Patrick Caron

Patrick Caron is a member of the Alliance Board of Trustees. He has a deep understanding of the interface between science and policy, and leadership experience in steering, negotiating and forging alliances across groups with diverging views and perspectives. Researcher at CIRAD, a French public institution active in agricultural research in over 100 countries, where he spent much of his career, he is currently Director of MAK’IT, the Montpellier Institute for Advanced Knowledge, and President of Agropolis International, a community with 42 member institutions.

He was Director General for Research and Strategy at Cirad from 2010 to 2016, served two terms (2015-2019) as Chair of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, the science-policy interface of the UN Committee on World Food Security, and was Vice President for International Affairs at the University of Montpellier from 2019 to 2023. He holds a PhD in Geography, a master’s in food and nutrition, a master’s in public health and a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. He is also a certified mediator.