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Tadesse Terefe Zeleke
Research Project Coordinator - Climate Change and Water Resources Management
Tadesse Terefe ZELEKE is an Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science and Meteorology with expertise in climate modeling, weather prediction, and climate risk assessment. He completed his PhD as a sandwich student under Prof. Filipo Giorgi at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy, focusing on climate hazards and modeling, their causes, and their impacts on different economic…
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Javier Mauricio Martín López
Senior Research Associate
Javier, an agricultural engineer from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, holds a master's degree in Geoinformatics and spatial data science from the University of Münster, Germany. Currently working as senior research associate in the Multifunctional Landscapes Research Area, he specializes in using Digital Soil Mapping (DSM), artificial intelligence, geostatistics, GIS, data visualization, and spatial data science techniques. His expertise lies…
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An Maria Omer Notenbaert
Team Lead, Africa Tropical Forages Program
An Maria Omer Notenbaert is trained as an agricultural engineer with a specialisation in land use planning and a minor in soil science. An started her career in 1995 as a GIS analyst but moved, during her 25+ years of experience in Africa, gradually from spatial analysis towards multi-disciplinary system analysis. In the process, she has built up a deep understanding of the variety of crop and livestock production systems in Africa. She has a…
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Janelle Sylvester
Research Specialist
Janelle Sylvester is a Research Specialist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. Her work focuses on land systems, forest and landscape restoration, biodiversity conservation, and low emission food systems in tropical agricultural landscapes. She brings more than ten years of academic, field, and applied research experience across the tropics, with a particular focus on Latin America.
Her research asks how land degradation and deforestation emerge from wider…
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Martin Alejandro Cepeda Aguilar
Research Associate
Martin Alejandro Cepeda Aguilar is a research associate at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, a position he has held since 2022. He is an agronomic engineer with a master’s degree in Agricultural Sciences, specializing in soil and water research from the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia.
He currently works on research and development projects focused on carbon sequestration in commercial farms in the Colombian Altillanura…
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Carmen Adriana Bolaños
Research Associate
Carmen Adriana is an agronomist and Research Associate at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, based in Palmira, Colombia. She has expertise in the molecular and serological diagnosis of viral pathogens affecting cassava and rice crops. Currently, she coordinates agronomic management and field crossing activities within the cassava genetics team. In addition, she performs molecular biology evaluations, including high-throughput genotyping and flow cytometry…
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Sergio Villamil Sánchez
Analyst - Private Sector Engagement in the Partnerships & Communications team
Sergio Villamil Sánchez holds a bachelor's degree in Government and International Affairs from Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogotá, with a focus on international development cooperation. His work centers on designing cross-border solutions to global challenges through sustainable project management, policy analysis, and strategic partnership building that drives meaningful collaboration and…
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Helena Fogt
Knowledge Management and Project Support Officer
Helena Fogt is Knowledge Management and Project Support Officer for the Accelerate for Impact Platform (A4IP) at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, based in Rome. In this role, she supports the internal organization, coherence, and strategic use of A4IP-generated data, helping transform collected information into accessible insights and knowledge products. She also contributes to project support, research, external communications, and…
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Tewodros Mesfin Abebe
Research Project Coordinator
Tewodros Mesfin Abebe, PhD, is a Systems Agronomist with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His work connects agronomic science, crop and farming systems modelling, data mining, machine learning–based analytics, predictive modelling, digital advisory innovation, stakeholder engagement, and field implementation to support more productive, resilient, and inclusive farming systems in Ethiopia.
Tewodros has more than…
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Sebastian Escobar Parra
Cacao Quality Lab Associate Team Leader
Sebastian Escobar Parra is a fermentation scientist and chocolate R&D specialist with over 16 years of international experience in cacao fermentation, bioprocess development and scaling-up engineering, post-harvest innovation, and analytical flavour science. He has a proven track record of leading million-dollar innovation projects across Latin America and Europe, from concept and lab/pilot-scale bioreactors to industrial applications. He is an…
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Rima Hijazi
Consultant
Rima Hijazi is an Agricultural Engineer and agri-food specialist with extensive experience in SME development, startup incubation, and ecosystem building across Lebanon and the MENA region. She has supported the design and implementation of accelerator strategies, led deal flow and market validation processes, and provided hands-on advisory to agri-food startups to strengthen their operational and financial sustainability.
During her 4 years as Agri-Food Specialist at Berytech,…
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Fredy Monserrate
Postdoctoral Fellow
Fredy is an agronomist and soil health expert with interdisciplinary experience in research-for-development initiatives focused on sustainable and regenerative agriculture. His work integrates soil fertility, integrated nutrient management, agrohydrology, GIS, and data-driven approaches to support evidence-based decision-making in agricultural systems. He has extensive experience co-designing decision support systems (DSS) for soil and water management, linking scientific…
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Nduwimana Innocent
Research Associate
Innocent Nduwimana is an agronomist coordinating the Burundi activities for the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. He is an expert in the management of pests and diseases, as well as seed systems for vegetatively propagated crops. He received training in agronomic sciences, including plant and animal production, ecology and land use, socio-economics, and food technologies, at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Burundi with an MSc in…
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Sonia Gallego Castillo
Senior Research Associate, Agrobiodiversity
Chemical Engineer from Universidad del Valle and M.Sc. in Food Engineering, she currently serves as Senior Research Associate at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, where she coordinates the Nutritional Quality Laboratory (NQL) and the Food Processing Laboratory (FoodLab).
She has extensive experience leading research, innovation, and development projects focused on value addition to legumes, cereals, roots, and tubers. Her…
article
There is a science to milking
Anny I. Yedra Cubillos
Thousands of farmers get up early every day to collect the milk that is their main source of sustenance and food for their families. Many of them do it the same way for years, using the technique their parents taught them, which has always worked for them. The level of sophistication of these techniques varies greatly from one farm to another, and so does the…
