BARBARA SZONYI joined ILRI on 17 June 2013 as a Post-doctoral Scientist – Veterinary Epidemiologist in the Food Safety and Zoonoses Program (based in Addis Ababa). Barbara holds a PhD specialized in Diagnostic Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases and Ecology, and also has Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University Ithaca, NY, USA.

Before joining ILRI she worked as Postdoctoral Research Associate in Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University College Station, Texas, USA. She is from Hungary.

KEITH CHILD joined the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish as a Principal Scientist, Impact Assessment and Learning on 1 June, 2013. Keith’s career includes over 10 years of experience working on development issues relevant to post-conflict states in both Africa and Central Asia. Keith received his PhD in Comparative Politics from Queen’s University in 2003 with a combined specialization in International Relations and Comparative Development. He has been a Professor of political science at several Canadian universities and has worked for a short time as a security analyst for the Government of Canada. Most recently he was Director of Evaluation, Research and Learning at Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan. Keith is Canadian.

MONDAY AHONSI joined the BecA-ILRI Hub as the Program Coordinator for the Swedish funded “Climate-smart Brachiaria grasses for improving livestock production in East Africa” program on 1 June, 2013. Prior to joining the BecA-ILRI Hub, Ahonsi worked as a postdoctoral Plant Pathologist in Switzerland, Japan, and the United States. He holds an MSc and PhD in Crop Protection from Ahmadu Bello University Nigeria, BSc (Hons) in Botany from the University of Benin.  He is completing an MSc in Seed Technology and Business from Iowa State University. Dr. Ahonsi was a research fellow at the Africa Rice-African Development Bank and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, where he worked as Consultant Research Scientist. He has lectured in Plant Pathology and Bacteriology of Agriculture at the University of Abeokuta, Nigeria. Monday is Nigerian.

SITA GHIMIRE joined BecA-ILRI Hub as Senior Scientist (Plant Pathology) for the Swedish funded “Climate-smart Brachiaria grasses for improving livestock production in East Africa” program on 5 June 2013. He has more than 20 years’ experience in applied agricultural research. As a plant pathologist at the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Sita was responsible for conducting need based agricultural research to generate technologies for subsistence and semi-commercial farmers of western Nepal, implementing outreach research activities and training farmers and extension officials on contemporary crop protection technologies. Over the past six years, his research has focused on the exploration and use of plant associated beneficial microbes (endophytic fungi and bacteria) to enhance productivity, drought tolerance, disease resistance and other fitness characteristics in staple food crops and bioenergy crops. Dr Ghimire holds a BSc in Agricultural Sciences from the Tribhuvan University, Nepal; a MSc in Applied Plant Sciences from the University of London, United Kingdom; and a PhD in Mycology from the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Sita is from Nepal.

APPOLINAIRE DJIKENG was appointed BecA-ILRI Hub Director (Nairobi) effective 12 June 2013. Appolinaire  worked in ILRI/BecA-ILRI Hub from September 2009 as Senior Scientist and Technology Manager. Since joining the BecA-ILRI Hub and before his appointment (in December 2012) to the Director’s position, Appolinaire led various teams focusing on 1) the acquisition of high end biosciences technologies and management of the laboratory facilities, 2) the provision of research related services to scientists from across the region, and 3) integrated research and capacity building activities. Prior to joining the BecA-ILRI Hub, Appolinaire spent over 15 years of active research in Africa and in the USA at academic institutions (University of Yaoundé I – Cameroon; Yale University School of Medicine – USA) and in not for profit research institutions (the Institute for Genome Research – TIGR; the J Craig Venter Institute – JCVI, USA). Over the years, his research interests have focused on the regulation of gene expression, genomics (structural, functional and comparative), metagenomics and technology development aiming at a) understanding and developing better control tools for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and b) contributing to agricultural productivity in Africa. Appolinaire  has a BSC (Hons) and MSC from the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon and has a PhD in Biochemistry from Brunel University (London, UK). He  has designed and led various research and capacity building programs, published extensively in peer reviewed international journals, mentored numerous students (from Africa, Europe, South America and the USA) and taught at universities and conducted training workshops at various institutions in Africa and in the USA. Appolinaire is from Cameroon.

EDWARD OKOTH was appointed Epidemiologist (ASF Coordinator) and Institutional Veterinarian on 17 June 2013. He has worked at ILRI for more than 10 years and has a wide experience in field and laboratory research, team management, veterinary skills, and ASF epidemiology. Previously, Edward was involved in a study for the evaluation of African swine fever virus (ASFV) prevalence in domestic and wild pigs and characterization of virus genotypes in ASFV sylvatic and domestic transmission cycles.  These analyses were interfaced with in-depth characterization of different pig production systems in Kenya. He has been involved in interaction, with development partners, including the FAO-ECTAD regional unit for Eastern Africa and the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) in integrating research outputs into Africa-based initiatives for development and implementation of strategies for the control of African swine fever and other Trans-boundary Animal Diseases. He holds a Bachelors of Veterinary Medicine degree,  a Master’s degree in Veterinary Epidemiology and Animal Health Economics and a PhD in Veterinary Epidemiology, from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.Edward is Kenyan.

GERARDINE MUKESHIMANA joined the BecA-ILRI Hub as a post-doctoral scientist, Plant molecular biology on 15 July 2013. Gerardine will use molecular biology and bioinformatics tools to study mechanisms of plant virus silencing suppression mediated manipulation of common bean- aphid interaction. The goal of the research is to develop tools that will be used to control the spread of aphid-transmitted virus diseases in common bean.  Her previous experience is from academia, rural development, and international agricultural development. She holds both PhD and MSc in plant breeding, genetics, and biotechnology from Michigan State University, and an Agriculture engineering degree from the National University of Rwanda. Gerardine is Rwandese.

ANNET ABENAKYO MULEMA joined ILRI on 01 August, 2013 as Social Scientist -Gender in Livelihoods, Gender, Impact and Innovation team in Addis Ababa. Annet has a PhD in Sociology and Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA, MSc in Management of Agro-ecological Knowledge and Socio-technical Change from Wageningen University, The Netherlands and BSc in Agriculture from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Before joining ILRI she worked as Consultant in Practical Action, Nairobi, Kenya. Annet is from Uganda.

SIGNE NELGEN joined the Policy, Trade and Value Chains program as a Post-Doctoral Scientist in Agricultural Policy Modeling on 15 August 2013. She will work with a multi-disciplinary team of experts contributing to the foresight and strategic scenarios component of the CGIAR research program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM). Dr. Nelgen holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Adelaide, Australia, an MSc (Economics) from the University of Hamburg and an undergraduate degree (Economics) from the University of Mainz. She has worked as a consultant on World Bank projects on monitoring and evaluation of distortions in agricultural markets, and on food security. Signe is from Germany.

LANCE ROBINSON has been appointed as Scientist, Governance and Resilience, effective 1 September 2013. Prior to this appointment, he was a postdoctoral Scientist in the LSE program. Lance specializes in environmental governance, social-ecological resilience, and the connections between the two.  His PhD research among Kenyan pastoralists focused on the connection between social-ecological resilience and the approaches to participation used by formal sector agencies working with pastoralists.  Since completing his PhD, his research work has centered around participatory and community-based approaches to environmental governance, and drought resilience in dryland agricultural systems.  He also has over ten years experience working with NGOs and as a consultant in Latin America, Africa and Asia.  Lance is Canadian.

FLORENCE MUTUA has joined ILRI as a Post-Doctoral Scientist within the Food Safety and Zoonoses, Integrated Sciences, effective 1st  September. Florence holds a PhD and MSc in Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics from the University of Nairobi. She also holds a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Nairobi. Florence previously worked as a consultant Field Trials Manager at Vestergaard Frandsen (EA) LTD.  Florence is Kenyan.

DIANA BRANDES was appointed as capacity development specialist at ILRI within the the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish effective 1 September, 2013. She has a decade of experience with the corporate private sector and will bring a wide range of management and implementation expertise on sustainable development and public private partnerships (PPP) to the program.
For the past five years, she worked as regional capacity development and program specialist for public private partnerships at the United Nations Development Program Bureau for Development Policy in Bangkok. She managed the global UNDP/PPP (trust fund) and provided advice and technical backstopping to UNDP country offices on multi-actor, multi-sectoral approaches to sustainable development. Before that, she worked for VSO in Lithuania, Cameroon and Nepal, and SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation) in Nepal on Institutional Development/Organizational Strengthening. She holds an MSc degree in Sustainable Development from the University of London as well as marketing and management qualifications from Tilburg University and the Hogeschool Utrecht. Diana is Dutch.

HENRY KIARA was appointed Scientist, Animal Health Assessment in the Animal Science for Sustainability Productivity department on 1 September, 2013. He has worked at ILRI for 12 years and is a professional in veterinary medicine and epidemiology with specific training in project management and supervisory skills. He has worked in agricultural research for about 20 years; first at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. He has also worked as a tutorial fellow at the University of Nairobi, faculty of veterinary medicine and as a veterinary investigation officer with the Ministry of Livestock Development, government of Kenya. He holds a PhD in Applied Entomology from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt, Nigeria, a Master of Science in Tropical Veterinary Science from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK and a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Nairobi. Henry is a Kenyan.

NILS TEUFEL, Scientist, Impact Assessment M&E, Livelihoods, Gender moved to Nairobi from New Delhi,India. He will now be with the Livelihoods, gender, Impact and Innovations team under Integrated Sciences. He will be focus on contributing to Impact assessment and M&E across ILRI’s research activities within the CGIAR research programs with particular attention to Humid tropics and Livestock and Fish.