Advisory Committee

Bernard Vanlauwe joined IITA in Kenya in March 2012 to lead the Central Africa hub and the Natural Resource Management research area. In this capacity, he is also having an oversight role in the Humidtropics, the Water, Land, and Ecosystems, and the CCAFS CGIAR Research Programs. Prior to this recent appointment, he was the leader of the Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) program of the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility research area of CIAT (TSBF-CIAT). He joined CIAT-TSBF in 2001 and led the development, adaptation, and dissemination of best ISFM options in various agro-ecological zones in sub-Saharan Africa. In September 2010, he obtained a Visiting Professor position at the Swedish Agricultural University in Uppsala in the Soils and Environment Department. Before, he worked at IITA in Nigeria (1991 – 2000) and the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium (1989-1991), focusing on unraveling the mechanisms underlying nutrient and soil organic matter dynamics in tropical agro-ecosystems. In that context, he obtained his PhD in 1996 in Applied Biological Sciences. He has published over 140 papers in scientific journals and over 160 in other forms and has (co-) supervised over 40 PhD and over 60 MSc students.

Ken Giller is Professor Plant Production Systems at Wageningen University, Department of Plant Sciences. He leads a group of scientists with profound experience in systems analysis and simulation modelling of scenarios of change. Ken’s research has focused on nitrogen in tropical legumes and he is author of the standard text “Nitrogen Fixation in Tropical Cropping Systems” that was published in second edition in 2001 by CAB International. Currently he is scientific leader of the interdisciplinary project "Competing Claims on Natural Resources: Overcoming Mismatches in Resource Use from a Multi-Scale Perspective (http://www.competingclaims.nl/)”, and he led the EU-funded project on "Exploring tradeoffs around farming livelihoods and the environment: the AfricaNUANCES framework (http://www.africanuances.nl/)" from 2004-2008. Ken was formerly Professor of Soil Science at the University of Zimbabwe (1998-2001). Prior to that he held a personal professorship at the University of London (Wye College). He has worked extensively in tropical regions of South and South-east Asia, Latin America and Africa, but his focus for the past 25 years has been on smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Ken has supervised some 68 PhD students, including > 30 from Africa. He has 5 books, more than 250 papers in peer-reviewed, international journals and over 70 book chapters.

Mariangela Hungria is an agronomist with a PhD in Soil Microbiology. She has worked since 1982 for Embrapa (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária - Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation), and has been located at the Center of Soybean, in Londrina, State of Paraná, sourthern Brazil, since 1991. Her main expertise is on soil microbiology and on the N2-fixing symbiosis with legumes, however, as at Embrapa Soja there are few microbiologists and a high a demand for both basic and applied research, she coordinates projects in the following subjects: biodiversity of diazotrophic bacteria; identification of bioindicators of soil quality; genomics an proteomics of bacteria with an emphasis on diazotrophic bacteria; applied technologies; strain selection and identification of plant molecular markers; ecology of indigenous and naturalized rhizobial populations aiming maximization of the N2 fixation process with the soybean and common bean crops in Brazil; biosafety of transgenic plants. Mariangela has more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, seven books, and more than 100 technical communications for extensionists, farmers, technicians, some of them with more than 7,000 copies distributed in the country. Her contribution has been recognized by promotion to the highest level of National Research Productivity “IA” in 2008, by the CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) and in 2008 has been nominated as a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Science. She is also a professor at the State University of Londrina (UEL), and has successfully supervised more than 50 MSc and PhD students. A detailed CV can be found at “http://lattes.cnpq.br/7355162785040506”.