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MEET THE SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Harnessing science to transform food systems
The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) comprises eminent scientists from around the world, dedicated to addressing systemic challenges that exist in transformation pathways through credible, evidence-based and science-driven solutions.
The thematic area of “Effective Governance of Food Systems Transformation” is led by Co-Chair Dr. Shenggen Fan. This area aims to strengthen governance mechanisms across the entire spectrum of food systems, focusing on utilizing data and evidence to achieve targets outlined in national food systems transformation pathways. Emphasis is placed on inclusivity and leaving no one behind, while identifying gaps and solutions for enhanced intergovernmental cooperation, as well as collaboration with other sectors.
This will be achieved through the analysis of challenges and opportunities in global trends and national and sub-national pathways, supported by sound science, technology, and innovation (ST&I) data and evidence in food systems transformation.
The thematic area of “Planetary Boundaries in Food Systems Transformation” is led by Co-Chair Prof. Jean Francois Soussana. This area centers on sharing knowledge, assessing policy gaps, and providing a landscape of recommendations to enhance the resilience, adaptation, and mitigation potential of food systems, while integrating biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. The work conducted in this area will provide thought leadership on how to use ST&I to make food systems more sustainable.
The thematic area of “Equity and Justice in Food Systems Transformation” is led by Co-Chair Dr. Hilal Elver. This area focuses on addressing equity and justice in food systems policies and decision-making. The work carried out by this group will provide measures to rectify gender inequality, promote social inclusion, and engage various actors within food systems. A systemic analysis will be carried out to identify opportunities and solutions for integrating ST&I into critical areas such as healthy diets, food security, nutrition, and the right to food.
The thematic area of “Metrics, Data, and Evidence for Food Systems Transformation,” is led by Co-Chair Prof. Barbara Burlingame. This area focuses on identifying tools and techniques that address interdependencies and trade-offs in food systems. Outcomes across diverse social groups and regions will be highlighted. Moreover, interactions with relevant rights holders and stakeholders will be carried out to support the implementation of science-based policies and actions. Transition costs and means of implementation will be analyzed, utilizing suitable metrics, to evaluate progress and explore alternatives to support and strengthen the integration of ST&I in food systems transformation at scale.
Members
PROFESSOR OLANIKE ADEYEMO
Professor Olanike Adeyemo is a COMSTECH Distinguished scholar and represents sub-Saharan Africa on the 6th Steering Committee of the World Food Security’s High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition (2021-date). She is the Pioneer Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships), University of Ibadan, Ibadan (2017-2021). Her research is in “One Health”, an innovative and transdisciplinary research approach that cuts across traditional boundaries and paradigms to create novel, conceptual, methodological, and translational innovation at the environment-livestock-wildlife-human interface with significant policy implication for Nigeria, the African Continent, and the rest of the world. She has a patent, copyrights and 135 publications. Among other preferments, Professor Adeyemo is an expert on the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on food additives, contaminants, natural toxins, and residues of Veterinary drugs (2011-2026) and a Council member of International Professional Recognition Committee (IPRC) for Research Management, South Africa. In 2022, She was invited by the British Council to join the Steering Committee of the Going Global Partners’ Group as an International representative. Professor Olanike Adeyemo is an elected Fellow of Nigerian Academy of Science, African Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences and International Science Council.
PROFESSOR KAOSAR AFSANA
Professor Kaosar Afsana has over 30 years of experience in public health and nutrition embracing research, implementation, management and policy-influencing. She was the Director of BRAC Health, Nutrition and Population Programme of BRAC (largest NGO in the world) where she conceived and led breakthrough interventions in RMNCH and nutrition. Having rich background in implementation and research on varied issues, she broadened her scope of work and capacity to expand innovative interventions in both development and humanitarian sectors. At present, her implementation experience mingled with research focuses on public health and nutrition, early child development, health systems and humanitarian crisis. Her knowledge and experience in research, implementation and policy advocacy in fact have positioned her in many international and local agencies including the government of Bangladesh to influence science-policy interfacing at country and global levels in diverse fields of health and nutrition. Prof Afsana has authored books and widely published journal papers and book chapters. She has been awarded with many prestigious awards for her academic and professional excellence.
DR. MOHAMED AIT KADI
Dr. Mohamed AIT KADI is presently Resident Member of Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technology. He was President of the General Council of Agricultural Development, a high level policy Think Tank of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Forestry in Morocco. He was the Chief Agricultural Negotiator of the free trade agreement between Morocco and the United States. He chairs the Scientific Committee of the Adaptation of Africa’s Agriculture Initiative. He has been a member of the Board of the Central Bank of Morocco, the CGIAR Consortium Board and IFPRI’s Board. Presently he is member of the International Advisory Council of the Bioeconomy Summit. He has served in many high level international assignments. He has earned his engineering and doctorate degrees of “Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire HassanII”, Rabat, Morocco, “Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural des Eaux et Forêts”, Paris, France and Utah State University, USA.
PROFESSOR BARBARA BURLINGAME
Professor Barbara Burlingame is co-chair of the Sustainable Diets Task Force of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS), member of the HLPE Steering Committee of CFS, and Professor of nutrition and food systems, and the ex-Chief of nutrition at FAO. She has a PhD from Massey University and undergraduate degrees from University of California, Davis (nutrition science and environmental toxicology). Since 2016, she has been Professor on nutrition and food systems at Massey University, where her current role is adjunct professor at Massey Riddet Institute. From 1998 - 2014 she worked at the FAO, first as Senior Nutrition Officer and then as Chief/ Deputy Director of Nutrition. Before joining FAO, Dr Burlingame spent 12 years as Nutrition Programme Leader at the New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research and Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Throughout her career, she has been a member of many scientific advisory boards and international committees; author of many scientific papers and UN publications, book chapters and reference books; and editor of several food and nutrition journals, including 13 years as Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, and currently as Specialty Chief Editor at Frontiers. Her expertise includes food composition, nutrient requirements, dietary assessment, integrated/sustainable food systems, biodiversity for food and nutrition, indigenous peoples' food systems, and sustainable diets, and provision of scientific/policy advice on food security and nutrition. She is also a Fellow of the IUNS.
PROFESSOR JENNIFER CLAPP
DR. HILAL ELVER
Dr. Hilal Elver is a professor of international human rights law and international environmental law, and the co-director of the Climate Change, Democracy and Human Security project at the University of California Santa Barbara. From May 2014 to May 2020, Elver served as the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, responsible for carrying out the right to food mandate as prescribed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. She is currently serving as an appointed member of the Steering Committee of the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the World Committee of Food Security (CFS) and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Hub. She maintains several affiliations with academic institutions worldwide. Select reports, articles, op-eds, and interviews are featured on her website: hilalelver.org.
DR. SHENGGEN FAN
Dr. Shenggen Fan is currently Chair Professor and Dean of Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy (AGFEP) at China Agricultural University (CAU). Prior to joining CAU, Dr. Fan served as Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from 2009 to 2019. He was a member, vice chair and chair of food and nutrition council of the World Economic Forum from 2010 to 2018. He is currently a member of the CGIAR System Board and Vice Chairs of the Board of Trustee of the International Rice Research Institute and International Food Policy Research Institute. He is a Fellow of Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA), and an Honorary Life Member, International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE). Dr. Fan received a PhD in applied economics from the University of Minnesota and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Nanjing Agricultural University in China.
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PROFESSOR MOHAMED HASSAN
Mohamed Hag Ali Hassan is currently President of the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences (SNAS) and Chairman of the Governing Council of the United Nations Technology Bank, Turkey. He was Dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Khartoum; Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Centre for International Development (ZEF), Germany; President of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP); founding Executive Director of TWAS; President of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS); founding President of the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC); Chairman of the Council of the United Nations University (UNU); and Chairman of the Honorary Presidential Advisory Council for Science and Technology, Nigeria. He was vice- chair of the scientific group of the UN Food Systems Summit. Among his honours: Comendator, Grand Cross, and National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil; and Officer, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He is a member of 12 merit-based academies of science, which include, TWAS, AAS, the academy of Sciences of South Africa; the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
DR SJOUKJE HEIMOVAARA
Dr Sjoukje Heimovaara is since 1 July 2022 President of the Executive Board of Wageningen University & Research (WUR). She studied Plant Breeding at WUR and obtained her PhD at Leiden University. She subsequently worked at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and the international plant breeding company Royal Van Zanten, as Research & Development Director and thereafter as CEO. From 2020 until 30 June 2022, Heimovaara was Director of the Agrotechnology and Food Sciences Group at WUR. Sjoukje Heimovaara has cross-sector experience in government, contract research, fundamental research, higher education, as well as in the corporate world. Sjoukje Heimovaara is a council member and deputy chair of the Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (AWTI), which advises the Dutch government and parliament on policy concerning science, technology, and innovation. She is also a SDG 12.3 Champion, and member of the Supervisory Board of the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology.
PROFESSOR RATTAN LAL
Professor Rattan Lal, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration at The Ohio State University. He received B.Sc. from PAU, Ludhiana (1963); M.Sc. from IARI, New Delhi (1965); and Ph.D. from OSU, Columbus, Ohio (1968). He was Sr. Research Fellow at University of Sydney (1968-69), soil Physicist at IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria (1970-87), and Professor of Soil Science at OSU (1987 to date). He has authored/co-authored over 1000 refereed journal articles and 550 book chapters, and written and edited/co-edited 100 books. He received an Honoris Causa degree from 9 universities throughout Europe, USA, South America, and Asia; the Medal of Honor from UIMP, Santander, Spain (2018); the Distinguished Service Medal of the IUSS (2018); and is fellow of 5 professional societies. Dr. Lal has mentored 117 graduate students and 185visiting scholars. He was President of the WASWC(1987-1990), ISTRO (1988-1991), SSSA (2006-2008), and IUSS (2017-2018). He holds the Chair in Soil Science and is the Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainability Issues for IICA, and member of the 2021 U.N. Food System Summit Science Committee and Action Tracks 1 & 3. Dr. Lal is laureate of the GCHERA World Agriculture Prize (2018), Glinka World Soil Prize (2018), Japan Prize (2019), U.S. Awasthi IFFCO Prize (2019), Arrell Global Food Innovation Award (2020), World Food Prize (2020), India’s Padma Shri Award (2021).He is an honorary member of the Moldova Academy of Sciences (2022) , and a member of the Academia Europaea(2022).He received the Presidential Award of SSSA(2022), and the IPCC-Nobel Peace Prize Certificate (2007). The PAU, Ludhiana, named its Soil Science and Agronomy building as Rattan Lal Laboratories in 2020.
DR. LYNNETTE NEUFELD
Dr. Neufeld began her career in an academic position at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico where she led a variety of implementation research and impact evaluation studies to improve the impact potential of social protection programs in Mexico and the region. She then brought her passion for improving the generation and utilization of evidence in program design and delivery to non-governmental organizations, most recently the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, before joining FAO as Director of the Food and Nutrition Division in early 2022. Dr Neufeld is President of the International Union of Nutrition Scientists (IUNS), Past-Chair of the Micronutrient Forum Steering Committee, former Board member of the American Society of Nutrition, and has been member of several WHO and other technical advisory groups. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and holds a Master’s and PhD in International Nutrition from Cornell University.
PROFESSOR NITYA RAO SWAMINATHAN
Professor Nitya Rao is Professor, Gender and Development at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom and Director of the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development. She has worked extensively as a researcher and advocate in the field of women’s rights, gendered wellbeing, and justice, with a particular focus on food, nutrition, health and livelihood security. She has published extensively on the gendered changes in agrarian relations, migration and livelihoods, especially in contexts of climatic variability and economic precarity. She has consistently engaged with policy and practice, at both the global and local levels. Apart from supporting networks of women farmers in India, she served on the Global Advisory Committee of the United Nations Girls Education Initiative for over a decade. She is currently a member of the Steering Group of the High-Level Panel of Experts to the Committee on World Food Security, and Commissioner, EAT-Lancet 2.0 on healthy and sustainable diets.
DR. JEAN-FRANÇOIS SOUSSANA
Since April 2017, Dr. Jean-Francois Soussana is Vice-Chair for international of INRA, which became INRAE as of January 2020 (French National Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Food, www.inrae.fr), after being Scientific Director for Environment since 2010. He obtained his PhD in plant physiology at USTL Montpellier in 1986 after an engineer degree in agronomy. After becoming senior scientist at INRA, he became the director of a research lab on grassland ecosystems and global change until 2009. Since 1998, Dr. Soussana is member of the Working Group II of IPCC and was Lead Author for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessment Reports and of the Special Report on climate change and land. He contributes to scientific expertise for FAO (e.g. State of Food and Agriculture, 2016) and is a member of the Science Group of the UN Secretary General Food Systems Summit held in 2021. He coordinates national and European (EC FP5, FP7 and H2020) research projects on climate change, soils and agriculture. He co-chairs the Integrative Research Group of the Global Research Alliance on agricultural greenhouse gases and the Steering Council of AgMIP, an international modeling program on climate change impacts on agriculture. Dr. Soussana is member of the Climate High Level Council reporting to the French Prime Minister, member of the governing boards of the Joint Programing Initiative on agriculture, food security and climate change (FACCE JPI, 22 countries) and of the Mission Board of the EC on soil health and food. He is also a member of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the initiative ‘4 per 1000. Soils for Food Security and Climate’. Dr. Soussana was a highly cited researcher (Clarivate Analytics, 2018). He has published over 180 refereed research papers in international journals, cited close to 25,000 times (Google Scholar), as well as two books and a dozen of book chapters. He was awarded a shared Nobel Prize for Peace (2007) (with all Lead Authors of IPCC AR4), the French civil merit for Agriculture (knight 2009, commander 2017), the Légion d'Honneur (knight, 2020) and the gold medal of the French academy for agriculture (2011).
DR. SHAKUNTALA THILSTED
Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted is Director, Nutrition, Health and Food Security Impact Area Platform, CGIAR. She was awarded the 2021 World Food Prize for her ground-breaking research, critical insights, and landmark innovations in developing holistic, nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquatic food systems. She was awarded the 2021 Arrell Global Food Innovation Award for research innovation. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS). She was Vice Chair of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021: Action Track 4 - Advance Equitable Livelihoods, and also a Food Systems Champion. In 2022, Shakuntala was appointed co-chair of the EAT-Lancet 2.0 Commission. Shakuntala holds a PhD from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark. She holds Honorary Doctorates from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and The University of the West Indies.
PROFESSOR JOACHIM VON BRAUN
Professor Joachim von Braun is Distinguished Professor for Economic and Technological change at Bonn University, in the Center for Development Research (ZEF). His research is on economic development, science and technology policy, poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, agriculture, resource economics, climate, and trade. von Braun is President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican, and member of German National Academy of Science, the World Academy (TWAS), the African Academy of Sciences, and other academies. In 2020 and 2021 he served as Chair of the Scientific Group for the Food Systems Summit 2021 of the UN Secretary General. He is Vice President of the NGO WHH (Welthungerhilfe) and was director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) based in Washington DC. He published more than 250 peer reviewed publications.
PROFESSOR AMAN WIRAKARTAKUSUMAH
Professor Aman Wirakartakusumah, Rector of IPMI International Business School (2019-2027), Professor Emeritus of Food Science and Technology, IPB University, Fellow of Indonesian Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science & Technology (IAFoST), The Immediate Past President of IAFoST (2020-2022), and the President of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST for 2022-2024). Professor Wirakartakusumah was Rector of IPB University from 1998-2002, Ambassador of Indonesia to UNESCO-Paris (2004-2008), Represented the Ministry of Food Affairs Indonesia at FAO-WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission (1994-1998), and member of Scientific Group at UN Secretary General for UN Food System Summit 2020-2021.He has bridged the coonection with industry as scientific director at ILSI SEA and member Board of Trustee. Professor Wirakartakusumah obtained his degree from IPB University in 1972, his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Food Science/minor in Chemical Engineering from the UW-Madison, USA in 1977 and 1981, respectively.
Ex officio members
DR. MÁXIMO TORERO CULLEN
Dr. Máximo Torero Cullen is the Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He joined the Organization in January 2019 as Assistant Director-General for the Economic and Social Development Department. Prior to joining FAO, he had been Executive Director at the World Bank Group since November 2016 and, before the Bank, Dr. Torero led the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). More information on his research work and accademic background can be found here.
