Yasuyuki Morimoto

Yasuyuki Morimoto works for the Alliance Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) as a research scientist in ethnobiology and genetic diversity since 2004. He manages several international multi-disciplinary research projects in genetic diversity as well as in farmers’ knowledge and practices with a particular emphasis on underutilized crops in sub-Saharan Africa and research activities aimed at stimulating the use of local food resources in Africa to improve nutrition and livelihoods.
Currently the Principal Investigator of two Japanese government-supported research projects. Dr Morimoto is also responsible providing scientific supervision for post-graduate student research. Since 2004, more than 20 national and international graduate students (mainly Japan, Kenya and Ethiopia) have been involved in the research, with at least six at Ph.D. level.
Dr Morimoto was previously involved in several international research projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Japan and played a key role in the African Leafy Vegetable (ALV) project, the Dietary Diversity project, Satoyama resilience indicator development project and several indigenous knowledge and several community-based researches on underutilized African food crops.　
Prior to joining Bioversity International, from 1995 to 1998, Dr Morimoto worked at the herbarium department of the National Museums of Kenya, as a visiting scientist in Botany, with financial support of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).