and worked on research in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with the Food Security Group (FSG) on a wide range of issues including policy analysis and evaluation of development interventions aimed at promoting income diversification, reducing poverty, fostering gender equality and women’s empowerment, and promoting food and nutrition security. Early in his career, he worked at the World Bank as an Economist with the Gender and Development Group and as Poverty Economist in the Africa Region, Mozambique Country Office, where he engaged in research and policy dialogue with the Ministries of Planning and Development and of Agriculture and Rural Development, undertaking poverty assessments, impact evaluations, and poverty and social impact analyses.

Rui holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University, with a focus on International Development, Commodity Market Analysis, and Quantitative Development Policy Research. He is a member of several professional organizations, has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, and served as founder and co-editor of the IFAD Research Series.

Dr Sédi Boukaka is an economist with a research focus on household welfare measurement and impact assessments of rural and agricultural development programs, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa. Holding a PhD in Economics and Finance from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, she is currently serving as a Research Coordinator at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) based in Nairobi, Kenya. There, she oversees the coordination of household surveys for various initiatives and projects. Her work extends to providing technical backstopping to data collection firms, assisting in tool development, and contributing to impactful reports and research articles, leveraging her academic background to support agricultural development and food security.

Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa is Director at the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union (AU) Commission, Addis Ababa. He works with AU Member States, Regional Economic Communities and other partners to boost rural economic and agricultural sector development by supporting the adoption of strategies, policies and programs. Before joining the AU, he was the Head of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Eastern and Southern Africa Office in Addis Ababa. He was the founding coordinator of Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System node for Eastern and Central Africa. Prior to joining IFPRI he held key positions relating to agricultural research and policy in his country, Uganda. Dr. Bahiigwa holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia (USA), a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota (USA) and a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Makerere University (Uganda).

Siaka Minayaha Coulibaly holds an Agriculture Engineer degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie (ENSA-Abidjan) and a degree in Agri-Food Industries from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Industries Agro-Alimentaires (Montpellier-France). He has held progressively responsible technical and managerial roles in both public and private organizations of the palm oil industry. In 2010, he becomes technical advisor at the Ministry of Agriculture of Côte d’Ivoire. Shortly after he takes over the functions of Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Agriculture. His tasks include providing substantial inputs in agricultural initiatives at the national level, such as the National Office for Rice and the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program. Mr. Coulibaly is from Côte d’Ivoire.

Jacobo Arango is a Senior Scientist with the Tropical Forages Program at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Lead Author of the 6th Assessment Report on mitigation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Deputy Lead of the CGIAR initiative on Livestock and Climate.
His team focuses on nitrogen and carbon cycling processes in tropical forage-based crop-livestock systems with a particular focus on greenhouse (GHG) mitigation and improvement of resource use efficiency. He also works on improving forage quality characteristics and their impact on reducing GHG emissions from cattle.
He is a molecular biologist and has a doctorate in cell biology of plants from the University of Freiburg, Germany.

John Ulimwengu is a Senior Research Fellow in IFPRI’s Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He currently works on food systems mapping in selected African countries. His research interests include poverty dynamics, agricultural productivity, and rural development. Since 2007, John has been involved in strategic research on the transformation of food systems in Africa under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) agenda, and has served as the Africa-wide coordinator of the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS). He has co-developed an interactive spatial typology tool for food and nutrition security being used in several countries. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics and master’s degree in Economics from Ohio State University, as well as a master’s degree in Development Economics from Williams College, Massachusetts.

 

Dr. Ousmane Badiane, Distinguished Fellow of the African Association of Agricultural Economists, recipient of the Africa Food Prize in 2015 and member of the World Academy of Sciences, is the Executive Chairperson of AKADEMIYA2063. He has over 30 years of experience, as academic and a practitioner, in international development. As the Director for Africa at the International Food Policy Research Institute, he was instrumental in developing and guiding the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme.
As Lead Specialist for Food and Agricultural Policy at the World Bank, he served as advisor to the Vice President for Africa and originated projects with funding ranging from US$5 million to US$150 million. Between research and development finance, Dr. Badiane taught Economics of Development in Africa at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies for many years.
Dr. Badiane received PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Kiel in Germany. He is also recipient of a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of KwaZulu Natal.

Samuel Benin is the Acting, Director for Africa in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He conducts research on national strategies and public investment for accelerating food systems transformation in Africa and provides analytical support to the African Union’s CAADP Biennial Review. Sam originally joined IFPRI in 2004 as a Research Fellow and Leader of the Uganda Strategy Support Program for the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of key agricultural and rural development strategies. He later relocated to the Washington, DC, office to lead the research program on Pro-Poor Public Investment, focusing on assessing the impact of public investments, policies, and programs on poverty reduction, growth, and other human development indicators in Africa. He then managed the inter-Center Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) for the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) and the Statistics on Public Expenditures for Economic Development (SPEED) database. Sam then became a Senior Research Fellow in 2017 and Deputy Division Director of the Africa Regional Office later that year, assisting the Director in managing the office’s research portfolio and providing intellectual leadership and guidance for strategic research areas and capacity building activities. Sam earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Ghana, Legon, a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a PhD from the University of California, Davis, specializing in Econometrics, Natural Resource Economics, and Development Economics.

Expertise
Research on water and development in Asia and Africa, with a particular focus on political economy, rural water development and transboundary river basin management.
Before IWMI
Head of Water Policy Programme at ODI, Research Fellow at IDS and Director, GWI East Africa at CARE.
Languages
English, basic French and Arabic

Augusto Castro-Nunez heads the Low-Emissions Food Systems research theme at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. Its mission is to develop and scale research-based solutions that contribute to transforming food and land systems into low emitters of greenhouse gases and delivering sustainable development co-benefits, especially in conflict-affected countries in the Global South.
He leads Mitigate+ work package 4, which works on scaling innovations with the potential for limiting greenhouse gas emissions from food systems. He also leads AgriLAC Resiliente work package 3, which works on integrating climate change mitigation and sustainable development goals in agrifood systems.
A holder of a doctoral degree from the University of Copenhagen, Augusto is a former climate negotiator of Peru.
He also led the Sustainable Land Use Project funded by Germany’s International Climate Initiative whose aim was to develop context-specific, zero-deforestation business models that could be implemented at scale and contribute to efforts aimed at reducing forest loss and building peace in Colombia.

Bridget Kakuwa holds a Master’s in communication for Development (MCD), Bachelor of Arts in Library & Information Science (BALIS), Diploma in Secondary School Teaching in French & Civic Education and Certificate in Diplomatic Practice, Protocol & Public Relations. Bridget has published on communication strategies used to promote regional integration in Africa, education for sustainable development, WASH, HIV & AIDS, Education, Climate Change and Agriculture. Her professional interests are in knowledge and information management, participatory communication; Agriculture, climate change, water, sanitation and hygiene education; organizational learning, People with disabilities; children broadcasting /television and film production. She has worked as Knowledge Management, Partnerships and Communication Advisor/Manager for FHI 360, Education Development Academy (EDC) and John Snow Inc. She also worked as Regional Communications Officer for Feed the Future Harmonized Seed Regulations Project in Southern Africa. To kick start her career in information management, she worked as Electronic Librarian for the Regional Integration Support Programme at COMESA Secretariat in Zambia. Before joining the multi-sectoral field, she worked as a secondary school teacher of French and civic education.

At the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, I leverage on my experience of working in the public and private sector to leverage upon CG wide science, and use geospatial/remote sensing data (specifically related to agroclimatology, environmental and crop productivity data) in combination with crop management practices (“on-farm”) data from farmers through existing digital solutions, to develop products and services for the financial sector (asset managers, impact investors, banks etc.), to finance agriculture and food system transformation, so as to improve its sustainability, climate adaption capabilities and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.
My work enables actors in the agriculture and food value chain to unlock financing for sustainable agriculture practices, while on the other hand enables financial institutions to align their investments with global mandates, regulations and targets on sustainability, adaptation and mitigation.

Christopher Ochieng Ojiewo aims to enhance enhance varietal turnover to mitigate losses from evolving climate patterns, especially in dry areas with the poorest of the poor farmers, while addressing pest and disease complexes, and enabling public-private partnerships for enhanced seed delivery. Core to his sense of purpose is: improving productivity and profitability for smallholder farmers; gender equity; youth empowerment; nutrition security; knowledge sharing; and solving the perpetual problem of food, nutrition and income insecurity of the less privileged in developing countries. He works to establish a robust system that ensures sustainable, timely availability of and access to quality seed of dryland cereals and grain legumes at affordable prices through the participation of multiple stakeholders along the seed value chain. He is committed to gender equity as a guiding principle, considering the critical role women play in choosing legume and cereal varieties and seed sources.

Dr. Christine Chege is an Agri-Nutrition and Food System Scientist working within the Food Environment and Consumer Behavior (FECB) Research Area. She has over 10 years of progressive experience working on sustainable and healthy diets, nutrition, Agri-Nutrition interventions, market systems, value chains, consumer research, linking farmers to markets, behavioral experiments, and private sector engagement. She has implemented projects in several countries across sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, Nigeria, Senegal) and Asia (Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Indonesia).

Christine has a PhD in Agricultural Economics (with a focus on Agri-Nutrition and food security) from Göttingen University, Germany. She has a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Pretoria University, South Africa and a Bachelors’ degree in Agricultural Economics from Egerton University, Kenya.

Prior to joining the Alliance, Christine worked with the International Potato Center (CIP), focusing on consumption of bio-fortified vitamin A rich Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) especially by pregnant and lactating women and children under five. Before that, Christine worked with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) where she focused on consumer acceptability for the Quality Protein Maize (QPM). She conducted behavioral experiments with consumers to understand their willingness to pay for the QPM and sensory testing to understand preferred attributes for the different QPM varieties. She also worked with Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and development.

Christine is a published author of numerous scientific peer-reviewed papers. Her current area of interest in research for development is ensuring sustainable and healthy diets for the resource poor consumers especially in the urban areas and strengthening value chains and market systems to offer nutritious, affordable and accessible foods to these vulnerable consumers.

Ciniro Costa Jr is a Scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT of the CGIAR. Previously worked as the Science Officer for the Low-Emission Development research theme for CCAFS, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. Ciniro Costa Jr received a Doctoral degree in Sciences from University of São Paulo (2014) and worked as a Research Scholar at the University of New Hampshire (2013) and as a Postdoc fellow at The Woods Hole Research Center (2014-2015).

In this position, Ciniro leads and contributes to several Alliance and CGIAR initiatives and projects, especially under the Multifunctional Landscapes, Tropical Forages, and the CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (Lead for Impact). These activities encompass research, policy development, team and project management, and fundraising, with various partners across Latin America, Africa, and Asia, including multilateral institutions (e.g., The World Bank, IADB, and ADB), development and donor agencies (e.g., DFID, BMZ, USAID, GIZ, Bezos Earth Fund, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and FAO), and private sector entities. Ciniro supports a wide range of areas, including greenhouse gas (GHG) and soil carbon monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV); roadmaps; climate policy analysis; capacity building; stakeholder engagement; and climate finance (fund design and implementation, and carbon markets).

As the Impact Lead at the CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance, Ciniro oversees the careful design and execution of climate finance initiatives. My role involves managing the MRV during financial mechanisms design and implementation, ensuring alignment with sustainability objectives. Ciniro also navigates the complexities of carbon markets, strategically positioning our organization to leverage emerging opportunities in climate finance, and shaping effective strategies for impactful climate investments.

Ciniro Costa Jr. serves as Brazil’s nominated expert to the UNFCCC for Agriculture, Forestry, and Land Use (AFOLU), in addition to being a member of Technical Working Groups for both the Climate Bonds Initiative and Verra.

Clemens Breisinger is Program Leader for the Kenya Strategy Support Program and a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Previously, Clemens led IFPRI’s Middle East and North Africa team and was based in Cairo from 2016 to 2021, where he also established and led IFPRI’s country program office for Egypt. Clemens, now based in Nairobi, is also the Country Program Leader for Kenya and has co-led the establishment of IFPRI’s new country program office in Sudan. The country programs develop research-based policy solutions, build coalitions for policy change, and co-create innovative analytical tools in close collaboration with ministries of planning, social solidarity, and agriculture; statistical agencies and universities; and regional and international partners such as AGRA, the European Union, UN agencies, USAID, and the World Bank. Clemens’ research, capacity building, and policy advisory work covers a broad range of issues related to food systems transformation and poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, climate change, conflict, and social protection. Together with colleagues and partners, Clemens has produced more than 100 widely read and quoted publications. Clemens received his PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

Languages spoken: English, French, German

Consolata Musita is a Research Fellow within the Food Environment and Consumer Behaviour Lever, having joined the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT IN 2020. Her area of focus linking food systems to dietary diversity and nutrition outcomes. Currently, she is working on a project called HealthyFoodAfrica (HFA) which is an EU funded project that aims to improve nutrition in Africa by strengthening the diversity, sustainability, resilience, and connectivity of food systems in ten African cities (what is called Food System Labs) in 6 countries (Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia, Ghana and Benin). Her work involves supporting nutrition work in these food system labs to improve nutrition and mainstream healthy dietary patterns through increased consumer awareness, behaviour change communication and nutrition sensitive interventions. She is actively involved in implementation of strategies that enhance consumer demand for nutritious food, including development of context-adapted nutrition education materials and strategies, community trainings and multi-stakeholder engagements. Additionally, she is involved in food environment assessments and how they impact on dietary intake.
Consolata holds a BSc. in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics from Kenyatta University and a MSc. in Food Safety and Quality from the University of Nairobi and is currently pursuing her PhD in Applied Human Nutrition at the University of Nairobi.

David J. Spielman is the director of IFPRI’s Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit and has been with the institute since 2004. His research agenda covers a range of topics including agriculture and rural development policy; agricultural science, technology, and innovation; plant genetic resources and seed systems; agricultural extension and advisory services; and community-driven rural development. David was most recently based in Kigali, Rwanda, where he led the Rwanda Strategy Support Program. From 2016 to 2020, David managed IFPRI’s research theme on science, technology, and innovation policy from its headquarters in Washington, DC, and contributed to research projects in Asia and Africa. From 2004 to 2010, he was based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was part of IFPRI’s work on strengthening agricultural innovation systems. Earlier in his career, David worked on agriculture and rural development issues for the World Bank (Washington, DC), the Aga Khan Development Network (Pakistan), and several other organizations. David received a PhD in Economics from American University in 2003, an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics in 1993, and a BA in International Relations from Tufts University in 1992.

Dr ML Jat is a well-recognized Systems Agronomist with over 25 years of rich experience in Systems Science across the developing world. As a Global Research Program Director for the Resilient Farm and Food Systems (RF & FS) program of at ICRISAT, Dr Jat leads and provides scientific, strategic and partnership guidance to dynamic and vibrant research teams of the program across five clusters – Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Science, Geo-spatial and Big Data Sciences, Digital Agriculture, Landscapes, Soil Health and Water Science and the ICRISAT Development Center. In addition, he also catalyzes cross program linkages. Dr Jat has served the CGIAR for 13 years; over 12 years at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) as Principal Scientist/System Agronomist and System Science Strategy Lead and one year at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), he has also served 12 years at Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) as Systems Agronomist.

Dr Jat has a PhD in Agronomy with a specialization on Soil Moisture Conservation in Rainfed Pearl Millet from ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He has mentored/guided over four dozen students of systems science across the world. Dr Jat has also served at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) and several other international and national bodies in various capacities. A Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), Dr Jat has several awards and recognitions to his credit including ICAR’s prestigious Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award.

Expertise: Cropping Systems Science & Strategy, Conservation Agriculture, Climate Smart Agriculture, Regenerative Agriculture, Precision Farming, Scale Appropriate Mechanization, Farming Systems Design.

Ma. Eliza J. Villarino is a research fellow at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and leads the engagement and agenda-setting work package of the CGIAR Initiative on Low-Emission Food Systems. A Ph.D. candidate at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, she specializes in the role of institutions in facilitating zero deforestation in agrifood value chains in conflict-affected settings. This UNFCCC Secretariat-accredited technical expert was a senior journalist at Devex, a global newsroom known as the “Bloomberg of International Development” which she helped build. Eliza also comes from a strong policy and science communication background.

Francis Odhiambo Oduor is a PhD Candidate at the University of Nairobi and a Research Fellow at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. He has a Master of Science Degree in Applied Human Nutrition and a Bachelor of Science degree in Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics, both from the University of Nairobi. Francis’ research interests lie in participatory research approaches to empower communities to improve their diets and livelihoods.

Dr. Gina Kennedy is Director of Research, Translation and Impact at the PTFI and Principal Scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT. Gina leads the development and implementation of PTFI’s research and translation strategy and works closely with PTFI Centers of Excellence and other research partners to implement, translate and disseminate research findings that advance scientific understanding and use of food composition data. Gina is passionate about food biodiversity and the role that food biodiversity can play in creating healthier food systems that nurture both people and the planet. She has a deep understanding of food-based indicators to measure diet quality and diet diversity and has worked on projects connecting diet diversity, biodiversity and food systems. Prior to her current position, Gina has worked for the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Bioversity International, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Public Health Service of Guinea and the Tungaru Central Hospital in Kiribati. During her career, she has lived for extended periods in Kiribati, Guinea and Italy and is now based in the United States. Her areas of interest include diet quality, food biodiversity, diet diversity and food systems. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Georgetown University, Washington DC, a Master of Public Health from University of Alabama, Birmingham and a PhD in Public Health Nutrition from Wageningen University, Netherlands.

Dr. Godefroy Grosjean co-leads the CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (or OneSF). OneSF was established in 2022 to leverage the CGIAR scientific expertise and extensive network to accompany private investors through the transition to sustainable and climate resilient food, water and land systems. Godefroy has a PhD in Climate Policy.

Hannah Kigamba has extensive experience in development work, encompassing project design, proposal writing, implementation, and compiling result-based reports. She excels in monitoring and evaluation, including data collection and analysis, and converting activity outputs into communication products to demonstrate organizational performance. A committed team player with leadership abilities, she is quick to assimilate and apply new work procedures and can work effectively under demanding situations.

John Derera, a Zimbabwean, is currently the Head of Breeding in IITA. He is a specialist in Maize Breeding, Quantitative & Biometrical Genetics and R&D.

His interests revolves around inspiring development through Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security & Capacity Building. He has published many papers and graduated many PhD students in plant breeding. He has PhD in Plant Breeding from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, MPhil. in Plant Breeding & Entomology from the University of Zimbabwe and BSc Agric Hons in Crop Science from the University of Zimbabwe. He also has Group Diploma in Marketing (LCCI) and MBA from Management College of Southern Africa.

Prior to joining IITA, he worked as the Global Head of Research & Development (Seed Co Group, www.seedcogroup.com); Professor in Plant Breeding (African Centre for Crop Improvement, University of KwaZulu-Natal, www.acci.org.za); Maize Breeder (Seed Co); Research Officer (Department of Research & Specialist Services, Zimbabwe); Research Studentship (CIMMYT-Zimbabwe). He has affiliation with the University of KwaZulu-Natal & support to West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (www.wacci.ug.edu.gh), Makerere Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (www.marcci.org), Pan Africa University (University of Ibadan, Nigeria), and University of Limpopo (South Africa).

He was opportune to serve on many boards, such as, Science & Impact Executive Board of the International Wheat Yield Partnership (www.iwyp.org), Advisory Board of the Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (www.marcci.org), African Plant Breeders Association, & Crop Science of Zimbabwe council. Soybean Innovation Lab, AGRA’S Improved MSc for Cultivar Development (www.agra.org), Seed Co’s Business Units & Executive Committee.

Julia Hedtjärn Swaling is Senior Officer, Climate Funds and Finance, for CGIAR based in Cairo. In her role as part of the Innovative Funding and Resource Mobilization (IFRM) team, she coordinates the development of a pipeline of multi-Center projects for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) led by CGIAR as the Accredited Entity. Prior to this role, she was Project Development Manager at ICARDA. Before joining CGIAR, she held positions at FAO and WWF where she mobilized resources and managed projects addressing climate change and biodiversity in agrifood systems. Julia holds an MSc in Geography from Stockholm University.

Julie van der Bliek is Director, Multilateral & Bilateral Innovative Finance and Resource Mobilization (IFRM), for CGIAR and based in Rome. Till end 2022 she held several senior management positions at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) where she worked for 20 years. Before that she worked on natural resource management, water and food security in development programs in Africa and Asia. She has a BSc in Physical Geography and an MSc in Landscape Ecology and Land Evaluation from the University of Amsterdam.

Katherine (Katie) Nelson has been working as a climate change specialist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Hanoi, Vietnam for 3 years.
She received her PhD in Behavioral Environmental Economics from Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany. The focus of her PhD research was on environmental conservation and human behavior. Prior to this, Katie worked as a communication and extension specialist at IRRI focusing on ICT4Development.

Senior Scientist – Natural Resource Management

Dr Leonard Rusinamhodzi, a Zimbabwean, is currently the Systems Agronomist for West Africa. He has expertise in meta-analysis, systems modeling, and participatory field research on integrated soil fertility management (ISFM). His work involves advanced analyses to study the effects of sustainable intensification on system productivity, soil quality, water and nutrient use efficiency, and livelihoods across diverse farming systems.

Leonard worked for CIMMYT from 2015 to 2019 as a Cropping System Agronomist initially based in Nairobi, Kenya, and later, Kathmandu, Nepal. He also worked for CIRAD as a Postdoctoral Scientist from 2013 to 2014, studying the possible future impact of climate change on cropping systems in southern Africa with the aid of models.

Leonard initially trained as a Soil Scientist (BSc and MPhil) at the University of Zimbabwe (2002; 2006), and later diversified into agronomy and systems analysis through a PhD (2013) in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation from Wageningen University and Research Center, The Netherlands. Leonard has extensive experience in participatory research in smallholder farming systems, with a deep understanding of the complex barriers to improved crop productivity. He is particularly interested in learning and managing science that develops and uses tools that combine social, economic, and biophysical aspects of farmers to improve productivity and reduce hunger for smallholder farmers in Africa and beyond.

Lulseged Tamene Desta is a Landscape Ecologist with over 15 years of experience in land degradation, spatial prioritization, landscape restoration, sustainable land and water management, ecological intensification, and assessing the performance of ecosystem health. He is interested in socio-ecological process understanding, tipping points, thresholds, analysis of tradeoffs and synergies between system components and interventions. He promotes coupling integrated land management (conservation) and sustainable farming (intensification) objectives to promote synergies and manage tradeoffs.

Earlier in his career, he served as a lecturer at the Mekelle University of Ethiopia teaching Geography, Agroclimatology, Land Use Planning, Geographical Information Systems, and Remote Sensing courses. During his Postdoctoral tenure with the University of Bonn (Center for Development Research, ZEF), he worked in West Africa contributing to the GLOWA Volta project associated with optimizing land use and water management options across space and over time.

After joining the Alliance, Lulseged coordinated various projects such as the Africa Soil Information Service in the Southern Africa region, served as the Dryland Systems CGIAR Research Program (CRP) focal point and contributed to the implementation of the Water, Land and Ecosystems CRP. Currently, he is leading one of the Excellence in Agronomy Initiative Use Cases in Ethiopia and is coordinating the Alliance engagements associated with the Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming Systems Initiative.

He is also supporting implementation of Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa, Supporting Soil Health Initiatives in Ethiopia, and many other projects. It is worth mentioning the role played in creating and coordinating a team of over 150 experts willing to support data sharing and/or facilitate the process. This effort led to the development of location-specific, tailored and season-smart fertilizer recommendation tool in Ethiopia, which can be scaled to other regions and countries. Presently, he is the Country Representative for the Alliance in Ethiopia.

Lulseged has acquired BA Degree in Geography from Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), MSc Degree in Applied Remote Sensing from Cranfield University (UK) and PhD Degree in Landscape Ecology from the Center for Development Research (Germany)

With 20 years of strong track record of building and leading teams focused on multidisciplinary research for innovation, Marcela Quintero has spent much of her career — from junior scientist to research director — working with diverse disciplinary teams from soils, forages, crops, to climate change, agrobiodiversity, and socioeconomic studies.

Marcela has occupied different leadership positions as Ecosystem Services Theme Leader and Agroecosystems and Sustainable Landscapes Research Director at CIAT, and recently as Multifunctional Landscapes Research Director of the Alliance. Her work entailed building, sustaining and expanding the teams, which required massive efforts to consolidate a coherent research agenda, to promote teamwork, and raise funds.

Marcela has been part of core groups that designed research strategies at the organizational level, including the Alliance’s 2020-2025 research strategy. She led projects of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, and was flagship leader at the CGIAR program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. She has also led the design and now leads the implementation of the CGIAR Agroecology initiative, a transdisciplinary global research initiative that responds to the needs of food system actors in seven countries while aligning with funders priorities.

Marcela is an ecologist from the Universidad Javeriana of Colombia, and holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Agronomy at the University of Florida.

Since November 2022, Marcela Quintero is Associate Director General, Research Strategy, and Innovation for the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

Mark Lundy is a Research Director at the Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT, based in Cali, Colombia where he leads the global Food Environment and Consumer Behavior team. His work focuses on the role of market systems in reducing poverty including learning networks to increase capacities for enterprise development, the role of public agencies to promote inclusive markets and how to establish and sustain effective trading relationships between retailers, traders and farmers. Emerging areas of work include the food environment of traditional markets and low-income consumers, climate resilience and environmental sustainability of food systems, the political economy of food systems and multi-actor platforms to improve decision-making. Mark is lead author of guides on rural enterprise development, the LINK method on inclusive business models and an active participant in multi-stakeholder forums focused on food systems, sustainability and social inclusion.

Dr. Marleen Schutter is a postdoctoral research fellow at WorldFish and Ocean Nexus, University of Washington. Her work focuses on the discourse and political economy of defining and enacting sustainability transformations, such as the emergent blue economy. She is interested in the governance of equity and justice issues of such transformations, particularly for small-scale actors in food systems. Her current research seeks to identify avenues for the blue economy approach to become more equitable in the face of multiple competing interests, examining how power relations play a role in shaping governance across scales, and how they affect material conditions on the ground.

Senior Soil Scientist, Wageningen University and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), based in Colombia.

Trained as a physical geographer (MSc) and soil ecologist (PhD), my current work is about (i) understanding soil health in relation to agroecosystem management; (ii) developing and measuring indicators of soil health and ecosystem services at field, farm and landscape scales; (iii) the relations between soil health and food safety. I am particularly interested in working at the interface of science and application to enhance sustainability and inclusiveness of agricultural production. I mainly work in perennial crop systems such as cacao and coffee and agroforestry in tropical regions.

As a Seed Systems and Resilience Specialist, I’m on a mission to fortify agricultural resilience in the face of climate change. My expertise lies in empowering smallholder seed systems in tropical regions to thrive under evolving environmental conditions. Beyond agriculture, I catalyze locally led climate action, conservation, and public policy. I’m dedicated to turning research into real-world impact, forging strategic partnerships, and innovating solutions that drive sustainable development. Let’s collaborate and lead the way to a more resilient future.

Ole currently leads IRRI’s country office in Thailand. He is a Senior Scientist and climate change focal point of the Institute. His research group focuses on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigation technologies. Ole completed his PhD at the University of Kiel in 2008. In 2010, he joined IRRI as a Collaborative Research Scientist with Dr. Reiner Wassmann.

As climate change specialist, Ole analyzes the GHG balance of different cropping systems with a focus on Southeast Asia. He evaluates different mitigation options through water, fertilizer, and crop residue management. In his research, Ole also identifies suitable conditions to support dissemination of mitigation technologies, particularly a water-saving method known as Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) which offers huge potential in reducing methane emissions.

Ole’s expertise in project management and multistakeholder engagement further supports and strengthens the implementation of IRRI’s agenda throughout the field of climate change research and climate-smart technologies. Throughout his years with IRRI, Ole has continually worked with various stakeholders in countries within the region to foster the implementation of climate-smart farming practices. He maintains valuable networks across national institutions in Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.

Dr. Ramesh Singh is an Indian national currently holds the position of Principal Scientist & Cluster Lead-ICRISAT Development Centre under Global Research Program on Resilient Farm & Food Systems, ICRISAT. He earned his Ph.D from the GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, India and has 25 years of research and development experience in the areas of landscape resource conservation following land resource inventory and hydrology based approach. He has high-level expertise in designing a range of cost-effective rainwater harvesting structure considering landscape terrain.

Ranjitha lead’s the gender and youth research at IRRI and is a socio-economist.

Rosina Wanyama is an Agricultural Economist with expertise in markets, value chains, consumer behavior, food environments, impact assessment among other topics. Prior to joining the Alliance she worked with the World Vegetable Center in Tanzania, and Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development in Kenya where she gained a lot of experience in socioeconomic research including designing and implementing both qualitative and quantitative studies, discrete choice experiments, project management, and impact evaluation. She has experience working in several countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. She has authored and contributed to several peer reviewed journal publications. Rosina a former recipient of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) fellowship (2010-2012).

Dr Shalander Kumar is presently the Deputy Global Research Program Director of the Enabling systems transformation program and cluster leader of the Markets, Institutions and Policies cluster at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India. He is an Indian national and a FELLOW of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and on the Executive Committee of the Global Food and Climate Systems Transformation Alliance led by MIT. Dr Kumar has doctoral degree in agricultural economics, Advance course on Development Oriented Research in Agriculture’ at ICRA, WAGENINGEN and more than 29 years of experience working in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Current focus of his work is on data-driven systems approaches for scaling climate-smart and nutrition sensitive agricultural value chains and food systems; tools and frameworks for co-designing resilient and sustainable farm and food systems; and policies relevant studies and advocacy around seed systems, agri-business opportunities, climate adaptation and mainstreaming millets.

Expertise in: Farm and food systems analysis, whole farm household modelling and tradeoff analysis, System dynamics modelling for value chain analysis, climate change impact on food security and nutrition, CSA investment planning, institutional innovations and business models for gender responsive sustainable intensification of farm and food systems, systems tools for assessment and tracking multi-dimensional sustainability of farming systems.

Paques Sidonie Kouam-Gwet, has 14 years of experience in banking, strategy consulting, and climate finance. As GGGI Regional Investment Lead, Africa, Sidonie is primary responsible for leading the resources mobilization for regional projects for GGGI’s country members in Africa. Sidonie is also leading the GGGI’s Africa Climate Finance and GCF Program, providing support for GCF project preparation financed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to increase access to the agricultural adaptation sector, while also supporting investment activities for Africa. Prior to join GGGI, Sidonie led the activities of Coalition for Green Capital in Africa as the Africa Program Director where she anchored and led CGC’s work on the Rwanda Green Investment Fund and developed an extensive network of knowledge and relationships across Africa related to climate finance strategies and implementation. She holds dual degrees including a Master’s in Management “Programme Grande Ecole” (Finance, Strategy) from ESCP Europe and a Master’s in Specialty in Accounting and Finance from the Catholic University of Central Africa. Sidonie has a dual citizenship for both Cameroon and Rwanda, and is based in Cote d’Ivoire at the GGGI Regional Bureau for Africa.

Sonja Vermeulen is Managing Director of Genetic Innovation, CGIAR. She has served as Director of Programs at the CGIAR System Organization since 2019, coordinating the delivery of the CGIAR Research Programs and Platforms, and the development of the 2030 Research and Innovation Strategy. She previously held posts as WWF’s Global Food Lead Scientist, Head of Research at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS),  Director of the Programme on Business and Sustainable Development at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and Research Fellow at the University of Zimbabwe. She is an Associate Fellow at the Sustainability Accelerator at Chatham House in London and served as a Commissioner on the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Sustainable Diets. She holds a BA and MA in Natural Sciences, with a major in plant genetics, from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Tropical Resource Ecology from the University of Zimbabwe, and a PhD in Population Biology from Imperial College London. 

Tosin Harold Akingbemisilu works as a Research Specialist in the Food Environment and the Consumer Behavior Lever. He has over 10 years’ experience using data to make informed decisions across several multinational organizations and public health interventions including reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health, nutrition, and malaria.

Tosin is passionate about leveraging the power of data, and consistently seeks to drive impactful outcomes and enhance decision-making processes. He has a deep commitment to make a difference, with the aim of contributing his knowledge and skills in data science, machine learning, statistical modelling, and artificial intelligence to transform information within the FECB group into actionable insights, fostering positive change and delivering tangible results based on the data collected by the FECB Africa team.

He is a Microsoft-certified data scientist, holds an MBA from the University of South Wales, UK, an MSc in Data Science from the University of East London, and a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Jos, Nigeria.

Wendy Francesconi is a Senior Environmental Scientist. She holds a PhD in Forest Resources and Conservation at the University of Florida, a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Yale University, and BA in Biology from Hunter College in New York City. Dr. Francesconi’s work is focused on implementing integrated landscape approaches to assess ecosystem service provision and biodiversity impact. Past research includes the evaluation of agroforestry practices for biodiversity conservation, and the modeling of USDA-NRCS Conservation Standard Practices for improving water quality and quantity in agricultural landscapes. She is the Biodiverstiy and Ecosystem health thematic lead within Impact SF, and the Environmental Lead a USAID project portfolio called Catalyzing and Learning through Private Sector Engagement (CAL-PSE) in Brazil. Dr. Francesconi work has been focused on providing technical expertise developing and applying an environmental performance and impact assessment framework called TerraBio. The framework is being applied to the first of its kind biodiversity-focused impact investment fund in the Brasilia Amazon.

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Wuletawu Abera is a Senior Scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). His research interests span a wide multidisciplinary area, focusing on understanding biophysical and socio-economic processes such as hydrology, ecology, agronomy, and climate change. He aims to optimize ecosystem services (disservices) such as agricultural productivity, water resource availability, and soil fertility, soil organic carbon sequestration, etc. With extensive research experience in water resources, soil, crops, climate change, and socioeconomics, Wuletawu is interested in integrating these diverse fields into system thinking approaches. His work encompasses input optimization, including irrigation and fertilizer management, as well as land management strategies such as land restoration and climate-smart agricultural (and landscape) practices. By coupling process-based models, machine learning analytics, and large datasets, he synthesizes and analyzes information to gain insights into systems at various scales. Recently, he is into the socio-technical context of machine-human interfaces to improve the usability of decision support tools developed by his team.

Wuletawu actively contributes to multiple CGIAR initiatives, including Excellence in Agronomy (EiA), Sustainable Intensification – Mixed Farming Systems (SI-MFS), and Nexus Gains. He plays a key role in supporting projects such as Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa in Ghana and Ethiopia, as well as Supporting Soil Health Initiatives in Ethiopia (and beyond). Currently, he serves as the Country Representative for the Alliance in Ghana.

Wuletawu is deeply committed to fostering networking and collaboration across Africa, recognizing the transformative potential of collective efforts in advancing agricultural research and development on the continent.

Before joining the Alliance, Wuletawu served as an Assistant Professor at Mekelle University and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Trento University. He holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering with a special focus on hydrological modeling from the University of Trento (Italy), and he obtained his European Union Erasmus Mundus MSc in Environmental Science and Nature Management from the UK and Italy. Wuletawu earned his bachelor’s degree in Geography & Environmental Studies from Mekelle University (Ethiopia).

Yves-Patrick Karangwa-Ntwali has over 9 years of experience in climate, blended, and project finance. At the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Yves-Patrick serves as Senior Officer in Green Investment & Project Development. In this role, he focuses on designing financial structures and instruments to de-risk green investments, as well as developing financial frameworks and tools to mitigate risks in environmentally sustainable investments. Before joining GGGI, he was an Associate Professional at the Private Sector Facility (PSF) of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), where he concentrated on the origination, structuring, and negotiation of climate projects and investment vehicle transactions. Yves-Patrick holds a Global Executive MBA from INSEAD, a master’s degree in international finance and banking from the University of Bedfordshire, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Montreal. He is a citizen of Canada and Rwanda.

Sougrynoma Zaïnatou Soré (Zaïna) is from Burkina Faso. She is Head of Capacity Development Office based in Ibadan, Nigeria. She holds a Master of Science in Agricultural and Food Economics with a specialization in Agribusiness from the University of Bonn, Germany, since 2017. She also completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Studies at Macalester College in Minnesota, USA, in 2010.

Prior to joining IITA, Zaina worked as a Student and then Research Assistant at the Center for Development Research ZEF in Bonn from 2016 to 2018. There, she did research work in agricultural innovation, technical and vocational education and training, food and non-food biomass production, bioeconomy and value chain analysis in twelve African countries. Her professional experience also includes positions as a Procurement Officer for the USAID funded project West Africa Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Program, and as a Bilingual Administrative Assistant for High River Gold in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Zaïna has a high interest in Agricultural development and agribusiness, particularly in Africa, and is passionate about human empowerment.

Dr Alice Muchugi holds a PhD and MSc specializing in the characterization of diversity and sustainable use of tree genetic resources, both from Kenyatta University. She has worked in the past as a Senior Lecturer (Kenyatta University), Genetic Resources Unit Manager (World Agroforestry), and Forage Genebank Manager (International Livestock Research Institute in Ethiopia). Alice has been engaged in various research and development projects involving tree genetic resources across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Her work has been published in over 100 papers, books and book chapters. Her career interests include, but are not limited to, research related to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity as well as mentoring young scientists. Alice has supervised and mentored over 40 graduate students.

Alice oversees the activities of the Biodiversity and tree genetic resources thematic area, which aims to deliver the best science and proofs of concept required for safeguarding tree diversity and delivery of suitable quality tree planting material.

Sarah Freed is a researcher for WorldFish Cambodia and joined the team in 2018. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Management and cares deeply about strengthening wise resource use and well-being, especially within rural communities. Sarah previously led research and program development for community-based fisheries management and coastal ecosystem conservation in the Comoros. While there, she established the country’s first community-based catch monitoring program for coastal gleaning and boat-based fisheries. She also studied and reported national trends in coral reef status for the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. Her current work serves Cambodia and the greater Mekong region and focuses on three areas: understanding the role of rice field fisheries in rural livelihoods and food and nutrition security; optimizing benefits from rice field fisheries through biophysical and governance enhancements; and fostering the longevity of co-management initiatives.

Alcade Segnon is a Scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Science Officer for the Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) in West Africa.
Prior to joining the Alliance, Alcade was a Postdoctoral Fellow – Climate and Policy at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), based at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Bamako, Mali. At ICRISAT, he led the CCAFS project “Enabling institutions and policies for sustainable climate change governance in agriculture (WA policy)”, implemented in five West Africa countries, and the Food System Adaptations in Changing Environments in Africa (FACE-Africa), a Wellcome Trust-funded project implemented in The Gambia.
As a Climate Change Adaptation Expert at the University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin), he led the vulnerability assessments in four sectors in Benin, as part of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) project, a GCF-funded project implemented by the UNDP. Prior to that, he was a Project Assistant and Research Analyst at Climate Analytics gGmbH, supporting the implementation of the “Science-based National Adaptation Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa (PAS-PNA)” project in Benin and Senegal, through vulnerability assessments, capacity building and stakeholder engagement activities.
Alcade is an agronomist by training, with a PhD in Environmental Science. His research interest is at the intersection of climate change adaptation, agrobiodiversity utilization & traditional knowledge systems, and agroecosystem sustainability. His research takes an interdisciplinary and theory-driven approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods to understand “how, when, where, and for who” adaptation can be effective.
He has been exploring adaptation effectiveness and feasibility to inform adaptation planning and policy decision-making across scales. Alcade brings over deep expertise in innovative approach for knowledge synthesis, and in participatory research methods, including participatory scenario planning, and experience in science-policy interfacing and policy processes. Alcade was part of the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative (GAMI) and a Contributing Author of the IPCC’s 6th Assessment (AR6) Working Group II (WGII) report and UNEP 2022 Adaptation Gap report.

Ghislain Tepa-Yotto, a Beninese citizen, is currently at IITA as a Visiting Scientist who is coordinating efforts to the newly established IRCCCA/CIRACC hosted at IITA-Cotonou. The scope of IRCCCA/CIRACC is to catalyse collaborative linkages between national, regional and international research and training institutions for enabling synergies in the development and deployment of the Center activities in the west and central Africa.

Ghislain Tepa-Yotto is a holder of a PhD degree in Plant Science/Plant Health-Plant Protection, obtained at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). He is assistant professor at the National University of Agriculture (UNA-Benin). Primarily agricultural engineer, professional background encompasses research for development for plant health/protection. Philosophical interest relates to holistic approach as foundation to deliver innovative and sustainable agro-solutions for food security. Special focus links to Invasive Alien Species management in the context of a changing climate.

Paswel Marenya is a Senior Scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). He is the global coordinator of the SIMLESA project, based in Nairobi.

Marenya holds an MSc in Applied Economics and a PhD in Natural Resources Policy and Management, both from Cornell University. His research focuses on maize-based smallholder systems in eastern and southern Africa, and on the analysis of pathways and impacts of technology adoption within the framework of sustainable intensification.

He has published research on farmer policy, farmer preferences for supporting technology adoption among maize farmers in Malawi, soil quality mediated returns to fertilizer, and the macro impacts of disease tolerant varieties. He is currently working on understanding the most effective investment priorities for strengthening climate-smart agriculture in eastern and southern Africa.

Sieg Snapp is the director of the Sustainable Agrifood Systems program at CIMMYT, which brings together global agricultural economics, systems analysis on agrifood innovations and agricultural systems for development in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

As a Professor of Soils and Cropping Systems Ecology at Michigan State University and Associate Director of the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, she led research on sustainable farming, particularly for cereal-based, rainfed systems in Africa and North America.

Snapp first partnered with CIMMYT in 1993, when she developed the “mother and baby” trial design. This go-to tool for participatory research has developed farmer-approved technologies in 30 countries.

Snapp has partnered with local and international scientists to tackle sustainable development goals, improve livelihoods and farm sustainably. Her two hundred publications and text books address co-learning, ecological intensification and open data to generate relevant science.

Dr. Evan Girvetz is a Principal Scientist and Global Program Leader, Finance and Investments for Climate Action and Leader of the Africa Climate Action Program, at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), part of the CGIAR. He is also co-Leader of the Ukama Ustawi One CGIAR Regional Integrated Initiative for east and southern Africa, lead for Climate Finance in the OneCGIAR Climate Resilience Initiative, and Theme Leader for Climate Smart Agriculture for the flagship World Bank project Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). His research spans agricultural risk management, digital agriculture, climate-smart agriculture (CSA), sustainable agricultural intensification, agricultural investment, and climate finance. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Girvetz works on these issues globally, nationally and locally through innovative partnerships with private sector, NGOs and public partners. Dr. Girvetz earned a PhD from the University of California, Davis, and is widely published with his research being featured in top media outlets including the San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, New Scientist magazine and Financial Times of London.

Dr. Michael Baum is director of ICARDA’s Biodiversity and Crop Improvement Program, which comprises 30 scientists and 67 technical staff whose work ranges from crop breeding and cereal and legume pathology to virology and pollinators. Since joining ICARDA in 1992 as a biotechnologist, he has overseen ICARDA’s biodiversity and crop management work in a number of countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

Dr. Baum has been instrumental in establishing ICARDA’s partnerships with global research institutes, including the Centre for Biotechnology in Tunisia; Hannover and Frankfurt University in Germany; Cornell University in the United States; the Australian Center for Plant Functional Genomics; and other CGIAR centers. He has attracted over $10 million in funding to build ICARDA’s biotechnology program and strengthened biotech research across the dry areas.

Dr. Baum has published over 110 peer-reviewed journal articles, 30 book chapters, and 40 conference papers. He was also guest professor at Ghuangzhou University, China, between 2009 and 2012, and received the ‘Frosty Hill Fellowship’ from Cornell University in 2000. Throughout his career, he has supervised scores of post-doctoral fellows and Ph.D. students. Dr. Baum holds a Ph.D. in plant breeding and cytogenetics from the University of Göttingen in Germany.

Maha has over 15 years of experience in managing public and internationally funded (United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], Global Green Growth Institute [GGGI], Worlf Bank, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit [GIZ], Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA], Korea International Cooperation Agency [KOICA], United States Agency for International Development [USAID], etc.) portfolios, programs and projects in various development sectors, including water, energy, agriculture and the environment. She has over 5 years of experience in managing academic/research initiatives, such as the Global Research Initiative in Sustainable Low Carbon Unconventional Resources funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund at the University of Calgary, Canada. Maha conducted most of her research in the Middle East, focusing on the Arab region, with the goal of proposing local climate policy and principles for governance of climate change adaptation and mitigation. Her passion is to actively fostering interdisciplinary approaches to real-world energy, water and environmental issues. Maha has published two journal papers and two book chapters in peer-reviewed journals related to climate change governance, green roof policy, and energy-water-food nexus.

Matthew was previously with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (formerly the Institute of Hydrology). He contributed to commissioned research and assessments for many organizations, including the UK Department for International Development (DFID), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union and the World Commission on Dams.

Bio
What’s your role at AICCRA and the journey that led you here?
I oversee AICCRA’s engagement in Kenya, coordinating activities by ABC, ICRISAT, ILRI and IRIS.

My PhD in anthropology helps me to recognize and navigate the intertwined relationships between environmental change, technical change and social change. This is particularly important in adapting research and development institutions so they can more effectively engage with farmers’ and pastoralists’ various climate change adaptation needs.

Tell us why you think AICCRA can deliver on a climate-smart future for Africa?
AICCRA’s success will stem from integrating engagement with producers, national and sub-national public sector organizations, and private sector actors in rural development. Furthermore, bundling climate information with agricultural advisories and technologies will create synergies that have not been previously seen in climate smart rural development.

Fiona Flintan is a Senior Scientist at ILRI specialising in pastoralism, livestock and climate, land governance and tenure, participatory land use planning, participatory rangeland management (PRM), gender and conflict resolution and/or transformation. She has spent significant time working on these issues across Africa and particularly in East and Horn of Africa. She also leads a number of global projects and initiatives that cover South Asia, Central Asia, Middle East and Latin America too, as well as global engagement to raise awareness on rangelands in UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, the upcoming International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026 and the International Land Coalition.

Fiona leads the CGIAR Research Initiative on Livestock and Climate. Other major projects and initiatives that she is currently and/or has been recently involved in include SPARC (Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises), STELARR (Sustainable Investments for Large-Scale Rangeland Restoration), the Sustainable Rangeland Management Project Tanzania, the Piloting of Participatory Rangeland Management Project in Tanzania and Kenya, and HEAL (One Health for Humans, Environment, Animals and Livelihoods) operating in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

Previously Fiona worked for a number of organisations as a consultant and/or employee including SOS Sahel, Ministry of Livestock Ethiopia, Save the Children/USA, CARE, IIED, IDS-University of Sussex, IFAD, ACDI-VOCA, TetraTech and Oxfam/REGLAP. She has a degree in Rural Environmental Studies, and in Environment and Development. Her passion is securing stronger rights to resources and land for pastoralists and raising understanding and support for rangelands globally.

With a PhD in Geography, an MSc in Forestry, and a BA in Modern History, Jon’s interdisciplinary background has informed his holistic approach to agricultural research-for-development (AR4D). He has thirty years’ interdisciplinary research experience on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and transformation; soil and water conservation; and agricultural innovation systems from Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.

Jon has fifteen years’ experience of fostering interdisciplinary research teams and building transdisciplinary networks with policy-makers, non-governmental organizations, public and private sectors, advanced research institutes, and multilateral organizations.

Since June 2018, he has led research on Sustainable Impact at the IRRI. As a senior manager at IRRI, he promotes the internal organizational changes required to incentivize scientists to work in more holistic and interdisciplinary ways. These include interactive seminars; interdisciplinary publications; providing ‘safe spaces’ for exploring different development discourses; and defining better scientists’ roles and modus operandi in theories of change.

He is also involved in fostering transdisciplinary networks in response to climate change challenges. Examples include i) sea level rise and Asian mega-deltas, and ii) crop management and land use to reduce the impact of crop residue burning in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) in northern India.

He has authored and co-authored two books and 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals including Nature, Nature Climate Change, Science, Lancet, Lancet Planetary Health and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Additionally, he has written a further 100 articles and book chapters targeted at a non-specialist audience.

Prior to joining IRRI in 2018, Jon worked for thirteen years in the Socio-economics program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), based in Mexico but with extensive work in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Prior to joining the CGIAR in 2005, Jon worked for the UK NGO Practical Action (formerly ITDG) and also the Natural Resources Institute (NRI).

Jon holds a PhD from Oxford Brookes University, and an MSc and BA from the University of Oxford.

Heleene Tambet is a Research Analyst in the Poverty, Gender and Inclusion Unit. She is an economist working on a diverse set of data-driven questions around the sustainability of food systems. At IFPRI, she has been supporting several large multisectoral evaluations, including Strengthen PSNP4 Institutions and Resilience in Ethiopia and mNutrition in Ghana and Tanzania. Her primary interests are agricultural practices and management of farming-related natural resources in the context of climate change. During her graduate studies, Heleene worked on projects that included evaluating economic and environmental impacts of an organic certification scheme and studying adoption of soil and water conservation practices after extreme weather events. She has an MS in International and Development Economics from the University of San Francisco.

Eileen Bogweh Nchanji is a gender specialist working with the Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture in the Pan Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) program. Within PABRA, Nchanji leads gender research and development across 32 countries in Central, Eastern, Southern and Western Africa. Her work contributes to the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals. Nchanji works in multidisciplinary teams with governments, private sector partners, and research institutions to identify and strengthen linkages between women and young farmers entrepreneurs and financial providers and markets. Nchanji holds a PhD in Social Anthropology. Before joining the Alliance, she worked with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Petra worked at the Singapore-Delft Water Alliance; National University of Singapore; Africa Rice Center, Cotonou, Benin; Institute of Plant Production and Agroecology in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Germany; and Arcadis, Belgium. She has led several large multidisciplinary projects in Africa and Asia with national and international research institutions, governments, (international) nongovernmental organizations and the private sector. She holds an MSc in Bio-engineering and Environmental Technology from KU Leuven, Belgium; an Msc in Water Resources Engineering jointly organized by KU Leuven and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB); and a PhD in Agricultural Science from the University of Hohenheim, Germany. She has over 35 peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals, and chaired international webinars in the field of water for food systems.

Adeeth Cariappa is an Environmental and Resource Economist working on Carbon Credits from Agriculture. Before joining CIMMYT, Cariappa was working in the Agriculture & Allied Sectors Vertical of NITI Aayog (the premier thinktank for Government of India) and as a Consultant for Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Cariappa has a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute.

Prakash joined IRRI in May 2015 as an agricultural economist and currently leads the social science activities in South Asia. His team is involved in rice varietal tracking and identification, adoption and impact assessment of stress tolerant varieties, developing premium rice value chains and business model development for service delivery in the rice farming system. He is involved in bilateral projects such as Rice Monitoring System in South Asia (RMS-SA), Cereal System Initiative for Sustainable Intensification (CSISA) and Stress Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA). Before joining IRRI, he was working at GlobalFood group, University of Goettingen, Germany where his primary focus was on analysing producer preferences and participation of smallholders to modern market value chains. The analysis involves gendered preferences for certification standards among small producers and vegetable suppliers of supermarkets. Recent research works in IRRI centred on preference analysis of rice seed producers and consumers, caste and social networks, varietal adoption and turn over, information and technology adoption, hypothetical bias, measurement error in agricultural surveys, crop insurance choice and premium rice value chains.

I work as a Senior Scientist – Digital agriculture and innovation in the Sustainable Livestock Systems (SLS) group at International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi. Prior to joining ILRI, I was the cluster leader for Digital Agriculture at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India. I have a cumulative work experience of over 18 years in public and pvt sector. Under my leadership, the digital agriculture cluster at ICRISAT grew to over 20 FTEs and executing bilateral grants from donors like IMD, BMGF, FAO etc. I was also one of the co-founders of ICRISAT’s digital agriculture innovation platform called ihub which grew to support and mentor over 20 AgTech startups in Asia and ESA. Prior to joining ICRISAT in June 2015, I worked in mid to senior executive positions in the pvt sector in the areas of technology management, corporate strategy, corporate finance, and software development.

I have an under-graduate degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) from JNTU College of Engineering, Hyderabad and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Some of my research interests include the role of innovation brokers in digital agriculture, innovation ecosystems, digital climate smart agriculture, social-economic-politic factors driving digitalization of agriculture and livestock value chains. In the recent past, I am working extensively in developing innovative digital tools and services that link weather and climate data with agricultural decision making at various levels. I am engaging with the National Meteorological Organization (NMOs) and agricultural extension and advisory organizations to conceptualize and design digital interventions that bridge these two disciplines and support farmers in their decision-making.

Sudha Narayanan is a Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in the South Asia Office in New Delhi. Sudha’s research interests span agriculture, food and nutrition policy, and human development. She is particularly interested in survey-based research using microeconometric approaches to understand broader questions of agrarian change and state delivery systems for nutrition security. Her research focuses on contract farming, agrifood value chains, technology adoption in agriculture, public policies for food security and employment, and agriculture-nutrition linkages.

Sudha was previously an Associate Professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai. Prior to her PhD studies, she worked with the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, the Right to Food Campaign in India, and Cornell University, among others. She earned a PhD from Cornell University in Agricultural Economics. She also holds a dual master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, India.

Ben Belton is a Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Dhaka. He is an applied interdisciplinary social scientist with more than 15 years’ field experience living and working in South and Southeast Asia, in countries including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, India, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Ben is a leading global scholar on aquaculture and fisheries development. His research interests are broad, spanning value chains, food systems, livelihoods, rural transformation, agrarian change, and their links to food and nutrition security, poverty, well-being, and the environment. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles on these subjects, using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to develop an evidence base for effective policy actions. In addition to his role at IFPRI, Ben holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor, International Development at the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University.

SEHN Ting is an ecologist focusing on how microclimate management can be used to address the impacts of climate change on land systems. She has transitioned from studying natural ecosystems to exploring the coupled society-ecology system, using ecological knowledge to manage agroforestry and other land systems in response to climate change at the local and regional level. She is joining the Mountain Futures Program, which is a global initiative that supports knowledge innovations for smallholders in mountain regions worldwide.

Abstract
Title: Developing Agroforestry System for Linking African Savanna with Dry-hot River Valley in Southwest China
Jianchu Xu, Ting Shen

Both savanna in Africa and dry-hot river valley in Southwest China are suffering from climate change and increased human activities. The well-designed agroforestry system can contribute to both carbon sequestration, circular economy, and sustainable livelihoods, which includes superior germplasm, symbiotic relationship, circular agriculture and market value chain development. We call for active collaboration between African and Chinese scientists to jointly tackle the restoration and revitalization of these vulnerable global savanna landscapes.

 

Mateete Bekunda is Lead of the CGIAR Initiative on Mixed farming Systems. He was Chief Scientist at IITA for the Africa RISING Program’s East and Southern Africa Project (2012-2023) before which he was Professor of Soil Science and Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Makerere University, Uganda. 

Jacques WERY is Professor of Agronomy and Agricultural Systems and director of science and partnership at l’Institut Agro (France). He has been DDGR of a CGIAR center, ICARDA based in Cairo (2018-2021), board member of the Seamless project on integrated modelling of agricultural systems (2004-2009) and Executive Secretary of the European Society for Agronomy (2010-2018).  

Based in the mountain areas of Southwest China, Dr. Gui uses multi-omics tools to study the response of plant-microbe symbiosis in agroforestry ecosystems to global change. Dr. Gui’s major research work are including 1) Analyze the biogeographic distribution pattern and driving force of soil fungal diversity under different vegetation types in southwest China and other key regions; 2) Explain the key potential of mycorrhizal fungi in regulating the metabolism of key elements and greenhouse gas emissions in soil; 3) Through organizing seminars and conducting joint investigations, actively carry out cooperation and exchanges with scientific research institutions and researchers in countries along the “Belt and Road”, and contribute to strengthening the microbial research network between the Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS and Southeast Asia.

Presentation Title and Abstract
Title: The effect of microplastics on plant-soil system and their bio-degradation
Heng Gui, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Plastics accumulating in the environment, especially microplastics (MPs, defined as particles <5 mm), can lead to a range of problems and potential loss of ecosystem services. Current research has demonstrated the significant impact of MPs on aquatic systems, but little remains known about their effects on terrestrial environments and their fate in soil, especially within agroecosystems. Therefore, we conducted a microcosm study to investigate how different types of MPs, including bio-degradable MPs, influence plant-microbe-soil interactions in agroecosystems. Combining 14C-labeling, zymography with substrate-induced growth respiration, and pyrosequencing techniques, we found that the addition of MPs in the soil can significantly alter a range of key soil biogeochemical processes by changing soil properties, forming specific microbial hotspots, exerting multiple effects on microbial activities and functions. We also introduced the positive influences of nano-Fe on the plant-soil system in MP-polluted soil and establish a method to alleviate the harmful effects of MP accumulation in soils. In addition, the fate of these microplastics in the soil remains unclear. We also isolated a polyurethane (PU)-degrading fungus from soils, and the fungus H14 was identified as Fusarium solani. The ability of F. solani H14 of degrading PU film and PUPB patches was confirmed via mass loss, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and enzyme production ability. These studies can greatly enhance our understanding of the possible ways of alleviating MP pollutions in agricultural soil.

 

YU Anmin is a researcher in forest genetics and tree breeding in the southwest mountains of China. Dr. Yu’s main research work including 1) Protection and development of woody oil crops germplasm resources; 2) Dissect the function of lignification in plant seed/fruit development through genomics.

Title: The molecular basis of seed size variation during castor bean domestication Anmin YU, Southwest Forestry University

Abstract
Castor bean (Ricinus communis L., Euphorbiaceae) is an important non-food oilseed crop worldwide, originated in East Africa and cultivated worldwide now. Castor seed oil is widely used in industry with its unique hydroxylated fatty acid (18C:1OH). The increase in seed size is an important phenotypic variation during castor domestication, which is an important determinant of seed yield. Here, we constructed a high-resolution castor genetic map and identified QTLs of seed size and weight. Combined with the castor reference genome, a total of 851 candidate genes were identified in these QTL, which were mainly enriched in secondary cell wall development, implying seed coat might be a critical factor that determines castor seed size formation. Cytological, chemical, and transcriptional analysis of large-seed ZB107 and small-seed ZB306 seed coat indicated that the lignification of seed coat tissues was enhanced and occurred earlier in the developing seeds of ZB306. Finally, we tentatively proposed a potential scenario for explaining the molecular mechanisms of seed coat governing seed size formation in castor bean by increasing the cell number and delaying the onset of lignification in seed coat tissues in large castor seed. This study will facilitate future genomics-assisted breeding and genome evolution of castor bean.

Carlo Fadda guides the research area in Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture. He oversees a research area with over 100 people, including consultants, support staff and over 45 scientists. His team focuses on four major research areas: agrobiodiversity in production systems, conservation, characterization, and genomics of bananas, forest genetic diversity, and biodiversity-related policy.

Carlo is also leading the global initiative called Nature Positive Solutions, which is part of CGIAR. This trans-disciplinary project promotes sustainable agriculture and nature-positive solutions in five countries: Kenya, Burkina Faso, India, Vietnam, and Colombia. It aims at ensuring food and nutrition security, improved livelihood within planetary boundaries by promoting biodiversity.

With a PhD in Evolutionary Biology, Carlo has always had a deep interest in biodiversity. Initially, his research focused on wild species and understanding the evolutionary processes behind current species distribution. He later expanded his work to include ecological projects, particularly studying outbreaks of rodents’ populations to prevent damage to crops during his post-doc in Tanzania, at the Sokoine University of Agriculture (1998-2001).

Recognizing the need for research that combines natural and human dimensions, Carlo joined an Italian NGO (Centro Internazionale Crocevia, 2001-2004), to coordinate a natural resources management project in Tanzania and Vietnam. It was during a conference organized by Bioversity International, then known as IPGRI, that he decided to join the organization. He spent several years in Vietnam working on managing agrobiodiversity, followed by leading (beginning in 2008) a UNEP-GEF project in Morocco, China, Uganda, and Ecuador, which aimed to reduce pressure from pests and diseases using genetic diversity.

In 2011, Carlo relocated to Nairobi, Kenya, as a senior scientist in genetic diversity. He managed projects in various countries, always emphasizing the significance of agrobiodiversity in production systems. He also played a key role in establishing Bioversity’s office in Ethiopia and leading it between 2015 and 2018. He also represented all country offices in the Senior Management Team.

Carlo’s flagship program, ‘Seeds for Needs,’ focuses on matching genetic diversity to farmers’ requirements and reintegrating material from gene banks into production systems. He strongly believes that the conservation and utilization of genetic resources are intertwined with rural development, livelihoods, and economics.

Throughout his career, Carlo has published over 40 scientific papers, presented at numerous conferences, and contributed to book chapters. He is also an adjunct researcher at Scuola S. Anna Pisa in Italy. Based in Kenya since 2018, Carlo continues to make significant contributions to the field of biodiversity for sustainable agriculture.

Moshi Maile is a Lead farmer, advocate for sustainable intensification in mixed farming systems from Mlali village, Dodoma region. Formerly worked with USAID's Africa RISING project (2012-2021), now empowering farming communities nationwide with cutting-edge sustainable agricultural technologies. 

Xu Jianchu is an ethnobotanist working on land systems in coupled social-ecological systems in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan Region. He has strong background in interdisciplinary research on landscape restoration, agroforestry system and circular agriculture. He is the top 1% of global scientists for the Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in plant and animal sciences in during 2017 and 2023 respectively. He is coordinating the Mountain Futures Program, which is a global initiative to support knowledge innovations for smallholders in mountain regions worldwide.

Abstract

Title: Developing Agroforestry System for Linking African Savanna with Dry-hot River Valley in Southwest China

Jianchu Xu, Principal Scientist, World Agroforestry Centre

Both savanna in Africa and dry-hot river valley in Southwest China are suffering from climate change and increased human activities. The good agroforestry system can contribute to both carbon sequestration, circular economy, and sustainable livelihoods, which includes superior germplasm, symbiotic relationship, circular agriculture and market value chain development. We call for active collaboration between African and Chinese scientists on restoration and revitalization of global savanna landscape and livelihoods.

Zhang Ying-Jun is a chemist focusing mainly on the chemistry and biological significance of natural products from medicinal and edible plants, as well as the application of these chemical components to the fields of medicine, food supplements, and cosmetics. More than 100 plant species were investigated. The research aim is to isolate and identify these complicated compounds by modern phytochemical methods, investigate the biological function of these secondary metabolites with bio-techniques, and apply it finally for human health care.

Abstract
Title: Chemistry & Bioactivity of Several Chinese & African Medicinal and Edible plants

Yingjun ZHANG, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Chinese

Natural products, as a class of small molecules produced naturally by any organism including primary and secondary metabolites, are important natural sources for human beings. Several Chinese and African medicinal and edible plants and their products, such as tea (Camellia spp.), Chinese dragon’s blood, Carissa edulis, Solanum incanum, and triphala were studied chemically, and the isolated chemical components were evaluated by various bioassays. The results will provide not only comprehensive understanding, but also scientific basis for further rational development and application of these plant resources on medicine, food supplements, cosmetics, and so on.

Plant germplasm resources provide abundant and diverse compounds for human beings. Dr. Wang works to mine key candidate genes involved in the biosynthesis and regulation of important plant metabolites based on genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic data and to detect regulatory function of candidate genes by molecular biology methods. At present, the research is focused on: 1) the molecular mechanism underlying the accumulation and regulation of plant fatty acids; 2) the molecular mechanism of plant aroma formation.

Abstract
Title: Molecular mechanism of fatty acid accumulation in castor bean seeds
Yue Wang, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is one of the most important inedible oil crops worldwide. The seed oils with rich hydroxylated fatty acid are broadly used as chemical materials in industry and ideal feedstock for biodiesel production. As a typical case of endosperm seeds, it is interesting and necessary to understand fatty acid accumulation in castor bean. Based on transcriptomic data, an important transcription factor WRINKLED1 (WRI1) was found to be specifically and highly expressed in the endosperm when a large amount of seed oil was accumulated. A series of work were carried out to reveal the molecular mechanism how WRI1 regulates the fatty acid accumulation. Our work provides novel insights into understanding fatty acid accumulation and genetic improvement in plants.

My research is fully fall within the area of global change ecology: focusing on the carbon, nitrogen, and water processes in forest and farmland ecosystems, by the approaches such as microbial molecular, stable isotope, forest and agriculture ecology, and soil ecology, to conduct research on the mechanisms of response and adaptation of soil carbon and nitrogen processes of forest and farmland to regional climate change and land use change in the context of global changes. Details followed as 1) soil carbon/nitrogen biogeochemical response to land use change in tropics; 2) soil carbon/nitrogen biogeochemical response to warming in alpine coniferous forest and subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest; 3) furthermore, ecological agriculture and the feedback of agriculture ecosystem to climate change also are my focus. Adhering to the concept of sustainable agricultural ecology, creating an efficient and recyclable agricultural mode, and a research has been conducted to reducing cadmium and nitrogen in rice, increasing soil carbon sink and less GHGs emission.

Title:
Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Key Processes and Soil Carbon Pool Degradation along Rubber Plantation Belt from Southwest of China to Southeast Asia
In Southeast Asia, rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) contributes 97% of the natural rubber for the world. Therefore, natural rubber remains a major source of economy for the region. It has led to a large-scale conversation of tropical rainforests into rubber plantation. From Xishuangbanna to Indonesia, this conversion has been facing a severe soil carbon loss. Although some of the key findings in the recent past determines process involved in soil carbon and nitrogen flux, its dynamics and fractions in these tropical forests yet the key gaps linking soil carbon degradation and underground key processes between the primary rainforest and rubber plantation remain unknown. Furthermore, the response in time across various stage of conversion, space along varying depth of soil to coupling effect of climate change and land use change is yet to establish.
Based on field in situ experiment will determine the drivers of biogeographic pattern in soil carbon and nitrogen characters and response of underlying process related to GHGS emission to land use change in Xishuangbanna (Southwest of China)，Thailand and Indonesia along rubber plantation belt. Combining with13C (13C6H6O6)and 15N tracing (15NH4+-N、15NO3–N，organic carbon and nitrogen (13C2H515NO2))，qPCR and mid-infrared spectroscopy skills supports, this project will set the undisturbed tropical rainforest as background to determine (1) clarify response of soil carbon and nitrogen key processes related to soil GHGS along soil profile for the rubber life (tropical rainforet- seedling rubber plantation—manure rubber plantation) under precipitation decreasing; (2) declare and mechanisms of the landuse change and effect on soil carbon and nitrogen key processes during the rubber life along soil profile; (3) reveal the regional pattern of soil carbon and nitrogen key processes response to land use according to soil carbon and nitrogen survey based on mid-infrared spectroscopy skills in tropical and rubber plantation around the rubber plantation belt. Based on the temporal trend under future climate scenarios, this project can evaluate and identify the high risk of soil carbon degradation areas with high potential need for preventative intervention measures by MODIS. Overall, this study can provide valuable and fundamental basis for sustainable management of tropical agricultural forests and carbon neutral elevation and thus it has high theoretical and practical values.

Professor, Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of California, Davis

Emmanuel Letaa is a Research Associate – Seed Systems with SPIA, hosted by the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT in Uganda. Previously, Emmanuel worked as a Research Associate – Impact Assessment at CIAT Uganda where he contributed to impact assessment projects in Tanzania, Malawi and Ethiopia; and as Agricultural Economist at ISSD Uganda. He holds a master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics.

Kelvin Mashisia Shikuku is Scientist (Economist) at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) based in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Shikuku works with the Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) team and implements innovative research within the Sustainable Livestock Systems program. He holds PhD in Development Economics from Wageningen University, Netherlands and MSc in Agricultural and Applied Economics from University of Nairobi, Kenya. His research interests include innovation diffusion and scaling; the role of socio-technical, financial, and institutional innovations in climate risk management and economic development; estimating resilience of agri-food systems to climatic and non-climatic shocks; food safety including developing countries’ willingness to pay for food quality and safety; seed systems and their contribution to agrobiodiversity and resilience; agricultural marketing and value chains analysis; and impacts assessment. He applies systems thinking and conducts economic field experiments, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental research to influence evidence-based policy and decision making. Dr. Shikuku currently serves at the editorial board of the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AfJARE) and is a Review Editor in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems – Climate-Smart Food Systems.

Sujata Visaria has a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University, where she focused on development economics. Her research has studied the challenges that middleman market power can pose to small farmers and explored how local intermediaries can target and deliver microcredit to rural borrowers. She is interested in examining contracting issues in agricultural cooperatives and contract farming. Her work has been published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, and Econometrica.  

Jackline Makokha is the Director Gender, State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action in the Ministry of Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action. Her professional background is in gender and community development, human rights, governance and gender & climate change Makokha is the current National Gender and Climate Change Focal Point for Kenya. She Represents the State Department for Gender in various regional gender technical working groups like IGAD and African Union Commission

Senior Scientist & Impact Area Lead

Holger Meinke is Adjunct Research Professor for Global Food Sustainability at the University of Tasmania, Australia. As an internationally renowned leader in climate, agriculture, and food systems research, he provides intellectual leadership at local, national, and global level. He has published over 130 refereed papers in disciplinary and transdisciplinary journals. He supervises three PhD candidates. Professor Meinke is passionate about education that fosters critical thinking and high-quality research that has impact. He is a member of five editorial boards. He was Director of the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture for nine years (2011-2019). Before joining the University of Tasmania, Holger held the Chair of Crop and Weed Ecology at Wageningen University, The Netherlands (2007–2011). Prior to that he was a cropping systems scientist with the Queensland Government (1988–2007), where he co-developed the agricultural systems simulation platform, APSIM. In 2014 he became a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). He is a member of the National Committee for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, a subcommittee of the Australian Academy of Science that advises the Australian Government. He has a BSc from Hohenheim University (Germany, 1983), an MSC from the Technical University Berlin (Germany, 1986) and PhD from Wageningen University (The Netherlands, 1996).

Amy Beaudreault is the Lead for ISDC Secretariat within the CGIAR’s Independent Advisory and Evaluation Service (IAES). She uses her expertise in global nutrition and food systems to support the ISDC during the One CGIAR reform, via work plan implementation and multidisciplinary activities. With a 20-year history in newly created positions, she has cultivated novel pathways to advance academic and nonprofit institutions. Her experiences range from research, communication, policy, and program development to public-private engagement and stakeholder consensus building—all underscoring the vital role of science-based solutions. Most recently she was a research fellow in the Global Food Security Project and the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. In addition, she held leadership positions at the University of California, Davis’ World Food Center and the New York Academy of Sciences. Dr. Beaudreault has published in peer-reviewed journals, organized dozens of scientific symposiums, and nurtured international partnerships. She holds a BS in journalism from Ohio University, and an MS in agricultural communication, a PhD in agricultural education and extension, and a graduate certificate in survey research from The Ohio State University.

Mofa has joined the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) in July 2020 after having worked as a Senior Lecturer in Global Food Security & Development at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) for over seven years (2013-2020). Prior to that Mofa held (during 2009-2013) various research positions at the Open University (UK) and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), following the completion of his PhD from Massey University (New Zealand) in 2008. Mofa also worked for over six years (1997-2003) as an Assistant Professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University after completing his BSc in Agriculture and MS in Agricultural Extension degrees from the same institution. Mofa is an interdisciplinary behavioural/social scientist with interest in the broad areas of sustainable agriculture, food security, and environment. Systems thinking and approaches as well as theoretical and methodological pluralism often underpin his works. Mofa’s research has been published in renowned journals like: Land Use Policy, Food Security, Ecological Indicators, Journal of Rural Studies, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Applied Geography, and Journal of Flood Risk Management. During his career Mofa has been involved in a range of international development projects funded by the FCDO, World Bank, JSPS, and industry. In addition to academic research and teaching Mofa has considerable experience in the planning, monitoring and evaluation of international development projects.

Marc Schut is a senior innovation portfolio management advisor and scientist with CGIAR and Wageningen University, based in Rwanda. In this role he co-leads the redesign and development of CGIAR’s innovation, delivery, and scaling infrastructure, including the new CGIAR innovation portfolio management systems. He led multi-cultural and inter-disciplinary innovation and scaling teams and managed multi-country, multi-partner, donor-funded programs.

Marc mobilised more than USD 20M of funding, has published 50 scientific publications, and has solid experience in financial and human resources management, vision, and partnership development as CGIAR country director. Marc has 15 years of experience in low- and middle-income countries and built a strong professional reputation within impact investor, research, and development networks. Marc is known for his inclusive leadership style and has a track record in talent development and creating a safe working environment for staff of all age, background, and gender.

Chun Song, a Spatial Econometrician with the CGIAR Initiative on Foresight and the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT in Rome, Italy. Since January 2023, Chun has been contributing to CGIAR and the Foresight Initiative, attracted by its importance in development and the opportunity to blend economic analysis with geography. She finds modeling interconnected factors and location-specific impacts on food systems intriguing, advocating for multidisciplinary approaches. With aspirations to integrate spatial components into development research, Chun values collaboration and interdisciplinary perspectives. She advises young researchers to sharpen foresight skills and embrace interdisciplinary collaborations. Outside work, she enjoys experimenting with fusion Italian cuisine for her friends in Rome.

Erin McGuire is the director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture, a U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Feed the Future initiative program based at the University of California, Davis, within the Department of Plant Sciences. In this role, she leads all global research and partnership initiatives, advocating for innovations and policies to advance the program’s mission and vision to improve the lives of smallholder farmers while empowering communities through horticulture, including better access to nutrition and healthy diets. McGuire is a champion for sustainability and social justice, promoting collaboration and partnerships across all sectors; and with her specialization in the diversification of agricultural innovation pipelines and equity in scaling, she worked closely with experts from the CGIAR and Wageningen University and Research to build GenderUp, a conversational method for responsible scaling. Before coming to the Innovation Lab for Horticulture, McGuire served as the policy director for the National Farm to School Network, where she focused on children’s nutrition and boosting small farm income. Empowering disadvantaged women and children with better health, and small-scale farming communities with financial prosperity are important drivers of her work. McGuire spent time working for the U.S. Congress, for a congressional member that served on the House Agriculture Committee where she developed policies that benefited rural communities through better investments in government purchased local agriculture products. She has also worked as an economic analyst and researcher at UC Davis, where she set-up D-Lab curricula in Honduras and Thailand, co-authored research with Agricultural Resources and Economics faculty on the effects of purchasing local foods, and led a project with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences International Programs Office on understanding call center efficacy in agricultural extension in Ghana and Bangladesh. Erin McGuire has a PhD in Geography from University of California, Davis, where she focused on Equity in Agricultural Innovation Systems. She holds a master’s degree in International Agricultural Development from UC Davis, and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the College of Santa Fe.

Laurens is Professor Agrifood Innovation and Transition at the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group of Wageningen University, The Netherlands, of which he has been part since 2002. He obtained his PhD from the same university and is an internationally recognized expert in the field of agricultural innovation studies, doing social science research on various topics such as: Institutional change in research and advisory organizations; Roles and positions of organizations that broker multi-stakeholder networks for innovation; Implementation of transdisciplinary science and co-innovation approaches; Dynamics an politics of research and innovation agenda setting; Advisory service innovation and professional development; Division of public, private and industry roles in innovation; Internationalization of research and innovation; Digital agriculture innovation; Transformative innovation in agri-food; Innovation system development; Innovation policy. Throughout his career, Laurens has (co-)authored and published more than 90 articles in international peer reviewed journals. His work informs policy makers, through contributions to policy oriented publications and direct engagement through invited presentations with organizations like the World Bank, the European Commission, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the United Nations Commission for Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Furthermore, he frequently interacts with practitioners through presentations and workshops on systemic perspectives on innovation and the implications for research, extension and development professionals. Laurens is a member of several academic boards such as the editorial board of the international journals Agricultural Systems and Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension and the steering committee of the International Farming Systems Association, and has held advisory positions in research programmes and projects in Europe, New Zealand and Australia.

Channing Arndt is the Senior Director for Transformation Strategies, where he oversees four units within IFPRI/CGIAR: Natural Resources and Resilience, Innovation Policy and Scaling, Foresight and Policy Modeling, and Development Strategies and Governance, which houses IFPRI’s regional offices and country programs. He has worked closely with central decision-making organs at the national level in Africa and Asia, including six years of resident experience in the Ministry of Planning and Finance in Mozambique. He has dedicated his career to the systemic transformations that underpin inclusive and sustainable economic development, and established a reputation for building institutional capacity in countries and via research networks such as the African Economic Research Consortium. His recent books include Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa; Measuring Poverty and Wellbeing in Developing Countries; and The Political Economy of Clean Energy Transitions. He has published research in leading academic journals on a range of topics including agricultural development, poverty measurement, poverty alleviation and growth, market integration, nutrition, gender and discrimination, HIV/AIDS, technological change, trade policy, aid effectiveness, energy, bioenergy, climate variability, and the implications of climate change.

Dr. Athanasios Petsakos is an agricultural economist in the Performance, Innovation and Strategic Analysis for Impact (PISA) group, based at the Alliance headquarters in Rome. He specializes in economic optimization and equilibrium modeling. His research interests lie in integrated assessment methods for ex-ante and foresight analysis for understanding the interaction of biophysical and socioeconomic drivers, and their combined impact on food security at different scales. Athanasios holds a master’s degree in environmental economics from AgroParisTech, France, and a PhD in Agriculture Economics from the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece. Prior to joining the Alliance, he had worked at the French National Agricultural Research Institute (INRA) as a post-doctoral researcher, at the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru as an agricultural economist coordinating foresight activities, and at the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission where he acted as deputy leader of the Commission’s economic farm modeling team.

Thomas is a Senior Research Fellow in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit. His research focuses on the impact of climate change on agricultural productivity. This work has expanded recently to include evaluating the fuller impact of climate change by accounting for uncertainty and interannual variability, especially in regard to extreme events and low-productivity years. Tim’s work involves developing innovative methods for simulated climate futures; generating crop yield emulators to provide intuition and to speed simulations; and model coordination between climate, crop, water, energy, and economics. Tim has also worked in a variety of domains developing innovative methods such as spatial disaggregation (applied to gridded agricultural GDP in Brazil); determining optimal cropland level subnationally (for Ethiopia); and together with other researchers, investigating the impact of climate change on aflatoxins.

Agnes coordinates design of practical approaches and tools to support partners on understanding market segments, aligning breeding pipelines to market segments, developing pipeline investment cases and designing product profiles. Before joining EiB, Agnes served as Portfolio Manager East & Southern Africa with BASF, and previously worked with Syngenta for 12 years, including as Marketing Manager of Broad Acre. Anges has an M.A. in Environmental Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi.

Michael leads EiB’s overall strategy, partnerships and operations. He has extensive experience in the commercial development of germplasm through breeding and R&D management. Prior to EiB, Michael was principal wheat breeder and R&D manager for eastern Australia at InterGrain, and has over 15 years of breeding, management and leadership experience in both the private and public sectors, working with both hybrid and fixed line crops.

Development economist and data scientist

Expertise Feminist political ecology and economy; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); natural resource governance; policy and institutional analyses Before IWMI Deepa has worked primarily in South Asia and also in Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Before Joining IWMI, she worked at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience at Coventry University, UK, and earlier at Wageningen University, Netherlands, and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

Dr Aditi Mukherji is a Director, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Impact Action Platform of the CGIAR. Earlier, she was a Principal Researcher at the International Water Management Institute based in India, and before that she led the Water and Air Theme at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal. Aditi was a Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) of the Water Chapter in the Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in February 2022, and is a member, Core Writing Team of the IPCC’s AR6 Synthesis Report which will be published in March 2023. Her areas of specialization are groundwater governance, energy-irrigation nexus, climate change adaptation and community management of water resources. She has worked in South Asia including the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, Nile basin and in Central Asia. She has published over 80 peer reviewed research papers, including four edited books. In 2012, she was awarded the Inaugural Norman Borlaug Field Award, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation and given by the World Food Prize Foundation, USA. Aditi is a human geographer by training and has a PhD from Cambridge University, United Kingdom where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She has been widely quoted by the media, including New York Times, BBC, DW International, CNN, Al Jazeera and various news outlets in South Asia.

Sikandra Kurdi is a Research Fellow and Country Program Leader for Egypt in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her dissertation work looked at the impacts of Labor Intensive Public Works program in Yemen on household incomes and the use of store credit for coping with shocks. She completed her PhD in Agricultural Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2015, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Paris School of Economics.

Cargele Masso is IITA’s COMPRO-II Project Leader since July 2012. Before his current assignment with IITA, Cargele worked as a regulatory officer in Canada. He holds a PhD in Soil and Environmental Science; MSc in Environmental Science; and MSc and BSc in soil chemistry and plant nutrition. He also holds a Certificate in Project Management. His scientific publications are in the area of soil analysis and improvement, and fertilizer quality.

Doctor in Animal Sciences, MSc. in Biology and Zootechnics from the University of Antioquia (Colombia). Diana has over 10 years of experience in academic research with a focus on data management and analysis.
She has participated in multidisciplinary projects from conception to final report and dissemination. This has enabled her to acquire knowledge on topics such as agricultural production, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, land cover and land use change, territorial dynamics in areas affected by armed conflict (PDET municipalities), and rural and sustainable development.
Her ability to quickly master complex topics and adapt to the needs of the environment helped facilitate the success of these projects. She also performs well in project management, coordination and teamwork, contributing to a healthy working environment. Her research is largely motivated by the opportunity to contribute to the mitigation of the socio-environmental issues facing the planet.

Grazia dedicated her career to supporting decision-makers in designing and implementing sustainable development projects, programmes and solutions that are sensitive to multiple risks, including climate and security risks.
She currently co-leads the CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security research area, managing a team of more than 50 people in 16 countries coming from multiple backgrounds (climate scientists, peace and security experts, social scientists, spatial analysts, econometricians, policy specialists, etc.) and a close to 5 Mio USD portfolio of projects. Her main responsibilities include co-leading on the design and implementation of the Alliance offer on climate, environment, peace, and security, including resource mobilization, proposal development, project management, partnership development, and advocacy tasks to ensure the alignment of CGIAR land, water, and food systems science with climate security initiatives at global, regional, and national levels.
She works closely with national and international partners (e.g., WUR, IEP, Interpeace, SIPRI, NUPI, African Union, FrancoPaix among others) to position Alliance and CGIAR science in the climate security community and lead high-level engagement to inform strategic policy developments on fragility, governance, stabilization, human mobility, and risk-informed development (e.g., UN Food System Summits, COPs, and related). These efforts have already resulted in a number of successful developments, such as the establishment of long-term strategic partnerships with humanitarian and development actors, (e.g., Long-Term Agreement and MoU with WFP, Joint Research Strategy with the Eastern and Horn of Africa IOM Regional Bureau), and with climate security established players, such as UNDP, Adelphi, SIPRI, NUPI among others, and in the inclusion of the CGIAR Climate Security Observatory (a decision support tool) in the top 10 game-changing solutions presented at the 2021 UNFSS under Action Track 5 (Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus sub-cluster).
Finally, she provides thought leadership in the analyses and assessments of climate security risks to inform management and decision-makers at various levels. She leads multiple projects that combine conventional and unconventional mixed method evaluative approaches to qualify and quantify the climate security nexus in Africa, Latin America, and South-East Asia, to provide solutions that are climate security-sensitive and to help define policies that are coherently mainstreaming climate security risks in recovery pathways.
Before this role, Grazia led the impact assessment research area in South-East Asia, including Thailand, Viet Nam, and the Philippines. Previously, she worked with humanitarian actors, such as Save the Children UK, on the design and evaluation of climate-resilient programs in emergency settings, (Somali Region of Ethiopia and Nigeria), or countries highly affected by climate impacts, (Indonesia, Bangladesh, Rwanda).

Research Fellow at the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) focused on topics related to low-emission food systems, drivers of tropical deforestation, forest landscape restoration, sustainable land use systems—particularly cacao agroforestry and silvopasture systems—and their contributions to peacebuilding in Colombia.

She is also completing a PhD at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Her PhD research focuses on soil recovery and carbon sequestration in silvopasture systems and drivers of land degradation in agricultural landscapes in the Amazonian department of Caquetá, Colombia. Her master’s thesis centered on tropical forest restoration in Costa Rica where she compared seed and seedling limitation among three methods of restoration—tree islands, plantations and natural regeneration.
She has conducted fieldwork in tropical moist forests (Ecuador, Colombia), premontane humid forests (Costa Rica), subtropical wet forests (Puerto Rico), mangroves (Malaysia), coral reefs (Malaysia), sea turtle nesting sites (Malaysia), and Texas woodlands (USA). Her research is driven by a desire to disseminate best practices and bridge the gap between multidisciplinary scientific research and on-the-ground project implementation so that successful, large-scale and long-lasting restoration, conservation and sustainable development goals can be achieved.

Jean Balié is Director of the CGIAR Poverty Reduction Livelihoods & Jobs Impact Area Platform. He previously served as Regional Director, South East Asia and Pacific, CGIAR, and Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). He has over two decades of experience in leadership and expertise developing policies for agriculture, food, and rural development. He most recently served as a member of Addressing Food System Fragilities and Building Back Better, a working group under the CGIAR COVID-19 Hub. As Director General of IRRI, he sets the global strategic direction of the institute and manages its affairs in accordance with the policies and decisions of the IRRI Board of Trustees. He joined IRRI in 2018 as Head of the Agri-Food Policy Platform and, before becoming Director General, served as Research Director – External Engagement and Deputy Director General for Research. Prior to IRRI, he worked as a Policy Officer, Senior Economist, and Program Manager at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He earned his PhD in agricultural economics at the University of Göttingen in Germany, and has master’s degrees from Montpellier SupAgro, École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse (ENSAT) and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM).

An International Development Expert who brings over 10 years of experience in conceptualizing, planning, and implementing donor-funded, agri-food systems and programs to deliver and scale up biofortified crops and achieve food security in Africa.
I have been instrumental in developing and implementing program communication, advocacy, and learning and capacity development strategies to elevate program visibility and impact.
I currently lead capacity development, policy and advocacy, knowledge management, and stakeholder engagement on the Kenya Sweetpotato Program and the Global Sweetpotato Program spanning seven countries.
I offer an innovative voice, policy influencing, and advocacy capabilities that have resulted in successful partnerships with partners and stakeholders, the formulation of policies and strategic plans on biofortification in Africa, as well as mobilization of up to US$6Million in grants to further biofortification efforts across the continent.

Highlights of career impact:
Capacity Development: Strengthened the capacity of up to 10 000 beneficiaries (national research, government, academic, private, and community-based institutions) in Tanzania and Nigeria through training of trainers initiatives, instructional materials, and learning workshops.
Policy Formulation & Influencing: Strategic player in the development of 11 policies/strategic plans to prioritize biofortification in Africa.
Knowledge Management: Led knowledge transfer to training institutions in Nigeria and Tanzania to support regional, national, and local advocacy on biofortification.
Resource Mobilization: Secured US$300 000 in fellowship grants and 15 PhD scholarships through stakeholder partnerships.
Stakeholder Engagment: representing CIP on the Technical Advisory Committee of the Kenya Agriculture Sector Network, and the Kenya Agri-Nutrition Working Group, in addition to serving as focal at country, regional (African Union), and global levels.
I am a Certified Instructional Designer and hold a Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from Huddersfield University (UK). I also serve as Chair of the Board of Governors of Gathinja Secondary School in Murang’a County, and serve on the Board of Gathinja Primary School, where I equally serve as Mentor, with demonstrated passion in coaching and mentoring the youth.
My belief in the value of leadership continually buoys results- using passion, integrity, performance excellence, and accountability to lead and motivate project teams into achieving program/project deliverables.

Kibrom A. Abay is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Washington, DC. He is a development and agricultural economist with research interests including rural development, agricultural transformation, urbanization, food and nutrition security, and behavioral economics. Most of his research involves impact evaluation methods. Some of his recent studies examine the behavioral and inferential implications of mismeasurement in household surveys. Much of his current research focuses on Africa south of the Sahara and the Middle East and North Africa region. Before joining IFPRI, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Kibrom received his PhD in Economics from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted is the Director for Nutrition, Health and Food Security Impact Area Platform, CGIAR. She was awarded the 2021 World Food Prize for her ground-breaking research, critical insights, and landmark innovations in developing holistic, nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquatic food systems. She was awarded the 2021 Arrell Global Food Innovation Award for research innovation. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub. She was Vice Chair of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021: Action Track 4 – Advance Equitable Livelihoods, and also a Food Systems Champion. In 2022, Shakuntala was appointed co-chair of the EAT-Lancet 2.0 Commission. Shakuntala holds a PhD from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark. She holds Honorary Doctorates from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and The University of the West Indies.

Alessandra Furtado has extensive experience managing projects financed with public and private funds, handling all financial aspects of international cooperation programs in high-pressure environments with large volumes of work. She demonstrates great initiative and problem-solving capabilities, along with excellent interpersonal skills.

Her specialties include administration, budgeting, contract management, financial management, fundraising, and grant writing. Alessandra is proficient in multiple languages, including English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and is skilled in using Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word), Microsoft Mail, Microsoft Photo Editor, and Microsoft Outlook.

She also has expertise in press releases, process engineering, procurement, proposal writing, public speaking, report generation, secretarial tasks, shipping, strategic planning, supervisory skills, technical support, and translation.

His research is focused on the intersection of climate change, plant physiology, complexity analysis, and global environmental change. As part of this endeavor, he leads a team that has developed innovative tools and approaches to enact actionable change in addressing these broad challenges. He has a track record of publishing several papers in high-impact journals, along with numerous working papers and policy briefs for the UN. Additionally, he has designed and led several research expeditions to Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Vietnam. His work has been communicated across diverse platforms, including TEDx and Falling Walls.

Research Experience & Employment

April 2017 – Director of Ryan Institute for Sustainability, University of Galway.
Sept 2009 – Established Professor (Chair) of Plant Science; Head of Discipline of Botany & Plant Science; Director of Agriculture and Bioeconomy Research Centre, University of Galway.
June 2003 – Senior Lecturer (Scale B8) & Principal Investigator (SFI Investigator) heading plant/agri genetics & biotechnology research lab at University College Cork, Ireland.
2000-2003 Research Fellow at Institute of Plant Biology, Uni of Zürich, Switzerland.
1999-2000 Research Fellow at Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland.
1998-1999 Research Fellow with Prof. Ueli Grossniklaus at Delbruck Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), New York, USA.
1997-1998 Genetic Resources/Plant Genetics/Biotech Consultant with Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Centres (IPGRI, CIAT), Rome, Italy.
1995-1997 Genetic Resources & Plant Genetics/Biotechnology Consultant with Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Rome, Italy.
1994-1995 Research Assistant with Prof. D. Baulcombe, Sainsbury Lab, John Innes Centre, Norwich.
1990-1991 Postgraduate diploma in Management for Engineers & Scientists at Dept. of Management Studies, Trinity College, Ireland.
1988-1994 Ph.D. research on plant/crop/virus molecular genetics with Dr. Tony Kavanagh, Genetics Dept, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
1984-1988 B.Sc. (Biotechnology) at Biology Dept, Dublin City University, Ireland.

Charlotte hails from the United Kingdom and studied zoology and biological sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Prior to joining the Crop Trust, she worked at Bioversity International in France, the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Center in the United Kingdom and the Jane Goodall Institute in Tanzania. As the Head of Programs and the Genebank Platform Coordinator, Charlotte led the Crop Trust in overseeing the technical and financial management of the CGIAR genebanks.

Agronomist (1992) by training with a specialization in plant ecology, Didier Bazile obtained a doctorate (1998) and his HdR (2014) in geography on the links between humans and plants to analyze biodiversity dynamics. He is a specialist in agrobiodiversity issues with a focus on the management of plant genetic resources at different scales. His multi-stakeholder approaches are concerned with the articulation and complementarities between in situ, on-farm, and ex situ conservation methods. He is particularly interested in understanding farmers’ practices to support the participation of local stakeholders in the implementation of public policies that meet their needs. After dedicating 10 years to agroforestry and trees outside forests, his research since the 2000s has focused on the dynamics of the genetic diversity of food crops (quinoa, amaranth, millet, sorghum, teff, fonio). The tools and methods developed are based on participatory modeling (mapping, role-playing games, multi-agent models) to support stakeholders in defining new sustainable management methods for agricultural biodiversity. Access to genetic resources for innovation is at the heart of his research, where he leverages his expertise in agronomy, geography, ecology, and participatory modeling. This naturally leads him to be interested in issues related to access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits arising from their use (ABS) and farmers’ rights.

Dr Silali Heads Partnerships and Business Development at GenePlus Global Ltd. He is an experienced Markets Systems Development Professional with 10+ years’ experience in Business Development, Strategic Planning, Data Analysis, Business Process Improvement, and Strategy. He has vast experience in Agricultural value chain development, Trade facilitation, Markets System Transformation, Research and Agribusiness Modelling, Stakeholder Engagement, and Agricultural policy influence.
He leads the business in identifying, and managing partnerships that include developing and executing Agribusiness training and extension modules, technology transfer into new markets and design of programs that facilitate the growth of enterprises into commercially viable outfits while paying keen attention to the inclusion of vulnerable populations within value chains.

Emily Ouma is a Senior Scientist, Agricultural Economist working with the Policies, Institutions and Livelihoods Program at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Uganda. She works in a multidisciplinary team of scientists to design, test and evaluate technical and institutional interventions to improve livelihoods, incomes and assets of smallholder pig value chain actors in Uganda. She leads a USAID-Feed the Future funded Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems project in Rwanda that focusses on enhancing the quality and consumption of milk in Rwanda through, behaviour change nutrition communication, and strengthening of dairy cooperatives capacities. She has vast experience working with crop-livestock farmers in Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern DRC through a DGDC funded CIALCA project, led by IITA.

Emily’s research areas and fields of interest include smallholder farm level competitiveness, agri-food value chain analysis, ex-ante and ex-post impact assessment of agricultural technologies and institutional arrangements, consumer economics, non-market valuation methods, gender, and environmental and resource economics. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Kiel in Germany.

Faouzi Bekkaoui is the director of the National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA), Morocco and the scientific director of the Adaptation of African Agriculture initiative. He is president of the scientific council of MAScIR and a member of the Board of Trustees of ICARDA. He was previously director of the school of agriculture and coordinator of the AgroBioSciences research program at the University Mohammed 6 Polytechnic of Benguerir (2017-19). He also worked as Executive Director of National Research Council Canada (NRC) Flagship Wheat Improvement Program (2012-2017), at the NRC Plant Biotechnology Institute in Molecular Biology and Genomics as manager (2006-2011), at Genome Prairie as project manager (2003-2006) at GenServe as laboratory manager (1999-2003) and ID Biomedical in the field of DNA diagnostics as scientist and program lead (1993-1999). During his career, he has co-authored 45 scientific articles in the fields of Agriculture, DNA diagnostics, molecular biology, genomics and plant physiology. He has also contributed recently to numerous national and international panels under the theme of food security and climate change. Bekkaoui holds a master’s degree in physiology from the University of Tours (1983) and a doctorate in plant physiology (1986) from the University of the Sorbonne (formerly Paris 6).

Before joining CGIAR, Ibtissem Jouini served as a Regional Evaluations Specialist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, where she managed decentralized evaluations and designed capacity development activities within the FAO Office of Evaluation (OED). Prior to this role, she led multiple independent evaluations and studies. Her professional journey also includes substantial contributions to International Development Organizations and Foundations. In these positions, she operated either as M&E or Program Manager for various national, regional, and global projects. She actively participates in several evaluation associations. She leads the working group on the professionalization of evaluation at the Asociación Ibérica de Profesionales Evaluadores (APROEVAL), and she is a member of the European Evaluation Society (EES), and the MENA Evaluators Network (EvalMena). A Tunisian national, Ibtissem is fluent in Arabic, French, Spanish, and English. She holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Evaluation from the Saarland University, Germany, and another Master degree in Microbiology from the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis and Pasteur Institute, Tunisia.

Isabelle is a development economist with twenty years of post-doctoral experience in agricultural systems in Africa, South and South-East Asia, with a focus on livestock value chains. Starting her career as a development economist with an emphasis on adoption and impact assessment studies in livestock systems, she has increasingly sharpened her skills in gender and social equity research, looking at how women and men’s needs and capabilities differ in terms of accessing and using technologies and practices, also resulting in varied, and sometimes opposite, impact. She has worked at the interface of research and development, working with private sector, farmers’ groups, ministries, NGOs and investors. Her work has a direct relevance to the activities of development practitioners and the private sector, and resulted in publications targeted at that audience.

Elizaphan James Oburu Rao is a scientist working under the livelihoods, gender and impact program at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). An agricultural economist by training, Rao has worked across East Africa implementing livestock research in development projects in collaboration with development partners and government agencies. Rao’s work focusses on adoption and innovation pathways of development interventions – technologies and institutional innovations, aimed at livelihood improvements. Rao has been leading monitoring learning and evaluation activities in the Tanzania Dairy Value Chain under the current Livestock and Fish Collaborative Research Program (CRP). He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from University of Goettingen, an Msc in Agricultural Economics from University of Hohenheim, an Msc in International Cooperation Policy from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and a Bsc in Agricultural Economics from Egerton University.

Jawoo Koo joined IFPRI in July 2007 as a postdoctoral fellow in the Environment and Production Technology Division. He holds a B.A. in Agricultural Biology from Korea University, Seoul, Korea, and a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from University of Florida. For his dissertation, he worked for the Soil Management CRSP, funded by USAID, in collaboration with University of Ghana and the Savannah Agriculture Research Institute, to estimate soil carbon sequestration potential in smallholders’ farming systems in Ghana using crop systems models and field surveys.

BSc Physics, University College Galway
PhD Atmospheric Physics, National University of Ireland Galway
EPA funded Postdoc (2019-2020)
SFI funded Postdoc (2020-2021)
Postdoc as part of the TAPAS project (2023-)

Senior Scientist at Alliance Biodiversity & CIAT

Satish Nagaraji is a digital innovation specialist with approximately 15 years of extensive experience in conceptualizing, developing, and implementing technology-based solutions that enable access to information and lead to sustainable development, particularly focusing on food systems and rural livelihoods.

He has led teams in creating and deploying innovative digital applications for monitoring and service delivery in agriculture research for development initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and India. He possesses a deep understanding of digital technologies, including AI, ML, Blockchain, IoT, and mobile telephony, and their application in agri-food systems to drive digital transformation and address global grand challenges.

Satish engages closely with the start-up ecosystem to transform innovations into sustainable platforms and tools. He recently began PhD research at Wageningen University, focusing on business models for big data in agriculture and its social implications.

Sriram is an Unreasonable Fellow. Sriram has participated in 2 programs, including Unreasonable GOALS 2023 (Costa Rica).
Sriram Bharatam, a leading serial and social entrepreneur, is the Founder and Chief Mentor at KUZA. He is committed to supporting youth, women, and small businesses from low-middle-income countries (LMIC) by helping them to learn-connect-grow at scale on-their-own-terms and pace, using digital technologies.
To mobilize public, private & philanthropy sectors as a system, and address complex challenges and opportunities across sectors (health, agriculture, WASH), Sri uses digital platforms and exponential technologies that facilitate economic activities and accelerate problem-solving. His initiatives have impacted over 6.0 million youth and created 153,331 new jobs across Africa and South Asia.
Sri is an alumnus of MIT, a nominee of the Ernst & Young ‘Entrepreneur of the Year Award’, a winner of ‘The Kauffman Award for Social Entrepreneurship’, and the ‘EO Global Citizen of the Year award’.

Venu joined IRRI in 2018. He currently leads the Fit-for-Future Genetic Resources cluster which aims to create and deliver the knowledge, material, and tools required to enable users of genetic resources to take full advantage of the naturally-occurring diversity of cultivated rice and its wild relatives. This will help create new and improved varieties that will address the dynamic needs of rice producers and consumers.

He also oversees the operation of the International Rice Genebank – the world’s largest collection of rice genetic diversity which holds more than 132,000 available accessions. This includes cultivated species of rice, wild relatives and species from related genera.

Before joining IRRI, he worked as a Principal Scientist of Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice). As a rainfed-lowland rice breeder for West and Central Africa, he was able to release eight varieties in Nigeria, Madagascar, Gambia, and Sierra Leone).

Oluyemisi Iranloye is a visionary entrepreneur, committed to sustainable agriculture and community development. She is the Founder/CEO of Psaltry International Company Limited, one of the top food processing companies in the world. She hails from Ogbomosho, Oyo state, Nigeria. She has a B.Tech in Biochemistry from the Federal University of Technology, Minna (1997) and an M.Sc. from the University of Ibadan (2000). She is an alumna of the Seed Transformation Programme, a programme under the Stanford Graduate School of Business, California. In addition, she has attended several management training courses in Nigeria and abroad, including the Nigerian SME Equity Investment Trade and Development Programme in 2005 at El Camino College, Torrance, California, USA.

She began her professional career at EKHA Agro Farms Limited in 2002 and eventually became the company’s first executive director. EKHA Agro is notable for being the first company in Nigeria to launch a glucose syrup factory. In 2011, she had a brief stint at Nigerian Breweries as
a project manager before pursuing her entrepreneurial goals. Driven by empathy and a strong desire to empower smallholder farmers, she transformed her initial farming venture in Alayide Village, Ado-Awaye, into a thriving cassava processing company that puts smallholder farmers at the centre in 2012. Her objective was to make a real difference by improving the livelihoods of farm families and creating job opportunities.

Under her leadership, Psaltry has become one of the leading cassava processing companies in the world, producing cassava starch, flour, glucose, and becoming the first in Africa and the second in the world to start the production of cassava-based sorbitol. The business positively impacts over 100,000 farm families within a 200km radius of the factory, developing rural areas, providing about 1000 direct and indirect employment opportunities, and impacting the Nigerian economy.

Beyond Psaltry, she currently serves on the board of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Business Incubation Platform (IITA-BIP) and holds the Presidency of the Large-Scale Starch and Derivatives Producers Association (LSSDPA). She was a member of the Governing Council of Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora. She served on the presidential committee on Cassava Development and Utility in Nigeria from 2005 to 2007 and on the UNIDO/Ministry of Commerce Committee in 2006. She was a member of the FAO expert consultation on cassava processing, utilization, and marketing in 2008. Furthermore, she was a member of the steering committee on the USAID/IITA project, “Unleashing the Power of Cassava in Africa (UPOCA),” in 2009, among other national and international contributions. She attended the African Women Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) in Washington DC, USA, and became the first AWEP president Nigeria Chapter.

Her dedication to sustainable agriculture and community development has garnered her numerous accolades. Notably, the Women Agripreneurs of the Year Awards (WAYA 2022) by AGRA, among other awards. In July 2010, she received recognition as Nigeria’s foremost female entrepreneur from Hillary Clinton, the former United States Secretary of State. In 2014, she was recognised by the Federal Government of Nigeria Transformation Agenda Programme for her outstanding contribution to its Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) under the leadership of Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, former Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the current president of the African Development Bank.

Yemisi is a sought-after speaker who generously shares her knowledge at conferences worldwide. A highlight was her keynote address at the 2023 FAO-IAFN Private Sector High-Level Dinner in Rome, attended by 127 delegates from 30 countries. Her emergence as a global phenomenon is characterized by her advocacy for women’s inclusion in advancing sustainable agriculture.

Sylvia Sarah Nyawira is a researcher with over seven years of experience in crop and soil modeling. Since joining the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, she has been working in projects geared towards assessing the impacts of improved agronomic management practices, including perennial forages on soil organic carbon. Sylvia holds a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Hamburg and has experience in working with large-scale global models to assess the impacts of land-use change and land management on terrestrial carbon dynamics. Sylvia serves as a reviewer for various international journal. Within the Alliance, Sylvia has led and coordinated several research for development projects mainly in countries within East Africa, under the Multifunctional Landscape Lever and Tropical Forages program.

Bjorn Van Campenhout is a Research Fellow in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. He is also an Associate Research Fellow at the LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance of the KU Leuven, Belgium. His research focuses on smallholder agriculture, especially in East Africa. He has published on food market integration and smallholder market participation. Recently, he has been investigating the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) to make agricultural extension more inclusive and effective. He earned a PhD from KU Leuven, Belgium.

Hugo Campos is Research Director at the International Potato Center (CIP), and also CIP’s focal point for RTB. He has +25 years of international experience working in several Latin-American countries, US and UK. Most of his professional career has focused on molecular breeding – the intersection between plant breeding and biotechnology – with an explicit goal of delivering superior varieties and increase the efficacy and efficiency of plant breeding programs, and in developing commercially relevant drought tolerant varieties. He is experienced in diverse crop species such as sugarcane, maize, soybeans, canola and wheat. He is an advanced practitioner of topics such as innovation and entrepreneurship from a private standpoint. In addition to playing a direct role leading plant breeding efforts, Hugo has written one book, edited another, and is in the process of editing a third one. He is a Chilean national and holds a Ph.D. from the John Innes Centre, UK and an MBA from Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile.

Katharina Diehl is a Scaling Specialist in the HarvestPlus section of the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit, based in Nairobi. She has been working on sustainability-oriented innovations in agriculture for more than 10 years, she has a high systemic understanding of innovation processes that depend on ecological and political framing conditions, as well as the integration of actors along value chains. In her current position with HarvestPlus, her focus is on scaling up biofortification in staple crops and food products.

Kathatina’s work is tightly linked to sustainability research and innovation system analysis, reflecting methods of impact assessment, fore- and back-casting, design thinking, and theory of change. For innovation management, this involves the development of implementation concepts that ensure close interaction between actors from administration, farming, food processing, and consumption. Technological, organizational and governance aspects are thereby analyzed in terms of viability and efficiency as well as resilience. She has earned degrees in both landscape ecology (Dipl.La-oek.) and agricultural sciences (Dr.rer.agr.).

 

Natalia Palacios’s main area of work is the development of maize germplasm with high nutritional quality, including high quality protein maize, high zinc and high provitamin A maize, the evaluation of nutritional and processing quality of maize under different production systems and the characterization of maize for end-use quality. She has also recently become involved in the safety of maize kernels by evaluating different strategies for aflatoxin control. Her research also includes the development of food processing methods to increase health and nutrition benefits for consumers.

Palacios has worked as a Quality Specialist at CIMMYT since 2005. She studied Microbiology at Andes University in Bogota, Colombia, and completed her doctoral studies in Plant Biology at the University of East Anglia and the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England. She later completed two postdoctoral placements at the University of Dublin, Ireland, and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, Germany.

Research Unit Leader – Consumer-driven Grain Quality and Nutrition

Dr Shalander Kumar is presently the Deputy Global Research Program Director of the Enabling systems transformation program and cluster leader of the Markets, Institutions and Policies cluster at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India. He is an Indian national and a FELLOW of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and on the Executive Committee of the Global Food and Climate Systems Transformation Alliance led by MIT. Dr Kumar has doctoral degree in agricultural economics, Advance course on Development Oriented Research in Agriculture’ at ICRA, WAGENINGEN and more than 29 years of experience working in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Current focus of his work is on data-driven systems approaches for scaling climate-smart and nutrition sensitive agricultural value chains and food systems; tools and frameworks for co-designing resilient and sustainable farm and food systems; and policies relevant studies and advocacy around seed systems, agri-business opportunities, climate adaptation and mainstreaming millets.

Expertise in: Farm and food systems analysis, whole farm household modelling and tradeoff analysis, System dynamics modelling for value chain analysis, climate change impact on food security and nutrition, CSA investment planning, institutional innovations and business models for gender responsive sustainable intensification of farm and food systems, systems tools for assessment and tracking multi-dimensional sustainability of farming systems.

Janet Hodur is the senior communications specialist at the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH).

Jordan Chamberlin is a CIMMYT Spatial Economist based in Kenya. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University and an MA in Geography from Arizona State University.

He conducts applied research on smallholder farm households, rural development and policies designed to promote welfare and productivity improvements.

Kate Amber is a Senior Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Kate’s research broadly focuses on interventions that can increase incomes for smallholders and other microenterprises in agriculture, with a focus on the inclusion of women. She also studies policies and programs that can improve women’s agency, migration and remittances, and measurement issues.

Kate has experience with research conducted using randomized controlled trials, framed field experiments, and secondary data, and has worked on projects in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South America, and Asia. She completed a PhD in Economics at the University of Michigan, specializing in development economics and economic demography.

Prof. Rose Aoko Ogwang Odhiambo is a distinguished expert specializing in science and education policy, policy analysis, implementation, and public administration. With extensive experience in lecturing and public speaking, she is also renowned for her contributions to research and report writing. As a global health expert, Prof. Odhiambo’s work focuses on malaria, AIDS, and parasitology. Her multifaceted expertise has made significant impacts in both academic and policy-making circles, advancing knowledge and shaping effective health strategies worldwide.

Susan Limisi is an educationist and counseling psychologist with a distinguished 15-year career dedicated to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. Her expertise spans the fields of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL), where she excels in designing and implementing comprehensive frameworks, standardizing monitoring tools, and ensuring systematic reporting for diverse projects.

Susan’s passion is evident in her work developing gender strategies, policies, and programs that address the unique challenges faced by women and girls, particularly in the agricultural sector across various African nations. She has witnessed the transformative power of gender equality and remains committed to coordinating essential studies, assessments, evaluations, and knowledge-sharing events. Her dedication to creating and disseminating resources and best practices promotes responsible and sustainable practices.

Her career underscores a steadfast commitment to fostering gender equality and enhancing MEL practices. Susan is driven by a vision of a future where gender equality is a reality, empowering every woman and girl to pursue her dreams and contributing to sustainable and inclusive development.

Thomas Reardon is a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. Tom has been at MSU since 1992; IFPRI Research Fellow 1986-1991; Rockefeller Foundation Post-Doc with IFPRI in Burkina Faso 1984-1986; Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1984, and masters from the Université de Nice and Columbia University.

Tom researches the transformation of food value chains: (1) the e-commerce and food delivery intermediaries; (2) the “supermarket revolution” and the “food service revolution” (3) the “Quiet Revolution” (the diffusion of SMEs in the midstream of value chains); and (4) R&D and farm inputs supply chain transformation. He studies the impacts of these transformations on food industry business strategies, on farms, consumption/nutrition, and employment.

Vivian Polar brings over 15 years of experience working directly with farmers and indigenous groups in rural communities, in agricultural technology innovation, adaptation to climate change, and food security. She has skills in project design, monitoring and evaluation and gender analysis in developing countries. Polar previously worked as a technical manager of PROINPA Foundation for the Altiplano Regional Office and also as a consultant for several well-known institutions such as the International Potato Center, Swiss Contact, World Bank, Samaritan’s Purse, and Bioversity International. She holds a PhD. in Finance and Management from the School of Oriental and African Studies – University of London, UK.

Dr. Mel Oluoch (Kenya, PhD), Strategic Partnership Director of the SAA, joined SAA in 2018 as the Regional Director and is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has a PhD in Horticulture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech, USA), a MSc in Horticulture from Central Mindanao University (Philippines), and a BSc Degree in Agriculture from the University of Eastern Africa (Kenya).
He is an Agriculture Research and Development professional with multidisciplinary background experience in horticulture, agronomy, project management, capacity building, rural agriculture development, seed systems, public-private sector partnerships, marketing systems, value chain development and technology transfer. He has previously held R&D and leadership capacities at the World Vegetable Center, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), HarvestPlus, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and Wageningen Plant Research, The Netherlands.Currently, he coordinates SAAs strategic partnerships to enhance the design and program delivery of practical and innovative agricultural extension and advisory service and capacity building systems in Africa.

Tek Sapkota currently leads the Climate Change Science Group within CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program and is based in CIMMYT headquarters in Mexico. He carries out research in the area of agricultural systems, soil science and environmental sciences. He is particularly involved in studying agro-ecosystems management consequences on nutrient dynamics and their effect on food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation. He is a member of the Climate Investment Committee in OneCGIAR.

Sapkota has served in IPCC as Lead author as well as Review editor. He is an associate Editor of Nature Scientific Report and Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems journals. He is an agricultural expert in the India GHG platform.

Dr Mamta Sharma is an accomplished, result oriented plant pathologist having more than 20 years of experience in this field. Dr Sharma is currently Principal Scientist-II and leading Legumes Pathology program under Global Research Program on Accelerated Crop Improvement at ICRISAT Headquarters based in Hyderabad, India. She is also leading a Cluster on “Precision Phenotyping for Biotic, Abiotic Stresses and Nutrition” and coordinator for “Center of Excellence on climate change research for plant production and protection (CoE-CCRPP)” Govt of India initiative under the National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC).

Dr Sharma has a PhD from Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India in Mycology and Plant Pathology. Dr Sharma leads the research team in several key areas at ICRISAT such as precision Phenotyping, legumes pathology (chickpea and pigeonpea diseases), climate change and plant protection. Her key areas of research include host plant resistance & phenotyping, host -pathogen interaction, population dynamics, pathogen characterization, disease detection & monitoring using next-generation tools, patho-genomics, disease epidemiology, climate change vis-à-vis pest/disease dynamics, disease forecasting models as well as transfer of technology through integrated disease/pest management technologies. She is extensively involved in capacity building of various stakeholders in the domain of crop protection and climate change. Dr Sharma is instrumental in establishing state-of-art climate change research facility at ICRISAT with a focus to develop modern crop production and protection tools that can make agriculture more sustainable and climate resilient.

Dr Sharma has been recognized with several awards for her outstanding contributions to agriculture including Women Scientist of India (2018), Doreen Margarret Mashler Award (2017), Promising Young Scientist Award (2012), Outstanding Partnership Award-Climate change and Asia (2023 and 2018), Outstanding Research Articles and Exceptional Scientific Articles Awards (2014, 2016, 2017). Dr Sharma is a Senior Editor and editorial board member of several scientific journals. Dr Sharma has led more than 20 R&D projects and collaborated with various international and national donors. Dr Sharma has published more than 240 research articles, book chapters, Information Bulletins and Conference papers in high impact journals as well as mentored over 50 Post-docs, young scientists, PhD and MSc Students. Dr Sharma is Fellow of Indian Phytopathological Society as well as Senior Editor for CABI Agriculture & Biosciences as well as Advisory member of several societies including American Phytopathological Society.

Oscar Ortiz is Senior Director, Crop-Based Systems, CGIAR. He is an agronomist by training and started working for the National Institute of Agricultural Research and the NESTLE private company in Peru. He joined CIP in 1992 as a member of the Social Sciences and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Departments, working on impact assessment of IPM, before going for his graduate studies on this subject. He rejoined CIP as a post doc in 1998, then as a research associate in 2001. He was then appointed leader of the Integrated Crop Management Research Division from 2004 to 2011. During 2012 and 2013 he was the leader of the Integrated Crop and systems Research Global Program, and Deputy Director of Research for Regional Science Programs. In 2014, he was appointed as Deputy Director General for Research and Development at CIP.

He has more than twenty years of experience in leading and managing interdisciplinary teams involving both biophysical and social sciences. This includes vast experience in participatory research and training related to integrated insect and disease control, integrated crop management (ICM), agronomy and seed management; impact assessment of research and extension activities; use of the agricultural knowledge and information systems, and of innovation system approaches for research and development; leading seed-related teams on potato and sweetpotato as part of ICM-related research and development; research related to innovation systems, and more recently as a member of the management committee of the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB).

Oscar holds a PhD in Agricultural Innovation and Rural Development from the University of Reading, UK.

Dr. Dao The Anh is the Vice-President of the Vietnamese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) since 2017. He was formerly the Director of the Centre for Agrarian System Research and Development (CASRAD) and Deputy Director General of the Field Crops Research Institute (FCRI) under the Vietnamese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) since 2006. With a Bachelor in agronomy, a Master (1994) in Farming Systems, and a PhD (2004) in Agricultural, Rural, and Food Economics from Montpellier, France, with a dissertation on the livelihood diversification of household economies in the Red River Delta, Vietnam, he has developed more than 30 years of experience in agricultural and rural research-development, primarily in Vietnam.

He has also been involved in civil society works as Vice-President of the Vietnam Science for Rural Development Association (PHANO). Recently, he was nominated as Head of the Vietnam Agriculture Encyclopaedia Edition Board in 2018. He was nominated as Editor in Chief of the Vietnam Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology in 2019 and as a Foreign Member of the French Academy of Agriculture in 2020.

Using a systemic approach, his research topics focus on agro-ecology farming systems, sustainable food systems, agri-food value chain governance, adaptation and mitigation for climate change of production systems, food safety management and certification, promoting cooperatives, SMEs and farmer organizations, branding for agricultural products, livelihood diversification, and biodiversity use for food and nutrition security mostly in Vietnam. More recently, he has taken a sharp interest in the role of safe agriculture and poverty alleviation strategies based on improving poor and small food producers’ access to markets with agro-ecological products, geographical indication products, and ICT applications in agriculture such as blockchain, traceability, precision agriculture, and big data.

He has authored and co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed papers in journals and congresses, and has managed many national and international research projects in agricultural economics. Through his research and development work, he has also been actively involved in policy advocacy for provinces, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and higher levels. His latest work was realized with CIRAD, GRET, FAO, ACIAR, IRD, IFAD, WB, OXFAM, SNV, Recolto, ABC, IRRI, IFPRI, JICA, DFATD, GRIPS, and various international universities.

Masresha Tessema directs the food and nutrition portfolio of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), where he has led a variety of initiatives related to the country’s food and nutrition policy and strategy, Ethiopian food system transformation plan, particularly in regard to the new country’s food based dietary guidelines launched in 2022. He holds a PhD in Human Nutrition and Health from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He has over 10 years’ experience in Public Health Nutrition, food system, and food security, and over 20 research publications in peer-reviewed journals.

30 years experience in research, emergency response and development with NGOs, universities, ICRC and United Nations in the Horn of Africa, UK and Middle East specialising in arid and semi-arid livelihoods and production systems.

Sustainable Livelihoods: identifying and developing strategies and policies for sustainable pastoral systems that include diversification, education, rights, access, marketing, environmental and natural resource management issues.

Coordination and Management: of development and emergency projects/programmes for NGOs, ICRC and UN. From assessment, problem and response identification, appraisal, design, set-up and implementation to monitoring and evaluation. Emphasising inclusiveness (full stakeholder involvement), integrated programming and a results/impact driven approach.

Policy and Strategy: based on the livelihoods and management approaches above. Developing systems that overcome gaps between early warning and response and where emergency interventions can strengthen development initiatives.

Capacity building: of individual, community and NGO initiatives through training, “risk sharing” and building “community ownership” by including beneficiaries in project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Extension, dissemination, networking: mostly on livestock production and pastoralist livelihoods to communities, governments , farmers, teachers and students. Production of education curricula, extension manuals and materials; specialised in mobile extension methods for largely non-literate farmers.

Technical Advisor: on research projects for institutes, universities and postgraduate students. Providing PRA and RRA field support. Writing reports and proposals, papers and manuals.

Camel specialist and entrepreneur: 30 years of camel research and development including ongoing management of my own camel herd under pastoral rangeland and ranching conditions.

Currently available for short or long term consultancy contracts.

Roba Guyo is the Head of the Jameel Observatory in ILRI’s Policies Institutions and Livelihood Program in April 2022. Before joining ILRI, Guyo held several positions at diverse national and international organizations such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA). He is a natural resource scientist and a livestock market specialist by training, with over 12 years of professional experience in natural resources and drylands management and livestock value chain development. He is well grounded in rural development and food security subjects. Guyo holds a PhD in agricultural sciences from Universität Kassel, Germany, a master’s degree in energy studies from the University of Dundee, UK, and a bachelor’s in environmental planning and management from Kenyatta University, Kenya.

Tahira Mohamed is an interdisciplinary social scientist with origins in the cross-border Borana pastoralist communities of Isiolo and Marsabit Counties in Northern Kenya. She recently completed her doctoral research through the PASTRES project at the Institute of Development Studies. Her doctoral thesis examined how ‘moral economies’ and ‘safety net’ institutions are evolving among the Waso pastoralists of Northern Kenya’s Isiolo County, looking at collective solidarities and resource redistribution in managing dryland variabilities such as drought, conflict, and other livelihood shocks between 1975-2020. She also has a master’s degree in International Studies from the University of Nairobi.

Before taking up this appointment, Tahira contributed to an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) study on local forms of resilience through a ‘reliability professional network’ lens in pastoral production. This generated a series of blog posts on what resilience means from the local pastoralist’s perspective. She has also worked as a field researcher with the Effective State and Inclusive Development research centre at the University of Manchester on the politics of implementing social protection in Marsabit County.

Tahira is based at the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya where her research is co-financed by the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action and the Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises (SPARC) project.

To date, CILSS has currently about 13 member states in west and Central Africa. The secretariat applies the directives of the heads of states and manages regional joint programs. Dr Abdoulaye Mohamadou is the Executive Secretary of the CILSS, appointed at the 19th Conference of Heads of State and Government held on 20 July 2020 by videoconference. He holds a doctorate from École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in France. He has wide experience in the field and extensive knowledge of land issues, agro-pastoralism, decentralization and public policy. He was Director General of the INRAN (Institute National de La Recherche Agronomique du Niger) from 2010 to 2012. In addition to his research, Dr. Abdoulaye Mohamadou has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Agronomy of the Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey since 2004. From 2007 to 2010, he was also Scientific Director of the Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherches sur les Dynamiques Sociales et le Développement Local (LASDEL), a regional Think Thank. He has coordinated various regional research programs on agricultural issues and development in general in the Sahel and West Africa. He is the author of a dozen scientific articles and several publications on various sectors of rural development and public policy in sub-Saharan Africa. He has solid expertise in the management of institutions and the development of strategic partnerships.

Bernard Vanlauwe is the Deputy Director General for Research for Development of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). He is also leading the Excellence in Agronomy Initiative of the CGIAR. His main research has focused on the development and scaling of Integrated Soil Fertility Management options for smallholder farmers in key farming systems of sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Rebbie Harawa is the Director of the Africa Program at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). She has over 15 years of strategic leadership R4D in international organizations. Before joining ICRISAT, she worked for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) as a Head of the Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Systems Program. Previous positions include Country Team Leader and Science Coordinator for UNDP, Millennium Villages Project in Malawi, and Adjunct Associate Research Scholar (part-time) for Global Health and Economic Development at Columbia University.
Rebbie has a demonstrated track record of applying scientifically proven agricultural technologies and innovations that enable agri-food systems to produce nutritious food, increase household resilience, and conserve natural resources. Her research areas of interest include soil health, agronomy, resilient farm and food systems, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. She holds a Ph.D. in Soil Science from Cornell University, New York, USA.

Dr Abdrahmane Wane is a principal scientist in development and agricultural economics at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) since 2022. Before joining ILRI as Regional Representative for West Africa, he was a senior development and agricultural economist at the French Agricultural Research and International Cooperation Organization (CIRAD) from 2004 to the first semester of 2022. His research ambition is to contribute to sustainable development in food systems in low and middle-income countries. His areas of expertise include development economics (debt analysis and mitigation), agricultural economics, the economics of agropastoralism, value chain analysis, network analysis, cattle market analysis, market information systems, inequality measure, and analysis, vulnerability and resilience analysis, price volatility and transmission, risk assessment, and climate finance gap.

 

Kwaw Andam is the Country Program Leader of the Nigeria Strategy Support Program in Abuja. He is also a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Before leading the IFPRI Nigeria team, Kwaw worked as a Research Fellow in the IFPRI program in Ghana. His research has included analyses of the competitiveness of agricultural production in Ghana and the causal linkages between regulatory protection, land use, and socioeconomic outcomes. Prior to joining IFPRI, Kwaw served as an agricultural economist at the World Bank in Washington, DC, where he led analytical work on rural development in Yemen and worked on lending operations in agriculture in Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand, and Yemen, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow based in the IFPRI office in Ethiopia. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia State University.

Betina Dimaranan is a Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit. She is currently the Project Manager for the African Growth and Development Policy (AGRODEP) Modeling Consortium and helps coordinate the Food Security Portal (FSP). She is a member of the Globalization and Markets team and has conducted research on trade policy issues, biofuels policies, food and agricultural policies, and growth and economic development. Before joining IFPRI, Betina was a Research Economist and the Database Administrator at the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) at Purdue University. She has also worked at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and as a consultant with the World Bank. Betina received a BS in Agribusiness from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, an MS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University.

Bo P. J. Andree is a Data Scientist at the Office of the Chief Statistician at the World Bank’s Development Data Group. His recent contributions involve research on food security and economic monitoring in data-scarce regions, notably his work with Aart Kraay, Deputy Chief Economist of the World Bank, on Predicting Food Crises. Bo spearheads the maintenance of the Real Time Food Prices (RTFP) dataset, a live compilation of price data updated weekly by the World Bank’s Development Data Group. This dataset, generated through a combination of direct price measurement and Machine Learning, serves as a crucial resource for estimating sub-national price inflation series and national-level Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) indicators in regions with limited official information.

In addition, Bo manages the publications of the World Food Security Outlook (WFSO) database, a valuable resource provided by the World Bank’s Development Data Group and the Agriculture Global Practice to help track SDG2 progress worldwide. This database incorporates historical, preliminary, and forecast data on severe food insecurity, offering insights into associated development financing response needs worldwide. The data have central to establishing and replenishing the World Bank’s Crisis Response Window.

As a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Spatial Economics, VU University Amsterdam and an advisor to the UN-FAO IPC Working Group on Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence, Bo blends expertise in spatial-time series econometrics, economics, and machine learning methods, with a keen focus on development policies.

Bo’s academic journey includes completing the Earth and Economics B.Sc. program at the VU with additional coursework in economics and a minor in GIS. He further pursued the Spatial, Transport, and Environmental Economics M.Sc. program, culminating in a Ph.D. in Econometrics. His doctoral thesis, titled “Theory and Application of Dynamic Spatial Time Series Models,” showcases his commitment to advancing the theoretical foundations and practical applications in his field.

Soonho Kim is a Senior Data Manager in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit. Prior to joining IFPRI, Soonho worked as an Information Management Specialist in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for six years. She holds a BA in Agricultural Biology from Korea University, Seoul, Korea, and a MS in Microbiology from Seoul National University. She received a PhD in Agricultural and Biological Engineering (major) and Computer Science (minor) from the University of Florida.

Languages spoken: Korean, English

Areas of Interest

• Agriculture Monitoring
• Wildfire Detection

Degrees

• Degree Type

  PhD

  Degree Details

  Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park
• Degree Type

  MS

  Degree Details

  MPS Geospatial Information Sciences, University of Maryland College Park
• Degree Type

  BS

  Degree Details

  Geography (minor: GIS), University of Maryland, College Park

Academic record

Since 2023: Head of Agri-food innovation Center at the Ministry of Agriculture, fisheries, rural development and water and forests. Est-Morocco.

Since 2021: Responsible for “Introducing novel and eco-resilient crops in current farming systems in the Est of Morocco” program in framework of Green Generation Strategy (2020-2030).

2021-2024: researcher at IAV Hassan II, Morocco: Quinoa-fruit trees-based agroforestry: A climate smart model to sustain land use efficiency in marginal environments of Eastern Morocco.

1994-2021: Applied R&D and agricultural consultancy at Moulouya Regional Agricultural Development Office (ORMVAM).

1992-1994: Agronomic scientist engineer at National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA)

1986-1991: Master’s degree in Agronomy and Agrifood Sciences at Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences, Morocco

Current projects:

Partner of “Quinoa4Med” project: “Quinoa as a climate smart crop diversification option for higher income generation from marginal lands in the Mediterranean” (2022-2025),

Partner of “PureCircles” project: “Maximising resource use efficiency within the water-nutrient-energy nexus for sustainable agriculture in marginal environments” (2023-2026).

Partner of “QuiPack” project “Food value chain intelligence and integrative design for the development and implementation of innovative food packaging according to bioeconomic sustainability criteria”

Relevant previous projects and activities

2020: Founder of sustainable agriculture forum Association (ACADUR).

2020: Founding Member of executive committee of Quinoa Arab Forum 2020.

Focal point for Quinoa’s development in eastern Morocco since 2019. 1st introducer

Principal Organizer of “International Day of Quinoa Consumption” in Morocco, 7 July 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

2008-2020: Solidarity agriculture to scaling up smallholder farmer’s livelihoods: Pillar II- Green Morocco Plan (PMV) (Workshops, training, field school).

2007-2021: Rural women’s empowerment, National Initiative for Human Development (INDH).

Since 2019: Head of National chapter of “Organisation of Women in Science in Developing World” (OWSD)

Panelist and key speaker at several national and international events

• Debo is a Director at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), leading its overall Private sector partnerships and engagement & CEO of IITA Business Incubation Platform Ltd; he also leads IITA Africa-wide programs on Mechanization and Zero hunger.​
•  He combined this role as the Executive Adviser to the Oyo State Governor on Agribusiness, International Cooperation & Development & also the Director-General of Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency.​
• He holds a Doctor of Business Administration with a specialty in Agribusiness Development Management from the United Kingdom.​
• He is a Chartered fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, United Kingdom.​
• He has authored over 20 agricultural articles in reputable journals and has over 25 years senior level experience in International development and Agribusiness management.

Prakash Kant Silwal is a development specialist with more than 25 years of experience developing and managing agriculture livelihood, food security, biodiversity, and natural resource management projects in the fragile, conflict, and humanitarian contexts of South Asia (Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan), the Middle East (Yemen), and Africa (Sudan, Liberia, Chad, and Nigeria). Currently, he is a principal specialist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA – A CGIAR entity) based in Nigeria. There he leads the design and implementation of agriculture livelihoods projects in the conflict-affected areas of northeast Nigeria. He has a MS degree in environmental toxicology from Clemson University and is a citizen of Nepal.

Evans Chinembiri is a seasoned development professional with experience managing large and complex, high-profile donor-assisted programs in Southern Africa.  His expertise is in leading teams, program design and management, market systems analysis, value chain analysis, and implementing market-led development approaches. He holds an MSc in Agricultural Economics from the University of Pretoria and an MCom in Management Practice from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. 

Dr. Ana María Loboguerrero Rodríguez is Research Director of Climate Action for the Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Head of Global Policy Research for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), based in Cali, Colombia. In the latter position, she plays a major role in leadership on partnerships and capacity for Scaling Climate-Smart Agriculture that cuts across all CCAFS Flagships and Regions and all CGIAR Research Programs. She also manages global engagement processes and global synthesis topics that cut across all CCAFS Flagship Leaders, including report/paper writing, engagement and communication and leading on major CCAFS proposals. Through CCAFS, Dr. Loboguerrero has contributed to strengthen the agricultural sector in Latin America so that it is not totally dependent on climate variability, but on the contrary, it manages climate to its advantage, or at least to avoid the bulk of negative consequences. Dr. Loboguerrero has used her experience working in the public sector to become a key partner of policy makers and planners in the region so that they truly use climate information and tools to design and implement plans and strategies and find ways to make climate information useful and applicable for end-users. Dr. Loboguerrero holds a Master and a PhD on Economics from University of California, Los Angeles, USA (UCLA). She has more than 10 years’ experience of working on climate change challenges. Previously, she worked at the Sustainable Environmental Development Deputy Directorate of the National Planning Department of Colombia as coordinator of climate change. While at the deputy directorate, Dr. Loboguerrero led the formulation of the Colombian Climate Change Policy, the National Adaptation Plan, the National Development Plan and the research agenda on climate change as well as coordinated technical support for the Colombian Low Carbon Growth Strategy. Dr. Loboguerrero has also worked as an external expert panel member of the evaluation of FAO work in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Dr. Loboguerrero also led the Latin American Regional Program of CCAFS until recently. In this position she played a major role in partnership development aimed to build impact pathways so that knowledge in climate change leads to implementation. Dr. Loboguerrero research agenda has focused on understanding how science can influence policy making and also on the construction and comparison between various types of economic models to assess the consequences of adaptation and mitigation for the economic development of the countries. This research agenda has helped deeply to inform policies and interventions that combine and consider trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation towards low emissions agricultural development.

Expertise Computational science, mathematics and statistics, artificial intelligence, and stochastic modeling Before IWMI Her work as a Senior Data Scientist and Technical Lead at IBM Consulting Portugal honed her ability to lead cross-functional teams and deliver high-impact solutions that drive business outcomes. Passionate about harnessing the power of AI and advanced analytics to address pressing global challenges, Angie joins IWMI with a clear vision to support research for development and create innovative, data-driven solutions to mitigate the water crisis.

Expertise
Disaster risk management, floods and drought, satellite-based monitoring and early warning, emergency response, climate risk insurance, Big Data, climate and food security
Before IWMI
Giriraj previously worked at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) to understand disaster risks for mountain ecosystems (2008-2011), and was a Research Associate at the University of Bayreuth, Germany (2006-2008). In 2003, he received a PhD in applied remote sensing and landscape ecology from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). In 2005, he worked as a postdoc at the French Institute of Pondicherry, India, on fire ecology and species niche modeling, and was a faculty member at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, teaching remote sensing for global change ecology.

Jacob van Etten is Principal Scientist and Director of the Digital Inclusion research program at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.
In his work, Jacob brings together insights and methods from the social, environmental and plant sciences. His research focus is on new digital solutions for food systems, agricultural citizen science, and rural extension. He supports the emergence of digital ecosystems in this area, in which digital entrepreneurs, farmers and their organisations, service providers and others create value and synergies by interacting and partnering around digital tools, data, and human capacities.
Before joining Bioversity in 2012, he worked for Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Mali, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, and IE University in Spain. He is a Dutch national.

Credentials:
PhD, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

MSc, Free programme (global agriculture), Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Michael is the Regional Manager of UNICEF’s African Drone and Data Academy (ADDA). In 2017, he opened and led UNICEF’s Humanitarian Drone Testing Corridor in Malawi as a testing ground for drone and data services benefiting children in the Global South. Recognizing the urgent need for the locally available 21st century skills of young people to deliver these services, he established ADDA in Malawi in 2020. He is now leading the expansion of ADDA beyond Malawi to the entire continent and beyond.

Expertise
Climate change assessment, climate adaptation, climate risk management, drought monitoring and planning, water governance, water policy, science to policy
Before IWMI
2008-2018 International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai. Head of Climate Change Modeling and Adaptation, Principal Researcher Water Governance and Policy 1992-2013 University of Oxford Water group, with various roles including Course Director for MSc Water Science, Policy and Management

An experienced in agribusiness incubation, partnerships development and management, research commercialization, intellectual property management and exploitation and social auditing

Andrea Gardeazábal works on the use of data-driven agronomy, knowledge management and ICT for innovation within agri-food systems. She holds an MSc in Information and Communication Technologies for Development from the University of Manchester, UK, and an MSc in Political Science from Los Andes University, Colombia. She has over a decade of experience designing and deploying large ICT for agriculture and education projects in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia.
Gardeazabal currently coordinates the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Unit for CIMMYT’s Integrated Development Program, which involves the design and operation of robust information systems for data collection, analysis and dissemination.

Dr Christopher Turner is a Senior Lecturer in Food Systems and Public Health Nutrition at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich. He leads the Food Systems and Nutrition research sub-group, and is the innovation and impact theme lead on Food Systems for Improved Nutrition. He is also a co-manager of the UK Food Systems Centre for Doctoral Training (UKFS-CDT), where he leads the UKFS-CDT Academy. Chris joined the Food and Markets Department at NRI in January 2020 under the Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (FaNSI).

Chris is an interdisciplinary food systems researcher with a background in social science, human geography and public health nutrition. His mixed-methods research features participatory approaches, such as qualitative-GIS and photovoice, to investigate the lived experience of food environments. His research seeks to improve knowledge and understanding of drivers of food acquisition and consumption practices with a view to co-designing public health policies for sustainable healthy diets – particularly in low- and middle-income country settings.

Chris graduated from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in 2020 with a PhD in Epidemiology and Population Health. Alongside his PhD, Chris led the Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy – Food Environment Working Group (ANH-FEWG), funded by the Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) program. Chris co-led the Drivers of Food Choice – Food Environment Working Group, in collaboration with colleagues at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, USA, under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Drivers of Food Choice program. He also collaborates with the International Network for Food and Obesity / Non-communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) School Food Monitoring Network. Chris sits on several Advisory Boards for research projects, including the National Institute for Health Research – Obesity Policy Research Unit study on “the role of COVID-19 in shaping relationships with food and food environments in the UK” (PI: Professor Corinna Hawkes, Centre for Food Policy, City University), and the IMMANA funded project “A food environment toolbox: tools to measure natural & built food environments in LMICs” (PI: Assistant. Professor Shauna Downs, Dept. of Health Behavior, Society and Policy, Rutgers School of Public Health). Since 2015, Chris has collaborated with colleagues from Uppsala University, Sweden; Lund University, Sweden; and Addis Continental School of Public Health, Ethiopia on a FORMAS funded interdisciplinary research project titled “What’s to eat? Women, children and the urban food environment: the case of Addis Ababa”.

Andre comes from a background in Aerospace and Defense Engineering, Agricultural Facilities Deployment, and Digital Solutions Development. Holds a BSc in Electronic Engineering, specialisation in Biomedics, certifications in Project and Program Management, Agile Development, and Product Development & Management.  Joined CIMMYT in 2021 as the Enterprise Breeding System (EBS) Project Manager, then Program Manager; in 2023 moved to the BR Initiative as the Breeding IT Lead. Currently, leads the Digital Solutions Team under Breeding & Research Services organization.  

Dr Manneh, a Gambian national, has nearly three decades of experience in agricultural research and development, including program management and leadership. He led the AfricaRice Genetic Diversity and Improvement Program and was the Center’s Regional Representative for the Sahel, based in St Louis, Senegal, with administrative oversight over seven West African countries. Thanks to his expertise in crop breeding and seed systems, Dr Manneh successfully coordinated the Africa-wide Rice Breeding Task Force involving breeders from over 30 African countries, leading to the release of over 80 climate-resilient rice varieties to help vulnerable farmers cope with climate change. He has cultivated strong partnerships with national and international organizations in Africa and Asia and has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities for agricultural research and development, especially in West and Central Africa. Prior to joining AfricaRice, he served as the Director of Research for the Gambia National Agricultural Research Institute. Dr Manneh’s research work is widely published in international peer-reviewed academic journals. He obtained his PhD degree in Plant Breeding and Crop Physiology in 2004 and an MSc in Crop Science with specialization in Crop Breeding in 1998, from Wageningen University, Netherlands. He is fluent in both English and French.

Dr Victor Afari-Sefa, a Ghanaian citizen, is a seasoned Agricultural Economist and Research for Development Practitioner. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany. With over 22 years of expertise, he’s adept in research management, program design, implementation, feasibility assessment, impact evaluation, and resource allocation.

In March 2022, he assumed the role of Global Research Program Director – Enabling Systems Transformation at ICRISAT. He oversees R&D for six clusters: Technology Adoption and Impact Assessment; Markets, Institutions, and Policies; Agribusiness Innovation Platform; Nutrition, Dietary Behavior, and Smart Foods; Gender and Youth; and Knowledge Management and Capacity Development.

Previously, he served as West and Central Africa Regional Director of the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) from 2017 to 2022 in Benin. From 2011 to 2017, he led WorldVeg’s Global Theme on Consumption in Tanzania.

Victor’s expertise extends to performance monitoring and impact assessment of agricultural value chains on smallholder livelihoods. He holds leadership experience in coordinating agricultural socioeconomic research globally, assessing production systems, value chain constraints, and interdisciplinary policy contexts. He emphasizes proactive planning for multidisciplinary research in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia to achieve set goals.

Victor advocates public-private partnerships to drive agricultural innovations, enhancing production systems, market efficiencies, agribusiness models, and policy reforms. He’s skilled in integrated economic-biophysical modeling, optimizing agrarian water use at river basin levels for sustainability.

Previously, as a Monitoring, Evaluation & Impact Specialist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), he developed and implemented M&E frameworks for Sustainable Tree Crops (STCP) Production in West and Central African countries, primarily cocoa-based systems. He was also a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in Bonn, Germany.

Victor is a prolific author, co-authoring numerous grant proposals and publishing over 90 peer-reviewed articles in esteemed journals. Transitioning from academia, he remains connected as an adjunct Professor in sub-Saharan African universities.

Mr. Edward Joy is an Associate Professor in the Nutrition Group at LSHTM and holds a joint appointment as a Senior Research Fellow at Rothamsted Research. His research focuses on improving human nutrition outcomes through agriculture and food system interventions. He also teaches on the MSc Nutrition for Global Health and serves as an academic advisor for the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.

Emily Myers is a Senior Research Analyst in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit. Since joining IFPRI, she has worked on qualitative studies across Africa south of the Sahara and in Bangladesh. She uses qualitative methods to examine gender, women’s empowerment, and participation in agricultural value chains. She also facilitates IFPRI’s Gender Task Force, a cross-institutional group that supports researchers in incorporating gender into their work and disseminates IFPRI’s gender research. She earned a master’s degree in Public Health from Emory University.

Eng leads the high throughput genotyping project which negotiates access to world class genotyping services at reduced cost, while providing training in genotyping applications. Eng is a senior scientist hosted by IRRI with several years of experience in industry.

Eduardo, as the current Breeding Analytics Lead, employs quantitative genetics methods to help maximize genetic gains. He holds a PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics with a strong statistical background and over eight years of active experience in breeding programs and field research.

Eduardo’s expertise lies in quantitative genetics and multivariate linear mixed modeling, utilizing various software platforms such as R and SAS. He has notably developed one of the most widely recognized and renowned mixed model software for multivariate genomic selection called “sommer” (R package).

He has successfully deployed state-of-the-art predictive methodologies in breeding programs, including, genomic prediction, heterotic pool formation, selection indices, sparse testing, and many more. Giovanny has also contributed to optimizing breeding pipelines in the CGIAR breeding programs through a conscious adoption of technologies. His current work is focused in the development of cloud-based tools for genetic evaluation and research in other evolutionary forces, and his research is focused on hybrid breeding, selection limits, and breeding scheme optimization.

Gustavo provides expert evaluation of breeding program operations according to continuous improvement and operational excellence methodologies and leads initiatives to improve CGIAR and NARS operations capacities. An expert in agriculture engineering, processes, mechanization and automization, Gustavo has over 15 years’ experience in the private sector including as Automation Manager for R&D in Latin America at Syngenta.

Inge Brouwer is a Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. Inge’s research focuses on innovative and sustainable food systems interventions that improve the diets of vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries. The core of her research is on intake, patterns, and quality of diets and their impact on consumer-food environment innovations among women, adolescents, and children. She strives to bridge different disciplines and expertise in, for example, food technology, social science, and agricultural science. She has lived and worked in many countries, especially in Africa and Asia, and has substantial experience in the coordination and management of large research programs.

Jef Leroy is a Senior Research Fellow in IFPRI’s Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. He studies the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture and social protection programs on maternal and child nutrition. His evaluation studies use experimental designs combined with process evaluations and costing studies. Jef currently works on the evaluation of a social protection program in Bangladesh designed to improve birth outcomes and on the evaluation of a training and certification program aimed at improving the quality of milk sold by informal vendors in Nairobi. In addition, he studies the role of food environments in adolescent nutrition in urban areas in Ghana, Viet Nam, and Ethiopia. He also conducts research on the use of child linear growth in development. Jef recently completed the evaluation of two large-scale food-assisted maternal and child health and nutrition programs in Burundi and Guatemala. He has also conducted research on the impact of aflatoxin on child linear growth in Kenya and Mexico.

Before joining IFPRI, Jef was a research associate at the Center for Evaluation Research and Surveys at Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health, where he worked on the evaluation of the urban and rural Oportunidades programs and of the Programa de Apoyo Alimentario (a cash and in-kind transfer program).

Jef Leroy, a Belgian citizen, has a PhD in International Nutrition from Cornell University, USA, and an MSc in Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences from Ghent University, Belgium.

Languages spoken: Dutch, English, French, Spanish, Afrikaans

Jim has worked for ten years in sustainable development and agricultural systems, his work focussing on how the configuration of farms and the choices made by farmers impact upon food security, prosperity, and sustainability. Jim likes to build user-friendly digital research tools, to be used for data collection, foot-printing, and decision support; he co-authored the RHoMIS household survey tool.

Jim has an inter-disciplinary background ranging from environmental science to social anthropology, and draws upon these diverse perspectives in his work. Jim is employed as a post-doctoral scientist by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and previously worked for the International Centre for Research in Agro-Forestry (ICRAF), and for the University of Edinburgh. He has worked in western Europe, south east Asia and China, Latin America, and in various countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr Job Kihara is an expert in soil health with over 20 years of extensive experience mostly within smallholder farmer contexts in sub-Sahara Africa. He is a passionate agronomist focused on improving crop productivity through integrated soil fertility management approaches and cropping systems improvements. Recent research interests include addressing the limitations of micronutrients in soils and the relations necessary to produce quality (agronomic biofortification) and soil-based climate change adaptations. Job is team leader on soil and water management within the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and the co-lead of the Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) initiative of the One CGIAR, working to accelerate development and delivery of agronomy at scale solutions to millions of farmers

Joe Yates has been with LSHTM since 2013 working across research, programme management and communications. Prior to this I was with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine working on maternal and child health, as well as several roles within newspapers and the music industry.

Since 2016 he has co-led the Agriculture, Nutrition & Health (ANH) Academy – a global network of 9000+ researchers, practitioners and policymakers in 140+ countries. ANH Academy is part of the Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions programme which aims to improve nutrition and health by strengthening tools, capacity and evidence in agriculture and food systems research.

Most of his work is around agriculture and food systems in the context of human and planetary health. I’m fortunate to collaborate with a broad range of colleagues on topics including:

-The impacts of plastics used across food systems
– Political economy and power
-Equity and sustainability in research, education and practice

Kazuki Saito (PhD) is an agronomist employed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), based in the Philippines. He is leading the Sustainable Soils sub-unit under Sustainable Impact through Rice-based Systems department. He has more than 20 years of research experience in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining IRRI in July 2023, he worked for 17 years as rice agronomist in Africa Rice Center. His expertise is in agronomy and soil and nutrient management in rice-based farming systems. He has authored and co-authored more than 120 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. His contributions have been recognized with prestigious awards, such as the Louis Malassis International Scientific Prize for Young Promising Scientists and the Niigata International Food Award, underscoring his leadership in the field. He received his PhD degree in Agriculture from Kyoto University, Japan in 2005.

Lulseged Tamene Desta is a Landscape Ecologist with over 15 years of experience in land degradation, spatial prioritization, landscape restoration, sustainable land and water management, ecological intensification, and assessing the performance of ecosystem health. He is interested in socio-ecological process understanding, tipping points, thresholds, analysis of tradeoffs and synergies between system components and interventions. He promotes coupling integrated land management (conservation) and sustainable farming (intensification) objectives to promote synergies and manage tradeoffs.

Earlier in his career, he served as a lecturer at the Mekelle University of Ethiopia teaching Geography, Agroclimatology, Land Use Planning, Geographical Information Systems, and Remote Sensing courses. During his Postdoctoral tenure with the University of Bonn (Center for Development Research, ZEF), he worked in West Africa contributing to the GLOWA Volta project associated with optimizing land use and water management options across space and over time.

After joining the Alliance, Lulseged coordinated various projects such as the Africa Soil Information Service in the Southern Africa region, served as the Dryland Systems CGIAR Research Program (CRP) focal point and contributed to the implementation of the Water, Land and Ecosystems CRP. Currently, he is leading one of the Excellence in Agronomy Initiative Use Cases in Ethiopia and is coordinating the Alliance engagements associated with the Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming Systems Initiative.

He is also supporting implementation of Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa, Supporting Soil Health Initiatives in Ethiopia, and many other projects. It is worth mentioning the role played in creating and coordinating a team of over 150 experts willing to support data sharing and/or facilitate the process. This effort led to the development of location-specific, tailored and season-smart fertilizer recommendation tool in Ethiopia, which can be scaled to other regions and countries. Presently, he is the Country Representative for the Alliance in Ethiopia.

Lulseged has acquired BA Degree in Geography from Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), MSc Degree in Applied Remote Sensing from Cranfield University (UK) and PhD Degree in Landscape Ecology from the Center for Development Research (Germany)

Maurits  is a Senior Associate. He holds an MSc International Relations and Political Philosophy, specializing in democratic theory. He previously worked at a subsidy consultant and for ING Bank.

Medha Devare is an agronomist and microbial ecologist with experience in bioinformatics, data management and semantic web standards and tools. She is a Senior Scientist at CGIAR’s International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and Chief Data Scientist for the Excellence in Agronomy Initiative (EiA). She provides the vision and leadership to develop a data-to-analytics ecosystem for EiA and CGIAR, and spearheads efforts to operationalize the FAIR Principles towards Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable data. Prior to this Medha was a module lead to advance data-related work through CGIAR’s Big Data Platform and the Open Access and Open Data Initiative. As a scientist with CIMMYT before this, she coordinated a project to increase the productivity and profitability of small farmers and the sustainability of farming systems in western Nepal. Before moving to CGIAR, Medha worked at Cornell University where she also received a PhD and helped develop VIVO, a semantic web application for representing research and scholarship.

Aravazhi Selvaraj joined WorldVeg in Oct, 2023 as India Country Director in its South Asia / Central Asia Regional Office. He earlier was the CEO of the Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP) at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). He has Project Management experience of 22 years in the agribusiness industry and has worked in public and private developmental organizations in India. He has experience in executing institutional and corporate agribusiness and value chain projects in India and 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. He has implemented projects of various Ministries and Departments of Govt. of India, State Governments, and International donors like DANIDA, FARA, InfoDev-World Bank, and Walmart Foundation.

He has worked for the development of macro to micro level projects for farmer communities, commodity value chains, commercialization of nutritious food products of coarse cereals in tribal communities for dietary diversity, and establishment of primary processing centers for various crops on community-based operational models. He has worked in the areas of agribusiness incubation, start-up financing, project/program planning and management, innovative technology funding, impact assessment study, and development of sustainable agribusiness models. He is a postgraduate in Business Management with specialization in agribusiness and has done his Bachelor of Science (Agriculture).

Dr Murali Krishna Gumma is Cluster Leader and Principal Scientist: Geospatial & Big Data Sciences and Head of Remote Sensing/Geographic Information System unit with ICRISAT, working across Asia and Africa. Dr Gumma is also Science and Data Lead for SERVIR West Africa Phase II supporting AGRHYMET and partners in improving awareness and access to geospatial data, products, and tools through appropriate platforms. Prior to this, Dr Gumma was a Remote Sensing Specialist and PDF at IRRI and a project scientist with IWMI. Dr Gumma has over 23 years’ experience in remote sensing and geographic information systems and their application to agriculture, wetlands, river basin management, natural resource management, water resources, forests, sustainable development, and environmental studies. Dr Gumma’s work experience spans over 35 countries spread across Asia and Africa. Dr Gumma is currently working on Monitoring croplands and natural resources using Earth observation data and Machine learning algorithms; Typology of crop production environments to identify factors causing yield gaps and classifying those areas with spatial data; Identification of hotspots and endemic areas based on disease and pest dynamics in space and time and related epidemiology with the help of geo-spatial techniques; IOT-based platforms and high-resolution remote sensing imagery to link proximal field phenotype; Crop stresses and biophysical parameters extraction using Multispectral, Hyperspectral image analysis and spectral matching techniques; Crop yield prediction using technology and different algorithms considering various parameters like weather, soil and crop management data; Historical climate change analysis and forecasting the changes that affects the crop conditions (crop rotation, crop intensity); Conducting impact assessment studies using Geospatial analysis and supporting multidisciplinary teams across ICRISAT using multi-resolution remote sensing and GIS spatial modelling.

My expertise: Remote sensing and geographic information systems

Pierre C. Sibiry Traore is a systems scientist specialized in agricultural risk control and value chain orchestration. He is, by training, a physical geographer and a remote sensing expert. With Manobi Africa, he developed agCelerant and the concept of phygital agriculture, which captures the emergent opportunity for robust, physically based, digitally driven solutions to secure the sustainability, transparency, and honorable sourcing of tomorrow’s food systems. Sibiry co-designed and co-led several innovative projects such as SERVIR West Africa, HEURISTICS, NADiRA and STARS, raising R&D grants from USAID, DARPA, ESA, the European Commission, the World Bank, IsDB, BMGF and others. Sibiry published over 60 peer-reviewed papers and developed novel partnerships involving the CGIAR, national agricultural research systems (NARS), NGOs, the private sector and academia. More recently, he developed a vibrant partnership with AIMS-NEI, creating internship and employment opportunities for AI/ML graduates in the agriculture and space sectors. Seconded to the private sector as in-business researcher, Sibiry leads the Digital Agriculture Global Cluster at ICRISAT and is the User Engagement Lead for SERVIR West Africa. As a HEURISTICS project co-PI, Sibiry contributes to the development of next-gen predictive methods combining Artificial Intelligence (AI), Earth Observation (EO), Natural Language Processing (NLP) / Large Language Models and process-based models, which are being applied to agricultural value chains and illegal mining.

Professor Aimé Lala Razafinjara is the Director-General of the National Center for Applied Research in Rural Development (FOFIFA), the apex National Agricultural Research Institute for rural development in Madagascar. He is a soil scientist by training. He did his university studies at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar and his postgraduate studies at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, where he obtained his Master of Science degree and Doctorate in Soil Science respectively. In the past, he was the Head of the Soil Laboratory of FOFIFA, where he held several responsibilities in the management of scientific research. From 2001 onwards, he held the positions of Director of Research, Director General of Research and Secretary General in the Ministry in charge of Scientific Research in Madagascar. He also previously served as the Chairman ASARECA Board of Directors.

Shelly Sundberg leads the Agricultural Development team’s efforts to support women working in agriculture, improve access to nutritious and affordable foods, and develop and implement climate adaption approaches.
She joined the foundation in 2008 as part of the Nutrition team.

Earlier, Shelly lived in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, where she researched the socioeconomic determinants of individual food consumption and nutritional status as well as household coping strategies in times of food shortage. She has published journal articles on agricultural growth, food security, and undernutrition in Africa.

Shelly has a bachelor’s degree in African studies from Georgetown University and completed a master’s degree and doctoral studies at the Food Research Institute at Stanford University.

Certainly! Here is the rewritten bio incorporating the name of Prof. Suneetha Kadiyala:

Prof. Suneetha Kadiyala is a nutritionist dedicated to addressing the structural determinants of food and nutrition security in low and middle-income countries. Her current work involves designing and evaluating complex nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs, as well as developing methods and metrics to study multisectoral approaches to improve nutrition outcomes.

Before joining LSHTM, Prof. Kadiyala served as a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in both New Delhi and Washington, DC. She holds a PhD in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.

Professor Appolinaire Djikeng is the 4th Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Senior Director for the Livestock-based systems of the CGIAR. Prior to ILRI and the CGIAR, Professor Djikeng was Director of the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) and based at the Roslin Institute, and Professor and Chair for Tropical Agriculture and Sustainable Development at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Professor Professor Djikeng has over 20 years’ research, research management and institutional development experience in academia and in international not for profit research institutions in Africa, Europe and the USA.

Professor Djikeng’s work and interests have been primarily centred around bioscience (and particularly genomics and related disciplines) and their applications in agriculture (both animals and crops), animal, human and environmental health. Professor Djikeng co-founded the African Animal Breeding Network (AABNET) with the aim to drive the development and dissemination of livestock improved and most suitable genetics and broader sustainable genetic improvement solutions in Africa. Professor Djikeng also co-founded the African Biogenome project (AfricaBP) – a community of practice of scientists and related professionals, policy makers and stakeholders with the aim to harness the power of genomics for the characterisation, conservation, and sustainable use of biodiversity in Africa.

Professor Djikeng is Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland, Center for Animal Science (Australia), Professor at The Roslin Institute, The University of Edinburgh (UK), and Distinguished Professor at the University of South Africa.

Professor Djikeng serves on numerous science advisory boards and has received many awards including the Nelson Mandela Peace Award and his recognition by the Decade of Health as one of the 10 people in the United Kingdom changing health.

Chrysantus Akem is the Coordinator, TAAT Program Management Unit.

Prior to his appointment, Chrysantus was the Project Coordinator of the African Development Bank-funded project, Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC). Chrysantus is a Cameroonian/Australian citizen. He obtained a BSc degree in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, USA in 1983, and an MSc (1985) and a PhD (1989) in Plant Pathology from Oklahoma State University. He then joined IITA in 1989 as a postdoctoral fellow working on soybean pathology/breeding and later on also worked on the diseases of yam and cassava.

From IITA, Dr Akem moved to ICARDA as a Senior Legume Pathologist to lead a GTZ- funded project on the Integrated Management of Pests and Diseases in the Cereal and Legume Farming Systems of North Africa and West Asia (1996 to 2000).

After immigrating to Australia in 2001, Dr Akem worked with the Queensland Government, leading several AusAID- funded projects through the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), on the integrated crop management of tropical and subtropical fruits such as mangoes with national programs of the Philippines and Pakistan. He had also been leading Australian national projects on different vegetable crops grown under tropical and subtropical environments, funded by Horticultural Australia Limited.

Dr. Solomon Gizaw, is the Head of the TAAT Clearinghouse at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). He is based in Cotonou, Benin Republic. Dr Gizaw has a long career with extensive experience in agricultural research and development at both national and international levels. He holds a B.Sc. from Haromaya University, Ethiopia, in Plant Sciences, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Plant Breeding and Protection from George August University, Germany. From 2013 to 2021, he worked as Principal Scientist at ICARDA and leader for the wheat component within the AfDB-funded SARD-SC and TAAT Programmes implemented across Africa.

Through these Bank’s supported initiatives, Dr. Gizaw has contributed to developing seed systems and especially introducing, adapting and widely deploying proven heat-tolerant wheat technologies that have impacted the lives of millions of smallholder farmers in several African countries. Dr. Gizaw was appointed as Director General of the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization in 2007 and served for eight years. Between 1989 and 2005, Dr. Gizaw also served in various capacities – as Wheat Breeder, National Durum Wheat Coordinator, and Director of the Research Center. He is the former board chair of the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise and chair/vice chair of ASARECA. He has authored or co-authored over 70 scientific papers and received awards from various research, government, and private sector organizations.

Sharifah Syed Alwee recently began working for IRRI as the Platform Leader for Integrated Research Support. In this role, she collaborates with a world-class research support team in partnership with IRRI’s well-established research teams to innovate, catalyze, and transform lives through the global rice sector.

Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam is an Extension Specialist in Animal Biotechnology and Genomics at the University of California, Davis. She earned her B.S. in Agricultural Science from the University of Melbourne in 1987, followed by an M.S. in Animal Science in 1990 and a Ph.D. in Genetics in 1997, both from the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on the application of DNA-based biotechnologies in beef cattle production and agricultural systems.

Dr. Van Eenennaam’s outreach efforts include producing fact sheets, general information sheets, news updates on biotechnology and genomics, presentations, and educational videos. Her work has earned her numerous awards, including the 2022 Academic Federation Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching or Mentoring Award, the 2019 ASAS National Rockefeller Prentice Breeding and Genetics Award, and the 2017 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, among many others. Her contributions to the field are recognized for their impact on livestock production systems and educational outreach.

Ally Okeyo Mwai is Principal Scientist in the ILRI’s Global Livestock Genetics- Live Gene Research Program. Okeyo is a quantitative geneticist with over 30 years of experience in practical design and implementation of livestock improvement programs in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia regions. Okeyo has in the past led ILRI’s Breeding strategies Research, specifically focusing on development and implementation projects, covering a wide range of research areas including, characterization and genetic diversity of indigenous tropical livestock; their improved utilization, as well as development and application of assisted reproductive technologies in dairy cattle. Prior to joining ILRI, he was head of the Animal Breeding and Genetics Section at the Department of Animal Production, University of Nairobi and Coordinator of Small Ruminant Research Program at the then Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research organization. Okeyo has and holds several national and international advisory board positions. He is currently leading the development of ILRI led dairy cattle genetic gain development and research programs in eastern Africa region. Okeyo has published extensively (authored and co-authored more than 150 scientific journal and conference papers), and has held several scientific editorials, and national and international advisory board positions. Okeyo holds MSc Animal Science (Animal Genetics) from University of California, Davis and a PhD in Animal Breeding and Genetics from University of Nairobi.

Anindya Bandyopadhyay has extensive experience in the field of genome editing and biotechnology. Anindya is currently working as a Principal Scientist and Lead Precision Genetics at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. Prior to this, they held the position of Vice President of R&D at Reliance Industries Limited and served as the Genome Editing Program Lead at Syngenta. Anindya also worked as an Internationally Recruited Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute and as a Research Scientist/Group Leader at Mahyco. Anindya has also held various postdoctoral fellowship positions, including at the University of Kentucky, UC Berkeley, and the Medical University of South Carolina. Anindya has made significant contributions to the development and characterization of genetically modified crops, particularly in the area of genome editing and molecular biology.

Anindya Bandyopadhyay earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Zoology, Botany, and Human Physiology from Presidency College Kolkata in 1999. Anindya then pursued a Master of Science (MS) degree in Zoology with a specialization in Molecular biology and Genetics from the University of Calcutta from 1999 to 2001. Later, in 2002, Anindya attended the International Rice Research Institute and obtained a PhD in Plant Biotechnology, focusing on the development of C4 transgenic rice. In 2015, they also completed a Licensing Academy Course on IP and Technology Transfer at the University of California, Davis – School of Law.

Claire Stenhouse is a prominent researcher specializing in reproductive biology, with a focus on metabolic pathways, nutrient transport, and regulatory mechanisms in ovine and porcine conceptuses. She has co-authored multiple significant studies, including investigations into the metabolic pathways of glucose and fructose, the regulation of mineral uptake, and the impact of various hormones on reproductive tissues. Her work has been published in prestigious journals such as Biology of Reproduction, Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, and Molecular Reproduction and Development. Notable contributions include elucidating the role of phosphate, calcium, and vitamin D in fetal development, as well as the effects of progesterone and interferon tau on ovine endometrial signaling. Stenhouse’s research is well-regarded in the field, with her publications achieving notable altmetric scores, reflecting their impact and reach within the scientific community.

Damaris Odeny is a plant molecular breeder with global research experience cutting across Africa, Asia, Europe and USA. She has led and implemented genomics projects in both cereals and legumes, including the development of genomic resources in several orphan crops. Damaris works closely with other disciplines from national, private and international institutes to develop cutting edge genomic resources for all ICRISAT mandate crops (sorghum, pearl and finger millet, groundnut, chickpea and pigeonpea) in her current role. Prior to this, she worked as a senior researcher at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), South Africa, where she played a key role in establishing molecular breeding processes for indigenous vegetables. Damaris is also passionate about mentoring of young upcoming scientists and has successfully mentored more than fifty scientists in her career to date.

Damaris earned her PhD in Plant Genetics (2006) from the University of Bonn (Germany) and completed a post-doctoral training from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in 2009 in Cologne, Germany.

Areas of expertise: Qualitative and quantitative genetics; Genetic mapping; Pre-breeding; Plant genetic engineering; Mutation breeding; Statistical genomics; High throughput genotyping and marker development; Next Generation Sequencing and data analysis; Transcriptome analysis; Metagenomics.

María Fernanda Álvarez is the director of the Crops for nutrition and health research area of the Alliance between Bioversity International and CIAT and the rice program leader. She leads the efforts for sustainable intensification of the rice crop, contributing to food security and climate change mitigation and adaptation. She holds a PhD. in agricultural science specializing in plant breeding, she leads the hybrid rice consortium for Latin America, where she has been successful in delivering commercial hybrids for the region. She also has several achievements in implementing methodologies to increase genetic gains in the different breeding pipelines of the rice program.

Objective 2: Understand the carbon capture-related traits in the rice crop and develop Rice breeding lines with a high capacity for carbon capture.

Subareas: Root physiology, Rice breeding, best agronomical practices for carbon capture.

Gianpiero Menza, PhD, is an International Development Professional with expertise in business strategy, management, entrepreneurship, development finance, stakeholder engagement, and resource mobilization. He serves as Senior Manager for Partnerships & Innovative Finance at Alliance/CGIAR. In this role, Gianpiero forges strategic collaborations between the public and private sectors, cultivate and steward relationships with governmental institutions including Italy, research centers, and universities, and coordinate the Alliance and CGIAR’s engagement with G7 and G20 Presidencies. He also contributes actively to global processes like the United Nations on Climate Change (UNFCCC CoP).

Gianpiero has served in senior global positions with the United Nations, and the private sector. Before being selected as Junior Professional Officer of UNDESA in 2016 and assigned to Bioversity/CGIAR in Rome (Italy), he honed his skills as a business consultant in Boston and New York (USA), and as a private sector analyst with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Geneva (Switzerland). He has demonstrated commitment to development on the ground with extensive research experience in key value chains such as cocoa, coffee palm oil, and rubber in western and eastern Africa, as well as an academic interest in mission-oriented innovation and public/private sector partnerships.

Gianpiero’s achievements include conceptualizing and launching the CGIAR Accelerate for Impact Platform in 2022. A venture space that nurtures collaboration between scientists and entrepreneurs, driving the development, acceleration, and funding of agri-food and climate-tech solutions. Under his leadership, he manages a dynamic portfolio of global projects within this platform and a team of talented professionals.

Gianpiero holds a Master’s in “Business Strategy and Entrepreneurship” from the Bocconi School of Management, as well as a Ph.D. in “The Economics and Management of Natural Resources” with a thesis on “Unlocking the potential of cross-sector Partnerships: a shared value perspective”, completed as a Junior Visiting Fellow at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Beyond his professional pursuits, Gianpiero has also a background as an elite athlete, competing both in sailing and triathlon.

Inez is currently the head of Rice Genetic Design and Validation unit at IRRI and is assigned as the the global lead of CGIAR gene editing initiative. Her research portfolio includes improving nutrition through healthier rice, disease resistance, drought, low phosphorus tolerance, and rice productivity.

Prior to her appointment at IRRI, she worked at the Research Center for Biotechnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) as the head of Molecular Biology Division, as a consultant at the United Nations Environment Programme-Global Environment Facility. She represented Indonesia in the sub committee of Biotechnology at ASEAN Committee of Science and Technology. She was also appointed as Biosafety Clearing House Expert of Cartagena Protocol, Convention of Biological Diversity.

She has received numerous recognitions throughout her career, including the Best Young Scientist Award from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, awards from the Ministry of Agriculture and from the Indonesian President for her contribution to food security through biotechnology. She was also the Most Cited Scientist at RC-Biotechnology LIPI. At IRRI, she won Best Scientific Achievement Team in 2017, and she was awarded the Best Scientific Team Award from the DOST- Los Baños Science Community in 2018.

Inez is also an elected fellow of The World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries (TWAS)-UNESCO and an adjunct professor at UP Los Baños. She has published articles as co-author or lead author in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Plant, Nature Communication, Nature Genetics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Plant Biotechnology, Journal of Environmental Biology, Frontiers and other leading international journals.

Ismail Yusuf Rabbi is a geneticist based in IITA Ibadan, Nigeria. His main research involves the development and application of genomic resources for crop improvement. During his postdoctoral work at IITA, he helped develop the first SNP-based genetic map of cassava and participated in uncovering the genomic regions underlying resistance to cassava brown streak disease. Currently, Dr Ismail is applying the latest high-throughput genotyping technology and statistical methods to find genes in cassava that are associated with several critical traits, including disease resistance, high pro-vitamin A content, dry matter, and plant architecture. Breeders can then select these genes to develop superior cultivars much faster than by using phenotypes alone.

He is also part of a new cassava improvement initiative, dubbed, “Next Generation Cassava Breeding” that involves Cornell University, IITA, and Nigerian and Ugandan National Breeding Programs.

Dr Ismail is a Kenyan, and did his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at Kenyatta University. A DAAD scholar, Dr Ismail graduated (magna cum laude) from the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany with a doctorate in Agricultural Sciences. He had a short stay at Cornell University where he attended a course in Statistical Genetics.

Dr. Leena Tripathi is the Director of Eastern Africa Hub and Leader of the Biotechnology Program at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), a member of One CGIAR. She is leading the transgenic and gene-editing research at IITA. She has been involved in plant biotechnology research for more than 25 years, with specific interests in crop improvement. She focuses on “Science to Practice” and linking scientific innovations to practical applications to solve food production issues worldwide. Her primary research focuses on genetically improving important staple food crops like banana/plantain, cassava, and yam to control diseases and pests. Her scientific contributions have been recognized internationally through several awards and honors, such as excellence awards for outstanding scientist and publications. She has been honored as an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for her contributions to Agriculture.

Dr. Tripathi and her team have established a robust genetic transformation platform at IITA-Kenya, to develop transgenic and gene-edited products and transfer these technologies to national agricultural research systems in sub-Saharan Africa. She collaborates globally with advanced labs in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia, as well as with national partners in Africa, and various regional partners. She serves as Editorial Board Member for Plant Biotechnology Journal, Communication Biology, Frontiers in Genome Editing, Scientific Reports, and Plant Cell Reports. Leena obtained her Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology and M.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. She worked at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro before joining IITA.

Mainassara Zaman-Allah is a physiologist and abiotic stress phenotyping specialist. His research is largely devoted to harnessing the power of remote sensing for next-generation field phenotyping that is compatible with maize breeders needs and provides opportunities to significantly minimize selection cost while maximizing selection efficiency. He has also played a key role in the development of standardized screening phenotyping techniques, protocols for key abiotic stresses relevant to maize breeding.

Matthias Geck is an Agroecological Systems Scientist at CIFOR-ICRAF and is the coordinator of the Agroecology TPP.

Currently his research focusses on measuring agroecology and its performance and more generally transdisciplinary research on agroecological approaches for food systems transformation. Before joining CIFOR-ICRAF, Matthias was working with Biovision foundation to create more enabling policy and funding environments for agroecology. In this role he was instrumental in the establishment of multi-stakeholder platforms on agroecology from local to global level. Matthias holds a PhD in Ethnobiology from the University of Cagliari and a Masters of Advanced Studies in Development Studies from the ETH Zurich.

Megan Steele is Junior Expert, Innovation Ecosystem Engagement for the Accelerate for Impact Platform (A4IP) at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, based in Rome. In this position, she contributes to the planning, implementation, and management of A4IP initiatives including Innovation Challenges, interactive seminars, workshops, and more; engaging with partners to advance knowledge valorization processes and support CGIAR’s scientists in driving their innovations to scale. Megan hails from the Washington D.C. area and has a background in International Relations from The College of William & Mary. Prior to her position with the Alliance, she worked as a Senior Research Assistant at AidData, a lab focused on improving the understanding and performance of foreign aid through the Listening to Leaders report, supported by partners including The World Bank, USAID, and Gates Foundation. Her passion for food motivates her – she stays hungry for progress toward sustainable food systems (and for what’s on the plate).

Dr. Natalia Estrada-Carmona is a Scientist with The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. Her research focuses on estimating agrobiodiversity’s contribution to multifunctional and sustainable farms and landscapes. She believes that agriculture can play a pivotal role in achieving sustainability goals, but this potential can be untapped only through multidisciplinary and systems research. Natalia has contributed to projects in Latin America and the Caribbean (Costa Rica, Cuba, and Colombia), Africa (Zambia and Burkina Faso), and Asia (Viet Nam). She has a Ph.D. in natural resources management from the University of Idaho, US, and CATIE. She holds an MSc in environmental socioeconomics from CATIE, Costa Rica.
Natalia currently co-leads the component “Assess & co-develop innovative incentives that aim to support agroecological transitions” of the project “Private Sector Incentives and Investments (PSii) for Climate change, resilience and environmental sustainability” and co-leads the innovation on Agrobiodiversity in the NEXUS Gains initiative of the OneCGIAR.

Based in Montpellier, France, my research focuses on how to create and sustain multifunctional farms and landscapes that provide nutritious food while contributing to biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation targets. I use a range of approaches, including surveys, spatial data analysis, modelling, systematic literature reviews, and statistical analysis, to address practical research questions at global, national and landscape levels.

Currently, I am part of the Alliance Transformational Agroecology initiative (2022-present), working on how to implement and scale agroecology for more sustainable food systems in Burkina Faso, India, Kenya, Lao PDR, Peru, Tunisia, Zimbabwe. I am a researcher on the FOLU Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-use and Energy (FABLE) initiative (2017-present) working with 20+ country teams to quantify food and land use system contributions to achieving global biodiversity, climate, and food security targets. I contribute to the Nexus Gains initiative (2022-present) synthesizing evidence and using spatial data to identify opportunity hotspots for diversity-based interventions to reduce and reverse key threats to people, nature, and farming systems. I am also part of the EU TRANSITIONS project (2021-24) working on improving metrics and tools for monitoring agroecology uptake. In my spare time, I am a keen hiker, reader, cook and tennis player.

Dr Sobhan Babu Sajja, working as Senior Scientist (Crop Improvement Operations) at HQ responsible for executing crop improvement operations of ICRISAT crops on field, in glasshouse, and in RGA facilities. Dr Sajja holds a PhD (Genetics & Plant Breeding) from ANGR Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India. My research interests are crop improvement using plant genetics and modern tools and technologies such as speed breeding. Major contribution includes standardizing crossing technique in finger millet. Worked as breeder in crops such as finger millet, chickpea, rice, safflower, and castor in the past in India; and as agronomist in the USA.

Tom Burdon is a distinguished researcher with a strong background in molecular genetics and stem cell biology. He obtained a first-class degree in Biology from the University of York in 1984 and completed his PhD at the University of Nottingham in 1988. Following his PhD, he pursued post-doctoral positions at the NIH and the Roslin Institute, where he developed an interest in cytokine signaling and its role in cell differentiation. In 2002, he established his own laboratory at the Roslin Institute, focusing on the growth and differentiation of embryo-derived stem cells. Since 2008, his research has leveraged rat embryonic stem cells for transgenesis and the study of self-renewal and pluripotency mechanisms. Currently, his lab is expanding its research to include novel stem cell systems for directed differentiation and the functional analysis of genetic variation in livestock species.

Dr Wricha Tyagi is a plant molecular biologist by training with a postdoctoral experience in plant breeding with more than 19 years of experience in crop improvement and trait understanding. Dr Tyagi is currently Principal Scientist and Cluster leader (Cell & Molecular Biology and Trait Engineering) in the global research program accelerated crop improvement at ICRISAT, where Dr Tyagi leads and provides direction to the cluster’s research efforts in alignment with overall research goals of ACI.

Dr Tyagi has a PhD from International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, in life sciences (plant molecular biology) and post-doctoral training from Cornell University, USA, in plant breeding. Graduation from Delhi University in Microbiology followed by post-graduation research in life sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. PhD from ICGEB, New Delhi, in the area of plant molecular biology involved isolation and characterisation of vacuolar signalling components of Pennisetum glaucum involved in salinity stress. While at Cornell University, molecular characterization of 400 O. rufipogon using SSR markers as well as design of first SNP chip in rice using Illumina platform was performed. Alongside, DHR (NADH-dependent dihydrofavonol reductase) promoter and underlying elements from rice were also characterised leading to identification of key cis-acting elements and minimal promoter involved in colour development in rice endosperm.

Since 2009 till July 2022, Dr Tyagi has been engaged in teaching and research at India’s first Central Agricultural University. Dr Tyagi worked as Professor (Plant Molecular Biology/Biotechnology) at India’s first Central Agricultural University (Imphal), Meghalaya in School of Crop Improvement, and guided 15 post-graduate research students to date. Dr Tyagi has till date published a total of 103 publications including 46 peer reviewed papers and successfully completed eight projects as PI with funding from various donors. The focus has been to provide long term solutions to problematic soils particularly acid soils using genomic tools where amelioration and amendment measures are not able to offer long lasting solutions. The genetic solutions contemplated are likely to pay dividends in crop improvement of cereals, legumes and oilseeds.

Dr Sean Mayes is the Global Research Program Director for Accelerated Crop Improvement at ICRISAT. His expertise lies in genetic diversity and germplasm characterization of various crop plants, focusing on marker-assisted selection for genetic enhancement. He has been actively involved in projects on wheat, oil palm, African rice, Bambara groundnut, winged bean, foxtail and proso millets, moth bean, amaranths, quinoa, and other crops.

Before joining ICRISAT in September 2022, Dr Mayes held positions as an Associate Professor of Crop Genetics at the University of Nottingham, UK, and as a Lecturer at the same institution from 2004 to 2008. From 2013-2019 he was also Theme Director for crop genetics at the Crops for the Future Research Centre, based in Malaysia – the first global research institute dedicated to improving the uptake of underutilised crops. He also served as the Principal Investigator at the Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, UK, from 1999 to 2003. He pursued his post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge between 1995 and 1999 and worked with Plant Breeding International, Cambridge, as a registered PhD student affiliated with the Open University from 1989 to 1995.

Dr Mayes plays a pivotal role in ICRISAT’s research endeavors to transform the existing agricultural paradigm by expanding the variety of crops available to farmers globally, enhancing both agricultural sustainability and human nutrition.

As the Global Research Program Director at ICRISAT, Dr Mayes leads initiatives structured around promoting the use of resilient crops and sustainable agricultural systems; these projects aim to reduce farmer poverty, enhance population nutrition, and create value chains essential for sustainable agriculture.

Dr. Felister Makini holds a BSc in Botany and Chemistry from the University of Nairobi, Kenya and an MSc in Plant Pathology from Georgia State University, USA. She also has a PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of Greenwich, UK and has done several short courses in various fields.
Prior to her current position, she worked as the Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Outreach and Partnerships, a new department in the former Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). She was responsible for promoting the dissemination and adoption of KARI technologies, products and services. She was also responsible for promoting the establishment and strengthening of strategic partnerships along the research development to utilization continuum as well as along the agricultural product value chains (APVC), an approach adopted by then. Recently together with others she published an operational field guide to innovation platforms as the lead author.

Nathaniel Ferguson is a Research Analyst in the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit. He previously was an intern with IFPRI Africa, working on applications of econometrics and machine learning in food systems research. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of North Texas and a master’s degree in Food Security from the American University of Beirut.

Samuel Scott is a Research Fellow in IFPRI’s Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. With IFPRI since 2016, he conducts applied nutrition research in the South Asia region. He has experience working on iron deficiency and anemia, adolescent health, biofortification, human functional outcomes such as cognition, behavior change communication strategies, women’s self-help groups, school feeding programs, and health systems.

Prior to joining IFPRI, Dr. Scott completed postdoctoral research on The Interactions of Malnutrition and Enteric Infections: Consequences for Child Health and Development (MAL-ED) project. His doctoral research involved randomized controlled trials in India and Rwanda to measure the efficacy of iron-biofortified pearl millet and beans, and a study examining interrelations between iron status, physical fitness, and cognitive function among female college students in the United States. He holds a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the Pennsylvania State University.

Suman Chakrabarti is an Associate Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit, based in New Delhi. His research focuses on dietary patterns and their relationship with health outcomes, as well as nutrition-sensitive interventions to improve maternal and child health. Prior to joining IFPRI, Dr. Chakrabarti worked at the University of California, Irvine, and the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation. He received his PhD in Global Health Metrics from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 2022.

Timothy Krupnik has worked in agricultural research for development in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean. At CIMMYT, he leads a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural research team that comprises the Sustainable Agrifood Systems program’s Innovation Sciences in Agroecosystems and Food Systems theme across Asia.

This team spans disciplines and brings together technical skills ranging from systems agronomy, remote sensing, socioeconomics, climatology, agricultural engineering, and modeling and data science. The team’s research generates real-world impact by addressing key knowledge gaps, developing tools, and facilitating partnerships that increase productivity, sustainability and resilience in the context of the region’s biophysical, economic, and sociocultural diversity.

Krupnik has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers, policy briefs, chapters and books, and has led the development of numerous extension modules, decision support tools, and early warning systems.

Purnima Menon is the Senior Director for Food and Nutrition, where she oversees three units within IFPRI/CGIAR: Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH), Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI), and Markets, Trade, and Institutions (MTI) and is based in New Delhi, India. In her work in India, Dr. Menon directs POSHAN (Partnerships and Opportunities to Strengthen and Harmonize Actions for Nutrition in India), an initiative to support more use of evidence for nutrition in India. She conducts implementation research on scaling up maternal and child nutrition interventions, including on evaluating large-scale behavior change communications programs in nutrition and health. Dr. Menon has research experience in India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Viet Nam, and Nepal, has published extensively, and invests deeply in research translation in her engagements with policy communities.

In addition to her research, Dr. Menon co-convenes a global nutrition policy course with the Institute for Development Studies in the United Kingdom and has designed and taught many adaptations of this course in India as well. She serves on several national and global advisory groups, including the State of the World’s Children, the Global Nutrition Report, and the Countdown to 2030.

Dr. Menon has a PhD in International Nutrition from Cornell University and an MSc in Nutrition from the University of Delhi. She speaks many languages and has lived both in India and the United States. She lives in India with her husband, Jitendra Balakrishnan, and their daughter.

Dr. Menon’s publications are available on Google Scholar, and she engages on social media via her Twitter handle @PMenonIFPRI.

Languages spoken: Bengali, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil

Keith Wiebe is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC, where he leads a research program on Global Futures and Strategic Foresight. Prior to joining IFPRI in October 2013, he was Deputy Director of the Agricultural Development Economics Division of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, where he managed a program of economic research and policy analysis for food security and sustainable development, and helped coordinate preparation of FAO’s annual flagship reports on the State of Food and Agriculture and the State of Food Insecurity in the World. Previously he was Deputy Director of the Resource and Rural Economics Division of the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service in Washington, DC. He received his B.A. in economics from Carleton College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His areas of particular interest include land tenure, natural resource use and conservation, agricultural productivity and food security.

Winnie Gimode is an innovative Geneticist and breeder with experience in classical and modern molecular approaches for crop improvement. She has extensive experience working on determining the genetic basis of important traits in various crops and development of assays for marker assisted selection.
Previously, Winnie has also served as a lecturer of Biochemistry and worked on genetics of tropical diseases such as malaria. She also does translations and voice-overs in Swahili for some animations with SAWBO, used by extension specialists in farmer training.
Winnie is based in the Americas Hub of the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT, in Cali, Colombia, as the Cassava Geneticist. She holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biochemistry, from Kenyatta University in Kenya, and a Ph.D. and postdoc training in Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics from the University of Georgia, USA.

Delphine Amah is a Plantain Breeder based in Ibadan, Nigeria and coordinates plantain improvement research and related activities. Her academic qualifications include a B.Sc. & an M.Sc. in Microbiology (University of Buea, Cameroon); and a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding (University of the Free State, South Africa).

She has several years of multidisciplinary experience working with collaborators on plantain/banana germplasm characterization, hybrid development, evaluation and distribution, with research outputs published in peer reviewed journals. She is highly skilled in seed production techniques for vegetatively propagated crops and has contributed to the establishment of plant tissue culture laboratories and propagation facilities for research and commercial production across Africa. Her current research focus is adapting modern breeding techniques for plantain improvement and developing innovative seed production techniques for vegetative propagated crops.

Prior to her current role, she was a Research Associate in IITA-Cameroon (2009-2012) where she also served as a Research Assistant (2002-2009) for the Starchy Crops Improvement Program.

James Legg is a plant virologist at IITA, with more than 20 years experience of working on plant viruses and their insect vectors.

James graduated in Pure and Applied Biology from St. Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, before completing M.Sc. and Ph.D. studies at the University of Reading. James’ Ph.D. research examined the role of the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci in vectoring cassava mosaic geminiviruses in East Africa. Most of James’ professional career has focused on strengthening understanding of cassava viruses, and using that improved understanding to develop and facilitate the promotion of control strategies.

An extensive research portfolio has been developed covering aspects, such as, detection and molecular characterization of cassava viruses; field epidemiology; virus-vector interactions; development and deployment of host plant resistance; field surveillance strategies; vector molecular characterization, vector population dynamics/bionomics; vector-natural enemy interactions, biological control; and cultural approaches for the management of both viruses and their vectors.

James has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and has also contributed extensively to the development of training materials in various media formats, including video.

He has worked closely with a wide range of national and regional research institutions, as well as donor organizations, in developing research for development programs in sub-Saharan Africa. The most recent experience has been with USAID-funded programs and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Great Lakes Cassava Initiative (GLCI).

Before his appointment to IWMI, Dr. Seid was Deputy Executive Director of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Secretariat and Head of the Basin-Wide Program, and led the NBI Strategic Water Resources Assessment. He has played a lead role in the preparation of NBI flagship knowledge products including the first ever State of the Nile River Basin report. He also led the preparation of the Nile Basin Water Resources Atlas. Prior to joining NBI he was Assistant Professor at Addis Ababa University, Civil Engineering Department, and taught courses in water resources management, hydrology, and water supply engineering and hydraulic structures design.

Recent Publications

Soil Scientist with over 7 years of experience working on soil and water management in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia), and India. Holds a PhD in Soil Science through a joint program between the Federal University of Lavras/Brazil and Purdue University/United States. Has experience on mapping and modeling landscape-soil-hydrology relationships to develop quantitative predictable patterns reflected by soil geomorphology and on applying those relationships to support decision-making regarding soil and water management, soil remediation (heavy metals), land use planning, and landscape restoration. She builds international networks of collaboration and uses her experience in digital soil mapping, soil carbon, heavy metals and erosion assessments, geographic information systems (GIS), geostatistics, and watershed management to implement projects to enhance sustainable agriculture and ecosystem services.

CV: http://lattes.cnpq.br/7374299668138304

https://ciat.cgiar.org/ciat-coffee-cocoa-portfolio/mayesse-da-silva/

Ruth Mawia is a Project and Knowledge Management Curator at ICARDA’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team. She is based in Kenya. Ruth is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree program in Agriculture & Applied Economics from the University of Nairobi and is experienced in MEL and Knowledge Management of various agricultural value chains.

Previously, she had worked on the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dry Land Cereals Program as a Research fellow in MEL-ICARDA, supporting the team in data curation of capacity development activities. Ruth conducted user-perspective testing of new and/or modified features of the web-based MEL platform and training for scientists in using a web-based information system.

Ruth holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Agribusiness Management from Egerton University and Professional Certification in Monitoring and Evaluation from Kenya Institute of Management.  She speaks. English, Swahili and Kamba

Agricultural and development economist (PhD) with over 6 years of research for development experience in over 10 Asian and African countries. Extensive applied experiences in survey design and implementation of more than 10 quantitative and qualitative surveys, rigorous analysis, and publishing 13 peer-reviewed journal articles. Proven ability to provide meaningful quality solutions and recognized for strong client orientation and for being a team player with proven skills to supervise staff and mentor students.

International experiences:
Bangladesh, China, Georgia, Indonesia, India, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Vietnam

Aayushi Malhotra is an Assistant Scientist at the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform, Evidence module and is affiliated to the Gender and Livelihood research team at International Rice Research Institute, New Delhi, India. She is a social anthropologist working at the intersections of rural livelihoods, gender, food systems and climate change and holds a PhD in an interdisciplinary field of Environmental Anthropology and Development Studies. Malhotra has extensive experience with conducting qualitative ethnographic research across different social and ecological landscapes in India.

Dr. Bhardwaj has extensive global experience in building and leading highly successful commercial plant breeding programs and teams around the world. Prior to becoming the head of the Rice Breeding Innovations Platform at IRRI, he was the senior research director at Cortvea Agriscience, senior research director at Dow-DuPont Pioneer, and regional research director at Pioneer Hi-Bred International.

A passionate, committed, and result-oriented professional, he led the establishment of a global network of plant breeding programs and technology hubs with world-class competencies and capacity to develop proprietary competitive hybrid seed products using modern plant breeding technologies and approaches in Latin America, Europe, Africa, China, and the Asia Pacific.

Contacts
Philippines