Gajaraj Dhanarajan

Prof. Dhanarajan holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Aston in Birmingham, United Kingdom, a M.Sc. in Applied Entomology from the University of London, and a M.Sc. in Zoology and a B.Sc. in Biology from Madras Christian College. Prof. Dhanarajan has been involved in distance education and open learning for over 25 years. Dr. Dhanarajan is a visiting chair of the Open University United Kingdom. He has also been the President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning, Secretary General of the Asian Association of Open Universities, a member of the Executive Board of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE), educational advisor to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, director of the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong, and has served on several international consultancy bodies.

Mort Neufville

Dr. Neufville earned his Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Florida. He has held various academic and administrative positions with the University of Maryland Eastern Shores and for eight years was project manager for the Cameroon Root and Tuber Food Crops Research Project. Dr. Neufville also held academic positions at Lincoln University, Missouri and Prairie View A&M University, Texas. He also serves as the board chair of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

Rudy Rabbinge

Dr. Rabbinge earned degrees in Phytopathology, Entomology, Theoretical Production Ecology, and Philosophy of Science at the Agricultural University, The Netherlands. He has participated in various missions and has led agricultural development projects in various developing countries. Dr. Rabbinge is both Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Royal Institute of the Tropics in the Netherlands and the Biological Council of the Royal Academy of Science. He is also a member and Vice President of the Executive Board of the International Soil Fertility Development Centre, (Alabama, USA) and the Co- Chairman of the InterAcademy Council Panel on Food Security for Africa.

Christopher Barrett

Dr. Barrett is the Co-Director of the African Food Security and Natural Resources Management Program, Cornell University. He teaches graduate courses on the microeconomics of international development, rural livelihoods and biological resources, econometrics, and contemporary controversies in the global economy. He is affiliated with various university centers and institutes, including Cornell Institute for International Food, Agriculture, and Development; Institute for African Development, Poverty, Inequality and Development Initiative; and the Program in International Nutrition.

Ulrich Koester

Dr. Koester received his doctoral degree from the University of Göttingen. At the University of Kiel, he teaches various courses in agricultural market analysis, agricultural market policy, and international trade. Before he joined the faculty in Kiel, Prof. Koester was a post-doctorate fellow at the Economics Department of the University of California- Berkeley and held visiting professorships at the Technical University of Berlin, State University of New York, Buffalo, and the Institute for Development Studies, Kenya. For 10 years Prof. Koester was a visiting research fellow for 3-5 months annually at IFPRI. He has undertaken research in agricultural policy reforms and regional market integration in Southern and Eastern African countries.

C. Ramasamy

Dr. Ramasamy undertook his Ph.D. course work at the University of Minnesota and received his doctoral degree from TNAU. For the past 25 years, he has taught at TNAU. He also headed its College of Agriculture. His specializations are agricultural economics/ development economics; technology and agricultural development; agricultural markets, prices, and international trade; natural resource economics; and agricultural research investment and impact evaluation. He has also been a member of 1) India's Planning Commission, 2) the governing body of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, and 3) the National Assessment and Accreditation Board of ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research). He was a visiting researcher at IFPRI, IRRI, and ICRISAT.

Mandivamba Rukuni

Dr. Rukuni is a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe (Ph.D.) and the University of Reading (M.Sc.). He has largely led an academic career in association with Michigan State University and the University of Pretoria and has been the Dean of Agriculture at the University of Zimbabwe. For 20 years, he was a professor of agricultural economics and taught many agricultural development courses. Currently, he sits on the Boards of IFPRI and CIAT.

Peter Gregory

Dr. Gregory was the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for research and enterprise activities at the University of Reading for almost six years. During 2004, he held a Leverhulme Study Abroad Fellowship, which allowed him to work at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). At CSIRO, he wrote a book on root/soil interactions. Professor Gregory is Chair of Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) and a member of the Governing Body of the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham in Soil Science. He was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Biology in 1994 and as a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 2004. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Debrecen University, Hungary in 1999 and is a Visiting Professor at both the University of Reading and the University of Abertay, Dundee, and an Honorary Professor of the University of Dundee.

Jim Jones

Dr. Jones has been teaching at the university level since 1981. He specializes in mathematical modeling of plant growth and environmental interactions (with soil and atmosphere), in analysis of agricultural systems for research and decision support applications, and in computer control of plant growth systems, including greenhouses and research growth systems.

Augustine Uzo Mokwunye

Dr. Mokwunye was a Professor and Head of the Department of Soil Science at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. From 1996-2004, Dr. Mokwunye served as the Director of the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa. He also served for 16 years as a staff member at the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and during this time, served for 7 years as the Director of IFDC-Africa. He also served as the Chair of the Governing Board of ICRISAT and the Chair of the CGIAR Committee of Center Board Chairs. He received his Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science at Ohio State University and his doctoral degree at the University of Illinois.

Panjab Singh

Dr. Singh received his Ph.D. in agronomy from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur and the University of California. Before joining Banaras Hindu University, he was the Director of the School of Agriculture at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (distance education). He taught agronomy in the late 1960s and currently serves as the Vice President of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences.