Director General
Dr Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes is a noted plant health expert. Before assuming charge as Director General at ICRISAT, Dr Hughes was Deputy Director General-Research at IRRI and before that, DDG-R at the World Vegetable Center. Her long association with CGIAR began when she moved from the UK to Ibadan, Nigeria, in the 90s to join IITA as a virologist. With vast experience in leading multidisciplinary teams in Asia and Africa, she is a recognized leader in international agriculture research and management.
Deputy Director General – Research
Regional Director – Asia
Dr Arvind Kumar is an experienced crop scientist with more than 28 years’ experience in crop improvement, trait discovery to drought tolerance, disease- insect resistance and translational research. As Deputy Director General- Research, he leads and provides strategic direction to ICRISAT research in the area of climate resilience, nutrition, crop improvement, genomics-trait development, crops-water-soil-disease management, policy, agribusiness, market linkages and capacity development for ICRISAT-mandated crops grown mostly in the semi-arid regions of the world.
He has a PhD from Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, in plant breeding and post-doctoral training from the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, on molecular breeding.
Expertise in: Project planning, management and strategy development, molecular breeding for crop improvement, translation research and climate resilience
Regional Director and Country Representative Mali
West & Central Africa
Dr Ramadjita Tabo is a cropping systems agronomist with a PhD in Agronomy and Plant Genetics from the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA in 1985. He is currently the Research Program Director-West and Central Africa and Country Representative, Mali. Prior to his current position he was the Deputy Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) based in Accra, Ghana (September 2009 to February 2014). Prior to that he was the Assistant Director of ICRISAT-WCA and cropping systems at ICRISAT-Niamey, Niger. Ramadjita worked and was based at various ICRISAT locations including Hyderabad/Patancheru, India; Kano, Nigeria; Bamako, Mali and Niamey, Niger. He is a member of several committees amongst which is the Pan-African START (a global Change for Change System for Analysis, Research and Training) Regional Committee (PACOM) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He won several awards one of which is the prestigious 2007 Nobel Peace prize as a member of the IPCC. He also chaired the Advisory Board of the IDRC funded AfricaInteract project (Enabling research-to-policy linkage for adaptation to climate change in Africa). He coordinated the Desert Margins Program (DMP) GEF funded project on arresting land degradation and conserving biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa and the Challenge Program on Water and Food funded (CPWF) project on enhancing rainwater and nutrient use efficiency in the Volta Basin. His previous research work also included evaluation and promotion of fertilizer microdosing technology and warrantage system, intensification of integrated crop-livestock system. He has published several papers in scientific journals and proceedings.
My expertise: Cropping systems agronomist, climate risk management, Cropping systems agronomy and physiology, Integrated soil, water and fertility management, Integrated Crop-Livestock systems, systems modelling, Resource Mobilization and Team Management
Regional Director and Country Representative Kenya
Eastern & Southern Africa
Dr Rebbie Harawa is an agricultural research and development expert with extensive work experience across Africa. Before joining ICRISAT, she worked for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa as Head of the Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Systems program based in Nairobi, Kenya. Previous positions include Country Team Leader and Science Coordinator for United Nations Development Programme Millennium Villages Project and On-farm Research Specialist for World Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Malawi. Rebbie holds a PhD in Soil Science with minor in Extension from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA and a Master of Science Degree in Agronomy from Bunda College of Agriculture, University of Malawi.
Specialization: Soil Science, Agronomy, Agricultural Extension, Climate Smart Agriculture, Sustainable Food Systems and Program Management.
Research Program Director – Resilient Farm and Food Systems
Dr Anthony Whitbread is the Research Program Director – Resilient Farm and Food Systems, based in Hyderabad, India. With a PhD from the University of New England in Soil Science and Agronomy, Dr Whitbread leads a team of 30+ scientists across south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa in an innovation systems mode devising strategies to manage climatic risk, soil fertility and identifying market led development opportunities. This role was preceded by a 20 year research career in the crop-livestock systems of semi-arid Australia, SE Asia and Southern Africa. His team based work has received recognition with the “2006 CSIRO Learning Culture Award” and the 2013 CSIRO team medal for ‘Impact from Science’. In 2011, he became full Professor (W3) of Crop Production Systems in the Tropics at the Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Germany combining his passions of teaching and applied research. He has published widely with more than 55 journal articles, a H-index of 21 and citations exceeding 2400.
My specialization: Agronomy and soil science, farm systems analysis, crop modelling, climate risk management, spatial analysis
Research Program Director – Accelerated Crop Improvement
Dr Rajeev Varshney is Research Program Director – Accelerated Crop Improvement, at ICRISAT, based in Hyderabad, India. He has a Ph.D. in Agricultural Botany (Molecular Biology) from CCS University, India. He joined ICRISAT in 2005 and in his dual appointment also served the CGIAR Generation Challenge Program (hosted by CIMMYT, Mexico) as SubProgramme Leader 2, for 6 years. Before joining ICRISAT, Rajeev worked at IPK-Gatersleben, Germany for 5 years. He holds Adjunct/ Honorary position with >10 organizations, and provides leadership to several organizations by serving as member/chair for several committees, editorial boards, funding organizations and advisory boards, etc.
Rajeev is recognized as a leader in genome sequencing, genomics-assisted breeding, translational genomics and capacity building in international agriculture. He has made a pioneering contribution by integrating advanced discoveries in genomics with crop improvement especially in legumes in developing countries. Among different noted contributions, he has genome sequence of 10 crops including pigeonpea, chickpea, groundnut and pearl millet and several molecular breeding products in chickpea and groundnut to his credit. Genomics resources developed by his colleagues and collaborators are being used in several breeding programs with an objective to modernizing crop improvement in developing countries. He has provided strategic leadership, as a Principal Investigator, to Tropical Legumes projects, that have facilitated the release of 266 improved legumes varieties and production of about 498,034 tons of certified seeds with the benefit potential to over 5.0 million ha and over 25 million smallholder farmers in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Areas of expertise: Applied Genomics, Molecular breeding, Crop biotechnology, Genomics-assisted Breeding, Translational genomics & Capacity Building
Director, Country Relations and Business Affairs
Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee is an Indian national. He has a Master’s degree in Agricultural Science from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and a PhD from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He also holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from University of Birmingham, UK. He has taken public policy courses at University of Toronto; Civil Services College, Singapore; and University of Cambridge at various points in his career.
Dr Padhee joined the Indian Administrative Services in 1996 and belongs to Odisha cadre. Among the various positions he has held are District Magistrate and Collector; Director, Agriculture and Food Production; Director, World Bank assisted Rural Livelihoods Project; Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Cuttack; Chief Administrator, Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri; Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Tourism and Culture Department, Odisha and Joint Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, Government of India, New Delhi. During his tenure with the Odisha Government, he was instrumental in drafting the Odisha State Agriculture Policy in 2008. He has also served as a member of the Technical Support Group of the erstwhile Planning Commission that prepared the District Agricultural Plan manual. Government of India appointed Dr Padhee as the first nodal officer to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in fertilizers in 2016.
Director – Institutional Finance and Services
Mr. Angshu Sengupta was the Director of Finance, Risk & Legal at IRRI before he joined ICRISAT. In a career spanning 32 years, Mr. Sengupta worked 13 years in manufacturing, 15 in IT enabled services, two years in international consulting and two years in a non-profit research organization. He has shouldered the responsibilities of a CFO for about 8 years in his career. Mr. Sengupta has worked in GE Capital, GE Healthcare, GE Lighting, Vodafone, Countrywide Financial Corporation / Bank of America, Tata Consultancy Services, ACC Cements and Dunlop amongst other organizations.
Mr. Sengupta is a strategic business partner and out-of-the-box thinker, with successes in business transformation, process redesign for better control and productivity using Six Sigma tools, start-up operations, business/entity restructuring, P&L management, stakeholder management, cost control, risk management, compliance, margin improvement and working capital improvement. He is known for his deliberate and focused approach in leading global multi-cultural teams for reaching business goals.
General manager – Human Resource
Mr Kunal Sarkar is an accomplished professional with more than 17 years of experience across several verticals of strategic Human Resource Management — talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, performance management, talent management, ethics and safeguarding, employee engagement, global mobility and organization development — in telecom, pharmaceutical, IT and ITeS, and agricultural research. Kunal has been in global leadership roles in multicultural and multidisciplinary work environments in Asia, ANZ and Africa, where he has successfully led HR initiatives to support cultural harmonization and drive change.
Chair, ICRISAT Governing Board ,
Founding Director of the Tata-Cornell Institute and a Professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
Prof. Prabhu Pingali is the Founding Director of the Tata-Cornell Institute and a Professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, with a joint appointment in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University. Prior to joining Cornell University, he was the Deputy Director, Agriculture Development Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2008-May 2013. Prof. Pingali was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences as a Foreign Fellow in May 2007. He was the President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) from 2003-2006. He was elected Fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association in 2006 and of the International Association of Agricultural Economists in 2009. Prof. Pingali has spent some time working with the CGIAR for 15 years from 1987-2002, first with IRRI in the Philippines and then with CIMMYT in Mexico.
Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR)
Krishi Bhavan
New Delhi, India
Dr Trilochan Mohapatra is an Indian national. He obtained MSc and PhD in Genetics from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. Dr Mohapatra is presently holding the position of Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, and is also the Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Prior to this, he served as the Director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, and the National Rice Research Institute (formerly CRRI), Cuttack, Odisha.
Dr Mohapatra contributed to the development of 12 varieties of rice and mustard including the long grain Basmati variety, Pusa Basmati 1121, and the first high-protein rice variety, CR Dhan 310. Dr Mohapatra has been recipient of several honors and awards recognizing his academic and research contributions, including the INSA Young Scientist Award, Prof LSS Kumar Memorial Award, NAAS-Tata Award, IARI-BP Pal Award, DBT Bio-science Award, NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award, Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award 2016, IMS Diamond Jubilee Memorial Award 2016, Dr D. Sundaresan Memorial Oration Award 2017, NASI Lecture Award 2017 and Prof NG Ranga Memorial Award by the Andhra Pradesh Science Congress 2017. He also received the Recognition Award of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences for the biennium 2013-14 for significant contributions in Plant Improvement and the Lifetime Achievement Awards of the Indian Genetics Congress and the Indian Society of Agricultural Biochemists.
Secretary, Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare
New Delhi, India
Chief Secretary of Telangana
Mr. Somesh Kumar, born on December, 22, 1963 and a post-graduate in Psychology from the University of Delhi, held key posts in high-profile departments — Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Tribal Welfare, Revenue-Commercial Taxes and Excise Collegiate Education, and AP Urban Services for Poor, among other assignments, and had made his mark on the administration.
As Principal Secretary, Revenue, Commercial Taxes and Excise, he ensured smooth transition to the GST regime, introduced IT, Apps, data analytics to plug loopholes and tax evasion and brought about several measures to curb leakage in the excise revenue and earned a reputation as a tough task master. At present, he is also looking after land matters, Registration, CCLA.
His tenure as GHMC Commissioner saw hike in property taxes, introduction of popular ₹5-a-meal and launch of the Strategic Road Development Plan. As head of the Tribal Welfare department, he introduced Chief Minister’s ST Entrepreneurship Innovation Initiative. In the initial years of his career, he served as Sub-Collector, Bodhan and Nizamabad, and later as Collector of Anantapur district.
Director General
Dr Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes is a noted plant health expert. Before assuming charge as Director General at ICRISAT, Dr Hughes was Deputy Director General-Research at IRRI and before that, DDG-R at the World Vegetable Center. Her long association with CGIAR began when she moved from the UK to Ibadan, Nigeria, in the 90s to join IITA as a virologist. With vast experience in leading multidisciplinary teams in Asia and Africa, she is a recognized leader in international agriculture research and management.
Director, Institute for Marine Research
Bergen, Norway
She was recently appointed Director General for Institute for Marine Research after being the Director General of The Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board advising the Norwegian Government. Besides this she has also been part-time Professor at Dept of Nature conservation, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and at Dept of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen. She has also been Director of Research at the Agricultural University of Norway.
She has broad experience serving on various research councils and boards of research institutes like Chairman of Bio-production and processing (“blue and green sector”) at the Norwegian Research Council, Chairman of the Aquaculture Institute, Akvaforsk; Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fridtjof Nansen ́s Research Institute; and Member of the Board of Directors of The Norwegian Institute for Gene Ecology. She has been member of the UNESCO IBC (International Bioethics Committee).
During her period as active scientist she authored or coauthored over 30 scientific articles and publications. She was awarded the Norwegian Academic Price for 2012 for her work to promote academic freedom and dissemination of knowledge.
Vice President
International Commission on Irrigation and DrainageCanada &
Chair of Nominations Committee
Laurie Craig Tollefson is a Canadian national. He obtained his BSA and MSc degrees from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
He is currently the Vice President of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage. In his career spanning over two decades, he has held various positions including, National Science Manager, Agricultural Water, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC); Director, National Water Quality and Availability Management Project (NAWQAM); Director International Partnership, AAFC; Manager, Irrigation and Diversification, AAFC-AAC; Canadian Headquarters Co-ordinator, NAWQAM; Team Leader – China/Canada Sustainable Agriculture Development Program; and Manager, Canada -Saskatchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre.
He is also associated with professional and voluntary associations such as the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, Canadian Water Resources Association, Canadian Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), Agriculture Institute of Canada, Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists, and American Society of Agronomy.
Among the accolades he has received are the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013; The Distinguished Agrologist Award (2009); Outstanding contribution to the Management of the National Water Quality and Availability Management (NAWQAM) Project, Canadian and Egyptian governments (2007); Outstanding contribution to the sustainability of land resources under irrigation and drainage by the Canadian Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (2002).
He has over 44 publications to his credit and has co-authored several book chapters.
Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee
Mrs. Folasade Ogunde graduated with a B.Sc (Hons) degree in Economics from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Currently, Ms Ogunde holds the position of Director at UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust. She joined the ICRISAT governing board in 2018.
She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and an associate member of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA). She started her professional career with the firm of Deloitte Haskins & Sells (Chartered Accountants), where she gained accounting and audit experience, had a stint in treasury management before joining UAC of Nigeria Plc in 1997.
She has held such positions as Management Accountant, UAC Foods; Divisional Commercial Director, Mr. Bigg’s (now UAC Restaurants) and Group Treasurer, UAC of Nigeria Plc. She has attended senior management and leadership programmes at Ashridge Management College, UK; Cranfield University, UK and Havard Business School, USA.
She is also on the board of RT Briscoe Plc and Associate Member at International Facility Management Association. Ms Ogunde was also the Executive Director & Finance Director for UACN Property Development Plc, Commercial Director at UAC Foods Ltd. and Group Treasurer at UACN Plc.
Former Senior Program Officer- Global Development Program,
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Dr Yilma Kebede is a recognized leader in agricultural research and plant breeding, seasoned grant-maker and strategist with more than 30 years of experience implementing and funding agricultural and food security programs via foundations, national and international research centers, and private sector–most recently, successfully funding and managing small grains crop improvement, seed systems and African agricultural development portfolios at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As an ICRISAT Research Fellow from 2017 to 2019, Dr Kebede supported implementation of breeding program assessment recommendations for ICRISAT mandate crops (Sorghum, Millet, Chick pea, Pigeon pea and Groundnuts).
Under the Global Development Program of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he served as Senior Program Officer from 2008 to 2016. He spent almost two decades with DuPont Pioneer Hi-Bred International (now Corteva) in research.
Dr Kebede completed PhD in Plant Breeding in Texas A&M University, Texas, USA, and Master of Science in Crop Physiology in University of Guelph, Canada.
He is currently a member of AGRA-PASS Advisory Council. He was also a member of Steering Committee, Dryland Cereals CRP (CGIAR).
Dr Kebede is Ethiopian-American.
Professor in plant biotechnology at Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), Senegal
Prof. Gassama is a Senegalese national and Professor in plant biotechnology at Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), Senegal. She is a well-known scientist and has held high ranking positions in the academia, governance and policymaking. She was Senegal’s Minister of Scientific Research in 2005 and chaired African Union’s high level panel on emerging technologies in 2017.
Director and Chair of the UK’s National Institute of Agricultural Botany
Dr. Godfrey is a distinguished research leader and was the Chair of IRRI’s Board of Trustees. He is a UK national and has been associated with several leading research institutions. Dr. Godfrey is the Director and Chair of the UK’s National Institute of Agricultural Botany.
Dr. Godfrey was the President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England during 2018-2019. He has been appointed to several Boards and has chaired many of them, including those of CGIAR centers. His association with CGIAR pans several years, as former Chair of CIP (2000-2008) and that of the Alliance of 15 CGIAR centers (2006-2007). He also chaired the CGIAR Board Orientation and Training Program and organized annual courses throughout the world to train over 400 trustees.
Director of Outreach at the Crawford Fund
Ms. Reade, an Australian national, is the Director of Outreach at the Crawford Fund. She spent her early career working for a range of advocacy groups and, in addition to establishing the public awareness program for the Crawford Fund, Ms. Reade’s consultancy concentrated in the not-for-profit sector around agriculture, development, S&T and environment policy, issues and events. She also developed and manages a master class in communications for scientists in developing countries, and directs the Fund’s NextGen suite of activities. Ms Reade was on the Board and Executive Committee of the World Vegetable Center from 2014-2019, and chaired their Nominations Committee.
The Alliance of CGIAR Centers recognized her contributions with a special award in 2007.
Governing Board Secretary, and Advisor, Governance and Compliance
Ms. Ng is a Governance Professional and is an advocate of value-shared governance. Her work experience focused on Legal Administration, Corporate Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance. She joined ICRISAT in 2016 when she was appointed as Secretary of the Governing Board, and Advisor, Governance and Compliance. In her past career, she collaborated in the regions of APAC and Europe for Risk and Compliance projects, KYC and AMLA, and was a certified Local Security Officer for ISO 27000:2013 (lead implementer) in 2015.
Research Program Director – Accelerated Crop Improvement
Dr Rajeev Varshney is Research Program Director – Accelerated Crop Improvement, at ICRISAT, based in Hyderabad, India. He has a Ph.D. in Agricultural Botany (Molecular Biology) from CCS University, India. He joined ICRISAT in 2005 and in his dual appointment also served the CGIAR Generation Challenge Program (hosted by CIMMYT, Mexico) as SubProgramme Leader 2, for 6 years. Before joining ICRISAT, Rajeev worked at IPK-Gatersleben, Germany for 5 years. He holds Adjunct/ Honorary position with >10 organizations, and provides leadership to several organizations by serving as member/chair for several committees, editorial boards, funding organizations and advisory boards, etc.
Rajeev is recognized as a leader in genome sequencing, genomics-assisted breeding, translational genomics and capacity building in international agriculture. He has made a pioneering contribution by integrating advanced discoveries in genomics with crop improvement especially in legumes in developing countries. Among different noted contributions, he has genome sequence of 10 crops including pigeonpea, chickpea, groundnut and pearl millet and several molecular breeding products in chickpea and groundnut to his credit. Genomics resources developed by his colleagues and collaborators are being used in several breeding programs with an objective to modernizing crop improvement in developing countries. He has provided strategic leadership, as a Principal Investigator, to Tropical Legumes projects, that have facilitated the release of 266 improved legumes varieties and production of about 498,034 tons of certified seeds with the benefit potential to over 5.0 million ha and over 25 million smallholder farmers in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Areas of expertise: Applied Genomics, Molecular breeding, Crop biotechnology, Genomics-assisted Breeding, Translational genomics & Capacity Building
Cluster Leader – Crop Breeding
Principal Scientist – Groundnut Breeding
Dr Janila Pasupuleti is Principal Groundnut Breeder at ICRISAT, based in Hyderabad, India, and Leader of the Flagship Program on Variety and Hybrid Development program of the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes & Dryland Cereals (http://gldc.cgiar.org). Janila has a PhD from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi and has 17 years of experience at the University of Hyderabad (UoH), Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Center of DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) and ICRISAT (since 2011).
Areas of expertise: Genetics, groundnut breeding, marker-assisted selection, process innovations in crop breeding and testing pipelines, farmer participatory selection and seed systems.
Cluster Leader – Crop Protection & Seed Health
Principal Scientist
Dr Rajan Sharma is a Principal Scientist and the Leader of the Crop Protection and Seed Health Cluster, Global Research Program on Accelerated Crop Improvement at ICRISAT Headquarters based in Hyderabad, India. His core competencies include monitoring the virulence spectrum of plant pathogens; development of PCR-compatible markers and their use in genetic diversity assessment and mapping of avirulence genes; elucidating molecular basis of host-pathogen interaction; identification and utilization of resistance sources for disease management; development of diagnostic protocols and salvaging techniques for infested/infected germplasm. He has guided over 10 MSc and PhD students, mentored many researchers and PDFs, and organized training/capacity building programs for NARS in Asia and Africa.
Expertise in: Host plant resistance, virulence characterization, phenotyping, fungal genomics, epidemiology, seed pathology, integrated disease management
Cluster Leader – Genomics, pre-breeding & Bioinformatics
Principal Scientist
Damaris Odeny is a plant molecular breeder with research experience in 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 millet, finger millet, groundnut, chickpea and pigeonpea) in her current global 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 50 scientists in her career to date.
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
Cluster Leader – Genebank
Head (Consultant)
Cluster Leader – Crop Physiology and Modelling
Senior Scientist
Jana Kholová is Senior Scientist with the theme System Analysis for Climate Smart Agriculture (SACSA) at ICRISAT, based in Hyderabd/India. With the PhD in Genetics from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, with specialization in plant genetics and physiology. Her core competencies include dissection of environment-adaptive traits and translating them into high-throughput phenotyping methods, using system modelling tools to characterize target environments and predict the effect of adaptive traits in target agro-ecologies. She is currently coordinating multiple research projects, has published ~ 29 articles (H-index of 14) and has citations exceeding 650 (2017).
My expertise: Integration of interdiciplinary research to enhance the cropping systems production improvement; plant stress physiology, modelling, genetics, phenotyping, plant nutrition, biochemistry and molecular biology.
Designated Incharge for Cell & Molecular Biology and Trait Engineering
Scientist
Principal Scientist
Principal Scientist – Product Placement Lead
Ashok Kumar is a Principal Scientist (Plant Breeding) at International Crops Research Institute for the Semiarid Tropics (ICRISAT), India heading the sorghum breeding research. With Ph D from Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, he has 19 years of research experience in the area of genetics, plant breeding for improved products development in various crops particularly sorghum and castor. Since 2006, his major focus is on developing innovative approaches that enhance breeding efficiency for higher genetic gain in sorghum for various end-uses- food, feed, fodder and fuel. Besides improving sorghum for food, feed and forage, he is currently leading the projects on genetic diversification of hybrid parents, biofortifying sorghum with higher grain Zn and Fe concentration and developing sorghums amenable for first (1G) and second generation (2G) bioenergy production. He was instrumental in release of first biofortified sorghum variety ‘Parbhani Shakti’ and worked extensively in seed systems development for increased adoption of cultivars. He has published 82 journal articles, 40 book chapters, 50 conference papers and co-authored six books. He has >40 international partnerships in various projects. He is currently guiding five Ph D students.
Principal Scientist I – Sorghum Breeding
Dr Ephrem Habyarimana is a Principal Scientist at ICRISAT India, leading ICRISAT’s research on sorghum breeding to optimize the breeding program towards the ultimate aim of improving sorghum productivity and income generation, particularly for smallholder farmers. He is a PhD in Agricultural Genetics (Tuscia University, Italy), with a Master’s degree in Crop Science (Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy) and in Biotechnology Studies (University of Maryland University College, USA) and several other university degrees and training certificates obtained in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe.
Senior Scientist (Chickpea Breeding)
Scientist – Pigeonpea Breeding
Scientist
Scientist
Cluster Leader – Science Quality & Strategy
Principal Scientist – Groundnut Pathology
Hari Kishan Sudini is Principal Scientist (Groundnut Pathology), Research Program-Asia, at ICRISAT, based in Hyderabad, India.
Hari obtained his PhD in 2009 from Auburn University, USA, majoring in plant pathology. During his doctoral studies, Hari worked on soil microbial community structure and aflatoxin contamination in different peanut-based crop rotations.
Cluster Leader – Precision Phenotyping
Principal Scientist
Mamta Sharma is Theme Leader, Integrated Crop Mangement (ICM), Research Program-Asia, at ICRISAT headquarters in Hyderabad, India. With a PhD from Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India, Sharma leads a team having over 45 staff, including 10 scientists and other technical staff, to develop cost-effective and eco-friendly disease and insect-pest management technologies by engaging in basic, strategic and applied research in the areas of etiology, biology, epidemiology, and host plant resistance (identification of resistant sources and mechanisms of resistance). She is also leading ICRISAT‘s Center of Excellence on Climate Change Research for Plant Protection.
Principal Scientist – Microbiology
S Gopalakrishnan, Principal Scientist (Microbiology), Integrated Crop Managment (ICM),Research Program-Asia, works at ICRISAT headquarters in Hyderabad, India.
Dr Gopalakrishnan has a PhD in Biology (Microbiology/Plant Pathology) from University College London (UCL), London, followed by three years as a postdoc at Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Tsukuba, Japan. He was the recipient of the prestigious European Union, JIRCAS and Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) fellowships for his doctoral and postdoctoral research, respectively.
Scientist- Entmology
Jaba Jagdish is Scientist under the Theme Integrated Crop Management (Research Program – Asia), at ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India. He holds a PhD from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, India. Jaba was fellow of ICAR-SRF for pursuing PhD programme and awarded as best research paper award at 2nd Bio-pesticide international conference during 2009. He was awarded first grant as principal investigator from ICRISAT and young scientist award from EET CRS, Mumbai. His earlier experiences include as a Research Associate (UAS-Raichur); Regional agronomist (DuPont), Subject Matter Specialist and visiting scientist. He is editorial member of three international and two national plant protection journals. He has published more than 26 reserach articles in national and international journals.
Dr Raju Ghosh is currently a Scientist in Legumes Pathology. In his earlier seven-year stint at ICRISAT, he worked as a Special Project Scientist. His aim is to decipher the hitherto unexplored world of begomoviruses in India. He is actively involved in basic and applied research in pathogenomics and proteomics of plant pathogen interactions, and developing cost effective diagnostic tools in combating fungal diseases in legumes. He is also involved in research activities of ICRISAT’s Center of Excellence on Climate Change Research for Plant Protection (CCRPP) and the applied aspects of agriculture extension to promote chickpea in different Indian states.
Dr Ghosh has a PhD in Genetics (Plant Virology) from the University of Calcutta and has done post-doctoral work at the Plant Virus Referral Testing Laboratory of the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi.
Senior Scientist (Genetic Resources)
Vetriventhan is a Scientist (Genetic Resources), in the Genebank, Research Program – Genetic Gains, at ICRISAT-Hyderabad.
He obtained his PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Tamil Nadu, India. He is involved in genebank activities on sorghum and six small millets (finger millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, kodo millet, little millet and barnyard millet), on subjects such as germplasm characterization, regeneration, conservation and documentation. His research activities focus on enhancing use of germplasm in crop improvement, such as forming representative germplasm sets (core/mini core), germplasm gap identification, evaluation and identification of trait specific germplasm sources, developing genetic and genomic resources and so on.
Expertise in: Plant breeding and genetics; plant genetic resources
Manager – Genebank Quality Manager
Manager – Genebank Quality Manager
Manager – Germplasm Conservation
Senior Scientist-Genomics and Molecular Breeding
Hima Bindu Kudapa, Scientist, Genomics and Molecular Breeding, Forward & Integrated Breeding, Research Program – Genetic Gains, works for ICRISAT at Hyderabad.
Her basic background is in molecular biology and her research focus is on functional genomics for crop improvement.
Expertise in: Genomics, molecular biology, functional biology, molecular breeding, plants interaction to biotic and abiotic stresses
Senior Scientist – Groundnut Genomics
Dr. Manish K Pandey is currently leading the Groundnut & Pigeonpea Genomics, Prebreeding & Bioinformatics group at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India. He completed his PhD in Plant Genetics from Osmania University while working in ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), Hyderabad, India. He also had Post-doctoral research experience at University of Georgia, USA for a period of two years. He is also Adjunct Associate Professor in University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia & Distinguished Professor, in Institute of Crop Genetic Resources of Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS), China.
Areas of expertise: Next-generation sequencing; Sequencing-based trait discovery; Discovery of genes, superior haplotypes and markers; diagnostic markers, cost-effective and high-throughput genotyping assays; pre-breeding & genomics-assisted breeding including genomic selection and haplotype-based breeding.
Senior Scientist-Genomics and Molecular Breeding
Manish Roorkiwal is Scientist – Genomics and Molecular Breeding, at ICRISAT, based in Hyderabad, India. With a basic background in molecular genetics and applied genomics, Manish obtained his PhD in Biotechnology from GGSIP University, Delhi. He has over 10 years of research experience. At the core of his work is the improvement of crop productivity of legumes in marginal environments in Africa and Asia using modern genetics and breeding approaches, including genomic selection and GWAS. After joining ICRISAT, he has been working in the area of genomics and molecular breeding with special emphasis on next generation sequencing technology including SNP genotyping and whole genome re-sequencing. He has been using modern breeding approaches such as genomic selection to address the issue of low productivity in chickpea. In his current role, he has been working as an interface between the Genomics and Breeding programs to deploy markers in routine breeding and to work towards the initiation of forward breeding at ICRISAT.
My expertise: Genomics, forward breeding, next generation sequencing, modern breeding approaches such as genomic selection and Marker Assisted Backcrossing
Senior Scientist – Chickpea Genomics Genomics & Trait Discovery
Manager-Computational Biology
Principal Scientist – Enabling Systems Transformation
Michael Hauser is an agro-ecologist specialized in farm and food system changes. In partnership with farmer associations, universities, civil society, and the private sector in Africa and Asia, Michael conducts theory-led research on critical transitions towards sustainable natural resource management, extension approaches, and marketing strategies to enable farmers to participate in markets. Before joining ICRISAT early 2017, Michael chaired AGRINATURA, the Alliance on Agricultural Knowledge for Development representing the major European research and education stakeholders in development-oriented research and higher education. These include universities and research centres dealing with tropical and subtropical agriculture, forestry, food and human nutrition, veterinary medicine, fisheries, and environmental sciences. AGRINATURA collaborates with organisation and networks to develop research and higher education capacities, such as the GFAR, EFARD, as well as the European Commission, CGIAR, FAO, IFAD, FARA, and RUFORUM. Michael Hauser was Director of the Centre for Development Research at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. Under his directorship, the Centre brokered and coordinated inter- and transdisciplinary agricultural research for development across university departments, civil society and the private sector. Michael supervises doctoral students and teaches under- and postgraduate classes on livelihood system dynamics and change facilitation. For his courses on sustainable agriculture with East African universities, he received the University Teaching Award recognising innovative training programs.
Cluster Leader – Nutrition, Dietary Behavior and Smart Food
Scientist
Cluster Leader – Technology Adoption and Impact Analysis
Senior Scientist
Dr Mequanint B Melesse is a Senior Scientist at ICRISAT, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Currently, Mequanint leads the Technology Adoption and Impact Analysis Cluster under the Enabling Systems Transformation Global Research Program. He holds a PhD in Development Economics from Wageningen University and a research master (MSc, cum laude) degree in Economics and Business from the University of Groningen (both in Netherlands).
Prior to joining ICRISAT, he has held a post-doctoral researcher position at the Development Economics Group, Wageningen University. Mequanint has had extensive research and field experience, led several large-scale household surveys in Africa, and managed research projects. With a focus on agricultural and rural development in the drylands, his main research interests are in the fields of agricultural and development economics, including technology needs assessment and (dis)adoption, causal impact analysis, impact scaling approaches and strategies for agricultural innovations, sustainable food systems, consumer behavior and market research, analysis of roles of research and policy in promoting systems transformations, and technological innovations in data science for data-driven agriculture. His research uses a variety of quantitative and qualitative approaches, including framed experiments and games, quasi-experimental approaches, randomized evaluations and non-experimental approaches.
Expertise in: Technology needs assessment and (dis)adoption, causal impact analysis, rural livelihood, sustainable food systems, consumer behavior and market research, market segments and product profiles, farm household analysis, impact scaling approaches and strategies for agricultural innovations, data-driven agriculture and project development
Cluster Leader – Socioeconomist – Markets, Institutions and Policies
Principal Scientist
Shalander Kumar, Principal Scientist, Innovation Systems for the Drylands, at ICRISAT-Hyderabad, has carried out extensive research for more than two decades in the field of economics of rainfed farming systems, whole farm modeling to support decision making at household and regional levels, and ex-ante & trade-off analysis to assess the impact of climate smart interventions. Other areas of active intervention include: livestock production and marketing systems, farm-level rainwater harvesting, potential for conservation agriculture, climate change impacts and extension systems in India and Africa. As a systems scientist he has contributed to promoting integrated systems approaches (AR4D), farm typology building approaches, ex-ante analysis & innovation systems approaches for co-designing resilient farming systems in dry areas. Further work was on assessing climate change impacts and building scaling up strategies for climate smart agriculture, institutional options for management of agriculture and common property resources, innovation platforms as instruments for enhancing technology adoption, and strengthening agricultural value chains.
Expertise in: Agricultural economics, farming systems analysis, whole farm modelling and tradeoff analysis, climate change impact and risk management strategies, innovation systems approach for co-designing sustainable intesification of farming systems
Cluster Leader – Gender and Youth
Senior Scientist
Cluster Leader – Agri Business Innovation Platform
Head – (Chief Executive Officer)
Consultant
Expertise in: Project planning and management, agribusiness entrepreneurship, genetic engineering & molecular biology for crop improvement, translation of genetic engineering technologies
Cluster Leader – Knowledge and Capacity Development
Senior Scientist – Gender Research
Padmaja Ravula is Senior Scientist – Gender research at ICRISAT, India with Markets, Institutions, Nutrition and Diversity (MIND) under Research Program on Innovation Systems for the Drylands (ISD). With PhD in Humanities and Social Sciences (Specialization: Sociology) from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B). A Gold Medalist for her Masters Degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Pandit Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University. A Sociologist by education and training with 20 years of interdisciplinary quantitative and qualitative research on issues related gender, nutrition, social capital and empowerment. A unique competence of training in nutrition research as well as sociological research. Has broad experience working in close collaboration with national and international research institutions, academic institutes, farmers, NGOs, donors and governments. Good team player in multi-disciplinary teams. Well versed with and practitioner of PRA tools and methods. Has more than 54 publications and contributed to development of several research papers and journal articles including impact series, policy briefs, conference papers, edited books, research bulletins and papers in edited books. A Creative thinker, and therefore also interested in bringing out non-conventional/non-academic but interactive products like timelines, video documentaries, visual tools for data collection and analysis. Notable contributions apart from publications, knowledge management and information dissemination include designing and developing methodological tools and frameworks for gender research, with an emphasis on empowerment of rural poor, nutrition and institutions (formal and informal); training and capacity building of student interns, research scholars and PhD students, field staff, researchers including partners to integrate gender and nutrition in social science research activities.
Senior Scientist
An institutional economist by specialization, Dr Thomas Falk has done extensive research in the field of governance in agricultural systems in developing countries. Since 2015, at ICRISAT, he contributes to the assessment of sustainable agricultural system transformations, the assessment of ecosystem services and related governance implications, as well as the development of scalable tools to trigger sustainable behavioral change. He has substantial expertise in the fields of economics of natural resource management; multi-level governance in social-ecological systems (SES); science-policy interaction and trans-disciplinarity; economic institutions and institutional change in natural resource management.
Senior Scientist – Economics
Nedumaran Swamikannu is Senior Scientist (Economics) from the Research Program for Innovation Systems for the Drylands (ISD), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in Hyderabad/India. Obtained Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Tamilnadu Agricultural University and a post-doctoral fellow from University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. Well-trained in agricultural economics and working as Senior Scientist in Research Program on Markets, Institutions and Policies (MIND) at ICRISAT, India. With ten years of experience in the field of development policy analysis, natural resource management (NRM), foresight and scenario analysis of dryland crops, adaptation and mitigation to climate change and ex-ante impact assessment of technologies and development program, and has conducted research in collaboration with multiple stakeholders both Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Current projects led at ICRISAT (1) Global Futures Projects for Agriculture; (2) Foresight and scenario analysis under CRP-Policies, Institutions and Markets. (3) ICRISAT-SLU project on the dynamics of Urban Sprawl. Also coordinating and conducting research in CRP- CCAFS on climate change impacts for ICRISAT mandate crops as well as in crop model improvement to assess the potential of promising crop technologies under climate change condition. Also contributed immensely to address the targeting and priority setting concern of CRP Dryland Cereals and Grain Legumes by using his analytical prowess harnessing national, regional, meso and micro farm level database.
Senior Scientist – Agricultural Economics
Senior Scientist, Agricultural Economics
Senior Scientist – Nutrition
Senior Scientist – Social Scientist
Sabine Homann is a social scientist in the Research Team Markets, Institutions, Nutrition and Diversity (MIND), Research Program Innovation Systems for the Drylands (ISD), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. With a PhD from Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany, in Agricultural Sciences. Research focus is on sustainability transitions for crop livestock farming systems in African Drylands, using innovation systems, value chain development and stakeholder engagement approaches, with a combined 15 years working experience. Expertise covers farming systems analyses, knowledge brokerage and social learning supporting market led development. For devising climate change adaptation strategies and influencing decisions towards sustainable development pathways, uses multi-modelling approaches and future scenario development with stakeholders. Through participatory and action-oriented research design feeds concrete information and practical experience into development and policy relevant dialogues, and contributes to better understanding of decision making processes in agriculture. Has authored and co-authored more than 20 Journal publications, and a wide range of communication products for research, development and policy audiences, including booklets, book chapters, information briefs, blogs and videos, a H-index of 7, 7 and 261 citations.
Head – (Chief Operating Officer – NutriPlus Knowledge)
Manager
Manager – Agribusiness
Research Program Director – Resilient Farm and Food Systems
Dr Anthony Whitbread is the Research Program Director – Resilient Farm and Food Systems, based in Hyderabad, India. With a PhD from the University of New England in Soil Science and Agronomy, Dr Whitbread leads a team of 30+ scientists across south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa in an innovation systems mode devising strategies to manage climatic risk, soil fertility and identifying market led development opportunities. This role was preceded by a 20 year research career in the crop-livestock systems of semi-arid Australia, SE Asia and Southern Africa. His team based work has received recognition with the “2006 CSIRO Learning Culture Award” and the 2013 CSIRO team medal for ‘Impact from Science’. In 2011, he became full Professor (W3) of Crop Production Systems in the Tropics at the Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Germany combining his passions of teaching and applied research. He has published widely with more than 55 journal articles, a H-index of 21 and citations exceeding 2400.
My specialization: Agronomy and soil science, farm systems analysis, crop modelling, climate risk management, spatial analysis
Country Representative – Zimbabwe
Cluster Leader – Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
Senior Scientist
Cluster Leader – Landscapes, Soil Fertility and Water Management
Senior Scientist
Dr Birhanu Zemadim Birhanu is a Research Cluster Leader for Landscapes, Soil Fertility and Water Management under the Global Program Resilient Farm and Food Systems, ICRISAT, based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Dr Birhanu is specialized in Land and Water Resources Management with over 12 years’ professional and project management experience in Eastern and Western Africa. A former Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Dr Birhanu has been a project manager for multiple donor-funded projects over the years.
Areas of expertise: Agricultural Land and Water Management, Hydrology, Participatory Watershed Management, Field-to-Landscape Scale Technology Evaluation and Scaling, Numerical Modelling & Capacity Building.
Cluster Leader – Geospatial and Big Data Sciences
Principal Scientist
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. Prior to this, he was a Remote Sensing Specialist and PDF at IRRI and a project scientist with IWMI. Murali Krishna has over 22 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. His work experience spans over 35 countries spread across Asia and Africa. He 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
Cluster Leader – Digital Agriculture
Head
Ram Dhulipala leads the Digital Agriculture Theme at ICRISAT, Hyderabad. After obtaining his engineering degree from Government Engineering College, Hyderabad, he also acquired an MBA in 2011.
He worked as a software engineer in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) from 2004 to 2010. In TCS, he worked primarily in the telecom domain for customers, such as Ericsson, and British Telecom; and was into technologies like VOIP, OSI stack and SIP programming. He also has rich experience in architecting solutions in Enterprise IT environments. As a manager he has worked in executive positions in the corporate sector in the areas of finance, corporate strategy, program management and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across diverse sectors. Ram is a strong believer in partnerships and has managed complex projects that bring together people/teams with diverse skills and backgrounds.
Expertise in: Technologies such as VOIP, OSI stack and SIP programming; architecting solutions in Enterprise IT environments; finance, corporate strategy, and program management
Cluster Leader – ICRISAT Development Center
Principal Scientist
Dr Sreenath Dixit is Principal Scientist & Head, IDC based in Patancheru, India, since January 2018. He is currently working with the ICRISAT Development Center, Research Program-Asia on developing strategies for capacity building and large-scale uptake of science-backed technologies to achieve impact on the ground.
With a doctorate in Agricultural Extension from the Universality of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India (1993), he works on capacity building strategies to implement multi-disciplinary, multi-institute consortium projects on ground with focus on scaling up across large areas. He belongs to the 1990 batch of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). His efforts have led to many ICAR awards, such as Vasantrao Naik Award for Dryland Agriculture and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Award for Tribal Agriculture improvement besides the Young Scientist award of the Indian Society of Extension Education early in his career.
Expertise in: Participatory natural resource management, innovative institutional mechanisms for promoting sustainable rural livelihoods in fragile ecosystems, technology testing and frontline extension strategies, location-specific adaptations to climate change and ICTs in agricultural extension
Senior Scientist – Project Management
Scientist–Systems Agronomist & Modeler For Climate
Scientist – Agronomy & Agro Climatology
Scientist
In – Business Researcher (Secondment)
Senior Scientist – Digital Agriculture
Dr Srikanth Rupavatharam is working as a Senior Scientist in the Digital Agriculture cluster of the Global Research Program ‘Resilient Farm and Food Systems’ at ICRISAT. He holds a PhD in Postharvest technologies from Massey University (NZ) and a Masters in the same field from Writtle College, University of Essex, UK. He is a Marshal Papworth Scholar and also a recipient of the prestigious Gardner’s Prize, 2005 in the field of horticulture from the Worshipful Company of Gardeners (London) for excellence in Master’s study. Srikanth received Helen E. Akers PhD scholarship to undertake doctoral study and recently awarded by the Global Challenges Research Fund sponsored ‘David Livingstone Fellowship’ from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
Senior Manager – Digital Agriculture (M&E and Tools)
Satish is an ICT4D, Knowledge Management (KM4D), and Convergent Media innovator with about ten years of hands-on practice in conceptualizing, developing and implementing technology-based solutions that enable information access and facilitate service delivery leading to sustainable development. He has led teams in developing and rolling out ICT-based initiatives to monitor and enable service delivery in development interventions. He has also developed several new media-based knowledge platforms and processes that enable knowledge outreach leading to informed decision-making. He has worked extensively with and built capacities of grassroots communities in using knowledge-driven participatory communication and technology development processes for rights-based advocacy. He has engaged and liaised with multi-sectoral international partners, donors and implementing agencies.
Manager – GIS, RS/GIS Lab
Principal Scientist – Soil and Water Conservation
Girish Chander is Senior-Scientist, Natural Resource Management, at ICRISAT, based in Hyderabad, India, since 2010. He is currently working with the ICRISAT Development Center, Research Program-Asia on strategic research issues and promoting large-scale uptake of science-backed technologies to achieve impact on the ground.
With a doctorate in Soil Science (Chemistry/Fertility) from Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, India (2004), he devises strategies for dealing with soil health management and resilience-building of production systems. His efforts have led to many awards, such as ICRISAT’s Doreen Margaret Mashler Award (for contributions in Karnataka, India, 2011), Outstanding Partnership Award – Asia (for partnership between ICRISAT and the Government of Andhra Pradesh, India, 2017), Outstanding Scientific Article Award (published in Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining, 2017).
Expertise in: Soil fertility & chemistry; INM, watershed management; scaling-up
Senior Scientist-Natural Resource Management
Senior Scientist (Agronomy)
Senior Scientist (Soil Physics)
Mukund Patil is Senior Scientist at the ICRISAT Development Center (IDC), ICRISAT, Hyderabad.
Mukund is an agricultural engineer who completed his masters and doctoral work on Vadoze zone hydrology of rice field at IIT-Kharagpur.
At ICRISAT he is coordinating watershed projects supported by private companies. He is also involved in the Digital Tools for Agriculture application piloted by IDC in project sites.
Expertise in: Soil physics, recycling of wastewater in agriculture, ICT for agriculture
Senior Scientist-Natural Resource Management
Scientist-Wastewater Management
Aviraj Datta is Scientist, IDC based in Patancheru, India. He joined ICRISAT in May 2014 as Visiting Scientist. He is currently working with the ICRISAT Development Center, Research Program-Asia developing decentralized wastewater treatment technologies to generate revenue through safe utilization of treated wastewater in agriculture. The aim is to abate the harmful and unsafe raw-wastewater irrigation practice prevailing in the semi-arid tropics. The work aims to improve the wastewater management in villages while increasing the water use efficiency.
Expertise in: Decentralized wastewater treatment; Rural wastewater management; Bioremediation of polluted air/water streams.
Scientist – Hydrology
Manager – Watersheds
Manager – CRAL
Deputy Director General – Research
Regional Director – Asia
Dr Arvind Kumar is an experienced crop scientist with more than 28 years’ experience in crop improvement, trait discovery to drought tolerance, disease- insect resistance and translational research. As Deputy Director General- Research, he leads and provides strategic direction to ICRISAT research in the area of climate resilience, nutrition, crop improvement, genomics-trait development, crops-water-soil-disease management, policy, agribusiness, market linkages and capacity development for ICRISAT-mandated crops grown mostly in the semi-arid regions of the world.
He has a PhD from Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, in plant breeding and post-doctoral training from the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, on molecular breeding.
Expertise in: Project planning, management and strategy development, molecular breeding for crop improvement, translation research and climate resilience
Cluster Leader – Crop Improvement Operations Team (CIOT)
Senior Scientist
Cluster Leader – Sequencing and Genomics Services
Senior Manager
Cluster Leader – Farm & Engineering Services
General Manager
Suresh C Pillay is Head of Farm & Engineering Services, Research Program-Asia, and is based at ICRISAT, Hyderabad. He has been working with ICRISAT since the last 29 years.
He holds a BSc in Agricultural Engineering from Allahabad University, India. Prior to joining ICRISAT Pillay had a brief stint with Southern Region Farm Machinery Testing & Training Institute (SRFMT&TI), a Government of India organization involved in testing farm machinery and equipment and training progressive farmers/entreprenuers in mechanized farming.
Cluster Leader – Data Management and Analytical Support
Principal Scientist
Manager – Data Curator
Head- Farm & Engineering Services
Cluster Leader – Precision Phenotyping
Principal Scientist
Mamta Sharma is Theme Leader, Integrated Crop Mangement (ICM), Research Program-Asia, at ICRISAT headquarters in Hyderabad, India. With a PhD from Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India, Sharma leads a team having over 45 staff, including 10 scientists and other technical staff, to develop cost-effective and eco-friendly disease and insect-pest management technologies by engaging in basic, strategic and applied research in the areas of etiology, biology, epidemiology, and host plant resistance (identification of resistant sources and mechanisms of resistance). She is also leading ICRISAT‘s Center of Excellence on Climate Change Research for Plant Protection.
Regional Director and Country Representative Kenya
Eastern & Southern Africa
Dr Rebbie Harawa is an agricultural research and development expert with extensive work experience across Africa. Before joining ICRISAT, she worked for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa as Head of the Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Systems program based in Nairobi, Kenya. Previous positions include Country Team Leader and Science Coordinator for United Nations Development Programme Millennium Villages Project and On-farm Research Specialist for World Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Malawi. Rebbie holds a PhD in Soil Science with minor in Extension from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA and a Master of Science Degree in Agronomy from Bunda College of Agriculture, University of Malawi.
Specialization: Soil Science, Agronomy, Agricultural Extension, Climate Smart Agriculture, Sustainable Food Systems and Program Management.
Country Representative – Mozambique
Cluster Leader – Seed Systems
Principal Scientist
Country Representative – Ethiopia
Principal Scientist
André F. van Rooyen is Principal Scientist specializing in crop-livestock systems in the research program on Innovation Systems for Drylands (ISD), at ICRISAT, based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Holds a PhD from the University of Kwa-Zulu, Natal, South Africa. Uses complex adaptive systems (CAS) characteristics to analyze system functionality and explore opportunities to improve and develop more diverse and integrated agricultural systems. Working in both dryland and irrigation systems where cereal crops, legumes and livestock complement each another, utilizes Innovation Platforms, working with a diverse range of value chain players, to increase on-farm production and improved market integration. Work is based on the hypotheses that integrated agricultural systems, linked to functional markets, increase land, labor and water productivity, resulting in increased system efficiency and environmental sustainability, while providing routes out of poverty for small scale farmers.
Country Representative – Zimbabwe
Cluster Leader – Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
Senior Scientist
Country Representative – Malawi
Senior Scientist – Legume / Cereal Pathology
Cluster Leader – Crop Improvement Operations Team – CIOT Operations
Senior Scientist- Sorghum Breeding
Cluster Leader – Precision Phenotyping for biotic, abiotic stresses & nutrition
Senior Scientist
Cluster Leader – Farm Services
Scientific Officer
Cluster Leader – Rapid Generation Advancement
Principal Scientist
Regional Director and Country Representative Mali
West & Central Africa
Dr Ramadjita Tabo is a cropping systems agronomist with a PhD in Agronomy and Plant Genetics from the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA in 1985. He is currently the Research Program Director-West and Central Africa and Country Representative, Mali. Prior to his current position he was the Deputy Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) based in Accra, Ghana (September 2009 to February 2014). Prior to that he was the Assistant Director of ICRISAT-WCA and cropping systems at ICRISAT-Niamey, Niger. Ramadjita worked and was based at various ICRISAT locations including Hyderabad/Patancheru, India; Kano, Nigeria; Bamako, Mali and Niamey, Niger. He is a member of several committees amongst which is the Pan-African START (a global Change for Change System for Analysis, Research and Training) Regional Committee (PACOM) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He won several awards one of which is the prestigious 2007 Nobel Peace prize as a member of the IPCC. He also chaired the Advisory Board of the IDRC funded AfricaInteract project (Enabling research-to-policy linkage for adaptation to climate change in Africa). He coordinated the Desert Margins Program (DMP) GEF funded project on arresting land degradation and conserving biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa and the Challenge Program on Water and Food funded (CPWF) project on enhancing rainwater and nutrient use efficiency in the Volta Basin. His previous research work also included evaluation and promotion of fertilizer microdosing technology and warrantage system, intensification of integrated crop-livestock system. He has published several papers in scientific journals and proceedings.
My expertise: Cropping systems agronomist, climate risk management, Cropping systems agronomy and physiology, Integrated soil, water and fertility management, Integrated Crop-Livestock systems, systems modelling, Resource Mobilization and Team Management
Country Representative – Niger
Principal Scientist
Country Representative – Nigeria
Principal Scientist
Cluster Leader – Crop Improvement Operations Team (CIOT)
Consultant
Cluster Leader – Precision Phenotyping for biotic, abiotic stresses & nutrition
Scientific Officer
Cluster Leader – Farm Services
Research Technician
Cluster Leader – Rapid Generation Advancement
Research Technician
Director General
Dr Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes is a noted plant health expert. Before assuming charge as Director General at ICRISAT, Dr Hughes was Deputy Director General-Research at IRRI and before that, DDG-R at the World Vegetable Center. Her long association with CGIAR began when she moved from the UK to Ibadan, Nigeria, in the 90s to join IITA as a virologist. With vast experience in leading multidisciplinary teams in Asia and Africa, she is a recognized leader in international agriculture research and management.
Deputy Director General – Research
Regional Director – Asia
Dr Arvind Kumar is an experienced crop scientist with more than 28 years’ experience in crop improvement, trait discovery to drought tolerance, disease- insect resistance and translational research. As Deputy Director General- Research, he leads and provides strategic direction to ICRISAT research in the area of climate resilience, nutrition, crop improvement, genomics-trait development, crops-water-soil-disease management, policy, agribusiness, market linkages and capacity development for ICRISAT-mandated crops grown mostly in the semi-arid regions of the world.
He has a PhD from Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, in plant breeding and post-doctoral training from the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, on molecular breeding.
Expertise in: Project planning, management and strategy development, molecular breeding for crop improvement, translation research and climate resilience
Director, Country Relations and Business Affairs
Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee is an Indian national. He has a Master’s degree in Agricultural Science from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and a PhD from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He also holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from University of Birmingham, UK. He has taken public policy courses at University of Toronto; Civil Services College, Singapore; and University of Cambridge at various points in his career.
Dr Padhee joined the Indian Administrative Services in 1996 and belongs to Odisha cadre. Among the various positions he has held are District Magistrate and Collector; Director, Agriculture and Food Production; Director, World Bank assisted Rural Livelihoods Project; Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Cuttack; Chief Administrator, Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri; Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Tourism and Culture Department, Odisha and Joint Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, Government of India, New Delhi. During his tenure with the Odisha Government, he was instrumental in drafting the Odisha State Agriculture Policy in 2008. He has also served as a member of the Technical Support Group of the erstwhile Planning Commission that prepared the District Agricultural Plan manual. Government of India appointed Dr Padhee as the first nodal officer to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in fertilizers in 2016.
Director – Institutional Finance and Services
Mr. Angshu Sengupta was the Director of Finance, Risk & Legal at IRRI before he joined ICRISAT. In a career spanning 32 years, Mr. Sengupta worked 13 years in manufacturing, 15 in IT enabled services, two years in international consulting and two years in a non-profit research organization. He has shouldered the responsibilities of a CFO for about 8 years in his career. Mr. Sengupta has worked in GE Capital, GE Healthcare, GE Lighting, Vodafone, Countrywide Financial Corporation / Bank of America, Tata Consultancy Services, ACC Cements and Dunlop amongst other organizations.
Mr. Sengupta is a strategic business partner and out-of-the-box thinker, with successes in business transformation, process redesign for better control and productivity using Six Sigma tools, start-up operations, business/entity restructuring, P&L management, stakeholder management, cost control, risk management, compliance, margin improvement and working capital improvement. He is known for his deliberate and focused approach in leading global multi-cultural teams for reaching business goals.
Director – Business Development
Ms Pirani has over 18 years of experience in international development leading teams in corporate business development strategy, business development practices, program design and implementation. Ms Pirani is adept at building and managing strategic partnerships with multiple stakeholders including governments, donors, NGOs, civil society, and private sector to work towards achieving a common objective. She has supported programs in over 21 countries and worked with over 10 NGOs develop long terms growth strategies. She has supported organizations to win grants ranging from US$ 500,000 to US$ 300 million from both global and bilateral programs.
Director – Communications
General manager – Human Resource
Mr Kunal Sarkar is an accomplished professional with more than 17 years of experience across several verticals of strategic Human Resource Management — talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, performance management, talent management, ethics and safeguarding, employee engagement, global mobility and organization development — in telecom, pharmaceutical, IT and ITeS, and agricultural research. Kunal has been in global leadership roles in multicultural and multidisciplinary work environments in Asia, ANZ and Africa, where he has successfully led HR initiatives to support cultural harmonization and drive change.
Head – Internal Audit
Chief of Staff
Cluster Leader – Genebank
Head (Consultant)
Senior Scientist – Regional Genebank
Head – Purchase, Supplies and Disposal Services
Senior Manager – Housing and Food Services
Head – Legal Services
Surya Mani Tripathi, is Legal Counsel at ICRISAT, Hyderabad.
He holds a law degree (LLB) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, carried out with a Microsoft IPR scholarship. He also holds a PhD, realized with a CSIR fellowship and an international fellowship provided by UNIDO and the Government of Italy.
He is a registered lawyer in India, and is engaged in the management of legal and regulatory issues pertaining to operations and research of ICRISAT, along with legislative advocacy and statutory compliances. His areas of work include legal drafting, legal risk management, international law, legal compliances and advisory, contracts and project negotiations, IP portfolio analysis and licensing, bio-prospecting, TK and biodiversity, and biotech research regulatory norms. As a techno-legal expert and solicitor, he is also facilitating the transfer of agricultural technologies and IPR commercialization. He has several publications, including book chapters.
Head-Regional Information – WCA
Senior Manager – Visitor Services and Protocol Management
Manager – Business Development and Partnerships
Manager – Grants & Contracts
Manager – Genebank Quality Manager
Manager – Germplasm Conservation
Resident Medical Doctor – Field Medical Unit
Manager – Treasury & Operations
Manager – MIS & Accounts
Manager – Projects & Grants
Director General
Deputy Director General – Research
Regional Director – Asia
Consultant
Regional Director and Country Representative Mali
West & Central Africa
Regional Director and Country Representative Kenya
Eastern & Southern Africa
Research Program Director – Resilient Farm and Food Systems
Research Program Director – Accelerated Crop Improvement
Country Representative – Niger
Principal Scientist
Country Representative – Nigeria
Principal Scientist
Cluster Leader – Landscapes, Soil Fertility and Water Management
Senior Scientist
Senior Scientist – Groundnut Breeding West & Central Africa Program
Senior Scientist – Project Management
Senior Scientist – Agricultural Economics
Senior Scientist-Sorghum Breeding
Cluster Leader – Gender and Youth
Senior Scientist
Senior Scientist – Regional Genebank
Scientist – Pigeonpea Breeding
Scientist
Product Placement Lead
Scientist – Agronomy & Agro Climatology
Country Representative – Mozambique
Cluster Leader – Seed Systems
Principal Scientist
Country Representative – Zimbabwe
Cluster Leader – Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
Senior Scientist
Product Placement Lead
Cluster Leader – Precision Phenotyping for biotic, abiotic stresses & nutrition
Senior Scientist
Product Placement Lead
Scientist – Seed systems specialist – HOPE ll and TL llI
Cluster Leader – Rapid Generation Advancement
Principal Scientist
Cluster Leader – Precision Phenotyping
Principal Scientist
Cluster Leader – ICRISAT Development Center
Principal Scientist
Cluster Leader – Crop Protection & Seed Health
Principal Scientist
Cluster Leader – Crop Breeding
Principal Scientist – Groundnut Breeding
Principal Scientist – Product Placement Lead
Cluster Leader – Crop Improvement Operations Team (CIOT)
Senior Scientist
Principal Scientist
Senior Scientist (Chickpea Breeding)
Principal Scientist – Microbiology
Cluster Leader – Science Quality & Strategy
Principal Scientist – Groundnut Pathology
Scientist- Entmology
Senior Scientist (Agronomy)
Senior Scientist (Soil Physics)
Senior Scientist-Natural Resource Management
Senior Scientist-Natural Resource Management
Scientist-Wastewater Management
Scientist – Hydrology
Manager – Watersheds
Cluster Leader – Genomics, pre-breeding & Bioinformatics
Principal Scientist
Senior Scientist – Chickpea Genomics Genomics & Trait Discovery
Senior Scientist – Groundnut Genomics
Special Project Scientist
Senior Scientist-Genomics and Molecular Breeding
Senior Scientist-Genomics and Molecular Breeding
Scientist – MLE Specialist
Cluster Leader – Sequencing and Genomics Services
Senior Manager
Manager-Computational Biology
Principal Scientist – Enabling Systems Transformation
Cluster Leader – Digital Agriculture
Head
Cluster Leader – Geospatial and Big Data Sciences
Principal Scientist
Country Representative – Ethiopia
Principal Scientist
Senior Scientist
Senior Scientist – Economics
Senior Scientist, Agricultural Economics
Cluster Leader – Knowledge and Capacity Development
Senior Scientist – Gender Research
Senior Scientist – Social Scientist
Cluster Leader – Technology Adoption and Impact Analysis
Senior Scientist
Cluster Leader – Crop Physiology and Modelling
Senior Scientist
Scientist
Manager – GIS, RS/GIS Lab
Head – (Chief Operating Officer – NutriPlus Knowledge)
Cluster Leader – Agri Business Innovation Platform
Head – (Chief Executive Officer)
Senior Scientist (Genetic Resources)
Cluster Leader – Data Management and Analytical Support
Principal Scientist
Director – Business Development
Senior Scientist – Nutrition
In – Business Researcher (Secondment)
Senior Manager – Digital Agriculture (M&E and Tools)
Principal Scientist – Soil and Water Conservation
Manager – CRAL
