FORESIGHT4FOOD - Key Persons
Arfa Mirza is the Communications Officer for Foresight4Food initiative assisting the team in handeling internal and external communications and marketing activities to enhance the visibility and standing of the Foresight4Food programme and related projects.
Bhawana is a Post-Doctoral Researcher with Food Systems Transformation Group at Environmental Change Institute. She is a geographer and a systems thinker with a keen interest in global environmental challenges.
Bram Peters is a Food Systems Programme Facilitator working at University of Oxford. In this role, Bram contributes to furthering the global learning and knowledge brokering agenda of the FoSTr programme and facilitates strategic engagement among stakeholders.
Job Titles:
- Executive Secretary of Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions
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.
Ravi Khetarpal is the Executive Secretary of Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) since 2017. 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.
Irene Annor-Frempong is the Director for Research and Innovation at ‘The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa' (FARA). As Director of Research and Innovation, she currently leads the strategic orientation for research and innovation of FARA and the operationalization of the Science Agenda for Agriculture in Africa (S3A).
Job Titles:
- Senior Consultant With the University of Oxford 's Environmental Change Institute
Jim Woodhill is a Senior Consultant with the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute co-leading the Foresight4Food Initiative and also working as an independent consultant. He is a specialist on inclusive agribusiness, rural development, food security and multi-stakeholder partnerships…
John Ingram leads the Food Systems Transformation Research Group within the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford as well as the multi-university post-graduate ‘Interdisciplinary Food Systems Teaching and Learning' programme (IFSTAL); co-leads the Foresight4Food (F4F)…
Job Titles:
- Food Systems Advisor at Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation
Just Dengerink is a Food Systems Advisor at Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation and country facilitator for the Foresight4Food FoSTr programme, coordinating participatory scenario and foresight processes in the focus countries.
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute
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.
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. His areas of particular interest include land tenure, natural resource use and conservation, agricultural productivity and food security.
Job Titles:
- Team Leader and Senior Economist at FAO Global Perspectives Studies Team
Lorenzo Giovanni Bellu is the Team Leader and Senior Economist at FAO Global Perspectives Studies Team. He has a PhD in Economic Policy Università Cattolica Milan, Italy.
His key areas of expertise include global and country-level development processes and related implications for food and agriculture, socio-economic and environmental impact assessment of policies; policy impact analysis by means of Computable General Equilibrium (CGE), and other quantitative analysis tools.
His thematic areas of interest comprise the analysis of cross-country interdependencies and contributions and limits of agricultural development and agricultural policies for poverty reduction and food security in the changing global environment.
Mario Herrero is a professor of sustainable food systems and global change in the Department of Global Development and a Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigator in the Life Sciences. At Cornell Atkinson, he serves as a Cornell Atkinson Scholar.
His research focuses on increasing the sustainability of food systems for the benefit of humans and ecosystems. He works in the areas of sustainable intensification of agriculture, climate mitigation and adaptation, livestock systems, and healthy and sustainable diets.
Professor Herrero is a regular contributor to important global initiatives at the heart of the sustainability of global food systems, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Lancet Commission on Obesity and the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. He has worked extensively in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Before joining Cornell, he was Chief Scientist of Sustainability, for Australia's National Science Agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
Professor Herrero has published more than 170 peer-reviewed publications and over 300 publications in his areas of expertise. He is currently on the editorial boards of The Lancet Planetary Health, Agricultural Systems, Global Food Security, Agriculture and Food Security, Tropical Grasslands, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, and has been a guest editor for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal (PNAS).
Professor Herrero is a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, an Associate Fellow of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and an Honorary Professor of Agriculture and Food Innovation at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Mellissa Wood has 30 years' experience in leading and providing scientific and strategic advice on food, land and water systems, sustainable development, resource and environmental management and public policy. She has held senior leadership positions with the Australian Government and internationally, including UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CGIAR. Her expertise includes Centre, Agency and Board governance, food and nutrition security, conservation and natural research management, sustainable development, agri-food systems research, biodiversity and program development across Australia, African and SE Asian countries.
She has strong domestic and international public sector governance experience, including retired General Manager, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Australian representative on CGIAR System Council and CGIAR System Management Board and Chair Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutes (APAARI). She was Director, Global Crop Diversity Trust in Rome developing a global strategy for the biodiversity conservation for plant genetic resources and spent 15 years at the Bureau of Rural Sciences, Federal Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries providing scientific advice to support natural resource management decision-making.
Ms Wood is currently Chair, Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC), Visiting Scientist CSIRO, Food Systems and Global Change, Expert Evaluator AGFUND and Independent Advisor University of Queensland. She also holds positions on international Steering Committees and boards.
Ms Wood holds a Master of Public Policy (Development Policy) from Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and has a Bachelor of Science (Resource and Environmental Management) from the Australian National University.
Mellissa Wood has 30 years' experience in leading and providing scientific and strategic advice on food, land and water systems, sustainable development, resource and environmental management and public policy. She is currently Chair, Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC), Visiting Scientist CSIRO, Food Systems and Global Change, Expert Evaluator AGFUND and Independent Advisor University of Queensland.
Monika Zurek is co-leading the Foresight4Food Initiative and the FoSTr programme. She has worked on food systems, environment and development interactions and scenario analysis in research, international organizations, the philanthropic sector as well as independent consulting. Currently, she focuses on conceptualizing food systems and sustainable food and nutrition security in the EU and globally, systems' performance metrics and using forward-looking methods to explore options for food system change and their trade-offs.
Prior to joining the ECI, Monika worked with Climate Focus, a consulting firm focusing on climate change mitigation and land use issues. Before that, she was part of the Agricultural Development Team of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation managing grants to improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural systems and risk management in agriculture. She also served as an economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and supported the Scenarios Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
Monika holds degrees from the University of Hohenheim (MSc equivalent/Diploma in agricultural biology) and Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany (PhD in agricultural economics). Monika is a Senior Researcher with the Food Systems Group at the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute
Patrick Caron is a veterinary doctor, PhD in development geography. He is a specialist of farming systems and territorial dynamics, with a special focus on livestock farming. He is the International Director at Montpellier University of Excellence - MUSE and he has been appointed Vice President for International Affairs of the University of Montpellier in January 2019.
He joined CIRAD in 1988 where he has been Director-General for research and strategy from 2010 to 2016, after having served as scientific director for the "Territories, Environment and People" Department of CIRAD (2001-2004) and as "Environments and Societies" Department director from 2007 to 2010. His works relate to the analysis of the role of agriculture and livestock in rural transformations, particularly in Brazil, Southern Africa and the Near East.
Rathana Peou Norbert-Munns is an award-winning futurist (APF- IF 2022). She is an experienced researcher and practitioner on Climate change, Agriculture and Food Security currently based in S.E. Asia. She has extensive experience in design, implementation, capacity building, and analysis within the practice of foresight planning for sustainable and resilient Food Systems. Read more
Job Titles:
- Food Systems Programme Manager
Roger is the Food Systems Programme Manager responsible for supporting the Programme Leader in the Food Systems Transformation Group, and joined the team in 2015. He provides project management of the F4F programme by supporting F4F team members; delivering on staff resource planning and the financial elements of the project; and assisting the F4F team on proposals for future funding.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair
- Dean of Strategic Research Initiatives
- Professor
Professor Tim G. Benton leads the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House. He joined Chatham House in 2016 as a distinguished visiting fellow, at which time he was also dean of strategic research initiatives at the University of Leeds.
From 2011-2016 he was the ‘champion' of the UK's Global Food Security programme which was a multi-agency partnership of the UK's public bodies (government departments, devolved governments and research councils) with an interest in the challenges around food.
He has published more than 150 academic papers, many tackling how systems respond to environmental change. His work on sustainability leadership has been recognized with an honorary fellowship of the UK's Society for the Environment, and a doctorate honoris causa from the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium.
Tim Benton is Dean of Strategic Research Initiatives at the University of Leeds and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Energy, Environment and Resources Department at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, UK.