Dr. Timothy J. Dalton serves as the Director of the Sorghum and Millet Innovation Lab. Professor Dalton received an A.B. from Columbia University in 1988, an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois in 1992 and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics in 1996 from Purdue University. Dr. Dalton’s research and development experience in sorghum and millet stretches back 20 years back to a M.S. thesis on dryland sorghum and millet farming systems in the Peanut Basin of Senegal followed by an award-winning doctoral dissertation on the ex-ante economic impact of improved sorghum varieties on soil degradation in Southern Mali (partially funded by INTOSORMIL). He is well versed in interdisciplinary research and specialized in understanding the relationship between agricultural production, technological changed and the environment. He has extensive professional experience in more than 20 African nations.

He has considerable experience with CGIAR research institutes, the Standing Panel on impact Assessment of the CGIAR, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, foundations, USAID and USDA. He is a member of the multistate research project “NC1034 Impact Assessment and Decision Strategies for Agricultural Research” and a member of the Council of Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics Blue Ribbon Panel on Development. In 2012 he led the USAID-commissioned external evaluation of the Peanut CRSP and the AquaFish CRSP. Dr. Dalton is fluent in French. 

Dr Vilas is an Seed Technology Expert and is currently the Director of Indian Institute of Millet Research. He has been awarded RV Swaminathan Gold medal for his Ph.D and JN TATA endowment award & GRDC fellowship for Post-Doctoral programme. He has been the consultant to FAO on seed system development. He was part of USDA Global ergot collection and characterization mission. He has been awarded the distinguished service award to seed industry by AP Seedsmen Association. He has been associated as an expert to Dept. of Science & Technology, Department of Biotechnology, and Indian Council of Agriculture Research. Dr. Vilas A. Tonapi has also served as Head, Division of Seed Science and Technology, IARI, New Delhi. His special attainments include Planning, development and management of crop improvement programmes and strategies. He has 50 research papers to his credit in peer reviewed journals, 30 authored and edited books.

Dr. Venkatesh Bhat is a Principal Scientist  in Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR) and is an expert in Genetics & Cytogenetics. His major contributions include

• Development of kharifgrain sorghum hybrid Jaicar Gold (CSH 41), forage sorghum variety JaicarHariyali (CSV 38F) and sweet sorghum variety CSV 24SS 
• QTL identification for fodder yield and quality traits 
• Quality seed production planning and execution in the Indian sorghum and millets seed supply chain. 

He received Best Scientist Awar for Scientific Excellence from IIMR, Hyderabad (2007, 2009 and 2017) and NAIP overseas training award in cutting-edge technologies in 2009

Dr Garg held several important positions as an Indian Administrative Service Officer : Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India; Commissioner – cum – Secretary, Government of Odisha and currently serving as Principal Secretary Government of Odisha. He received his education from pretegious institutions such as Indian Institute of Technology, NewDelhi, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad where he received Gold Medal for Academic Excellence and received his PhD in International Economics and Development from John Hopkins University. He also contributed research articles to books including Indian Infrastructure Vision:- Financing Challenges Some Intervention and experiences in improving service quality through Govt. Delivery systems Development projects and impoverishment Risks

Alain joined the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) as Food & Nature Science and Partnerships Director in 2018. He is also working for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). His interests include global food, environment and poverty issues. After a decade long researcher career initiated in 1986 in Morocco, and pursued with French Research Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Engineering. He worked with FAO as Director of European and International Affairs. In 2009, he was appointed the Director of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food. In 2014, he joined the CGIAR Consortium as the Director of Strategic Partnerships, under which capacity development and partnerships resided along with communications and resource mobilization. He has represented CGIAR in the preparation of COP21 and COP22, and engaged with private sector on climate-smart agriculture and food system transformation issues.

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.

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.

Dr Tobias Takavarasha, an independent Agriculture and Food Security Adviser, is a former United Nations Food and Agriculture (FAO) Representative for the Republic of South Africa from February 2013 to June 2016 and Acting FAO Representative in Kenya (18 November 2019 to 17 October 2020). Before this he worked as a Senior Agricultural Policy & Investment Officer at the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA) in South Africa seconded from the FAO to support the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) and agriculture and food security related programs in Africa. He also worked as Director for Strategy, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in Nairobi, Kenya (2008-2010) and is a former Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture in Zimbabwe (1996-2002), having joined the Ministry in 1980 rising through the ranks. He has worked extensively in Malawi and in the SADC region within the agricultural public and private sectors including as Chief Executive Officer of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN, 2002-2004) based in South Africa where he also served as Interim CEO in 2017-18 and currently serves as Strategic Advisor to the FANRPAN Board. Tobias is also on the Advisory Board of the Zimbabwe Investment & Development Agency (ZIDA) since May 2020. Tobias holds a PhD. in Agricultural Policy (University of Zimbabwe, 1996), a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Leeds and Birmingham Universities, 1977 and 1979 respectively.

Mr. Muriithi has over 25 years of professional experience in both private and public sector, most of which have been spent in the Agricultural Sector. He joined the Ministry of Agriculture in 1989 as an Assistant Agricultural Officer and rose through the ranks to become a Principal Agricultural Officer.

Among his notable achievements in the Agricultural Sector are producing the best national small scale farmer while working as the District Extension Research and Liaison and Training Officer in 2006 in Butere – Mumias Districts. He has authored and co- authored several scientific papers on diverse socio – economic issues and sustainable resource use, some of which have been published in refereed journals and proceedings of international conferences.

​Julie holds a Master degree in Biochemistry from University of Abidjan , and Engineering of Foods Science Diploma from ENSIA SIARC SUPAGRO Montpellier, France​

​Julie has vast experience (24years) in FMCG, encompassing technical expertise in diverse functions (Packaging, Production, Marketing, Quality & ISO certification, Foods Safety and R&D) in several global companies such as UNILEVER, BARRY CALLEBAUT & DANONE.

Dr Jemimah Njuki is a globally renowned Gender and Agriculture expert. For the last 18 years she has led and supported projects and carried out gender research, managed women’s economic empowerment programs in Africa and Asia, trained researchers, NGO staff and extension officers on gender equality. She has worked in numerous countries in Africa and Asia including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana, the Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, India, Bangladesh, Canada and the US.

Dr Njuki is the incoming Director for Africa at the International Food Policy Research Institute. Previously she led the Growth and Economic Opportunities (GrOW) program at Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Prior to that, she was Senior Program Specialist in the Agriculture and Food Security program at IDRC for 7 years driving IDRC’s agenda on agriculture, food security and gender equality in Africa. And between 2003 and 2009, she managed a multi-country program called Enabling Rural Innovation at the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture working with research and development partners in 9 countries – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo.

She is convener of the East Africa Gender and Livelihood Network and has been the chair of the Women in Agriculture Thematic Working Group of the African Green Revolution Forum for the last 6 years.

She sits on several committees. Currently she is deputy chair of the Advisory Committee of the African Women in Agriculture Research and Development (AWARD), a program empowering women scientists to develop their scientific and leadership skills. She serves as advisor on Women’s Economic Empowerment to the UN Women Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa. She is in the technical group supporting the development of a national measure for women’s empowerment to be included in agriculture surveys globally.
Dr Njuki has published widely on gender and agriculture. She is the founding and current Editor of the Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (www.agrigender.net) and has co-edited three books on gender and agriculture in the global south.

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.