HON. DR. ILDEPHONSE MUSAFIRI
Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources
Prof. Eugenie KAYITESI
University of Pretoria, South Africa Research Discipline(s): Agricultural sciences (Food chemistry & biochemistry, Bioprocessing)
Prof. Eugenie KAYITESI
University of Pretoria, South Africa Research Discipline(s): Agricultural sciences (Food chemistry & biochemistry, Bioprocessing)
Prof. Kayitesi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Consumer and Food Sciences; Faculty of natural and Agricultural sciences (University of Pretoria, South Africa). Prof. Kayitesi has published more than 70 peer-reviewed international journal articles and book chapters and presented her research findings in reputable international conferences. She undertakes fundamental and applied research relating to improved utilisation of indigenous, underutilized African plant foods with the goal of attaining nutrition and food security for all in Africa. Her work has highlighted the importance of using readily available and affordable food crops to create food products with improved nutritional, functional and sensory quality. Prof Kayitesi’s research contributes to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero hunger) and 3 (Good health and wellbeing), through contribution to diet diversity by developing unique products from underutilized food sources as well as the improvement of the nutritional composition and health promoting constituents of food. Key research findings from her team demonstrated how use of cereals and legumes to produce composite food products may be potential tool to address the obstinate problem of Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM). She leads a research team which consists of Postgraduate Students and Post-Doctoral Research Fellows. In this regard, Prof Kayitesi has successfully hosted 6 postdoctoral fellows and supervised 6 PhD students and 12 masters’ students to completion.
Prof. Kayitesi has earned several awards in recognition of her contributions to science, notably she was recently among seven (7) women scientists from the Global South that received the 2023 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award for their scientific research contribution to Food Security. Prof. Kayitesi was also awarded the 2022 Rwanda Women in Science Award (research category) by the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST-Rwanda) and the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (Rwanda). She serves as member of The World Academy of Science (TWAS) Advisory Committee on COVID-19 and is a Fellow of the Pan-African Scientific Research Council (PASRC). Prof. Kayitesi is a Guest Editor for Frontiers in Food Science and Technology (Special issue-Recent Advances and Future Prospects in Fermented Food Biotechnology). She currently serve as an advisory Board member for the Africa Organisation of Technology in Agriculture (AOTA). And a Board member for the Health Equity and rights organization (HERO) a non-government and nor-profit organization based in Rwanda.
Dr. Canisius Kanangire
Executive Director of the African Agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF)
Prof. Ken Giller
Emeritus Professor Plant Production Systems at Wageningen University
Prof. Ken Giller
Emeritus Professor Plant Production Systems at Wageningen University
Ken Giller is Emeritus Professor Plant Production Systems at Wageningen University. Ken’s research has focused on smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and in particular problems of soil fertility and the role of nitrogen fixation in tropical legumes, with emphasis on the temporal and spatial dynamics of resources within crop/livestock farming systems and their interactions. He is author of the standard text “Nitrogen Fixation in Tropical Cropping Systems” published in second edition in 2001. He leads a number of initiatives such as N2Africa (Putting Nitrogen Fixation to Work for Smallholder Farmers in Africa - http://www.n2africa.org/), and is co-chair of the Thematic Network 7 on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) of the United Nations Ken joined Wageningen University in 2001 after holding professorships at Wye College, University of London, and the University of Zimbabwe. He retired in September 2023.
Dr. Hakizumwami Birali Runesha
Associate Vice President for Research Computing; Director, Research Computing Center The University of Chicago, IL, US
Dr. Hakizumwami Birali Runesha
Associate Vice President for Research Computing; Director, Research Computing Center The University of Chicago, IL, US
Peter Akong MINANG
Principal Scientist | Director for Africa
Peter Akong MINANG
Principal Scientist | Director for Africa
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) & World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
Prof. Alfred BIZOZA
Professor/University of Rwanda
Prof. Hussein Shimelis
Professor of Plant Breeding, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Prof. Hussein Shimelis
Professor of Plant Breeding, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Professor Shimelis Hussein is an Ethiopian-born South African.
He is a passionate educator and researcher in Plant Breeding, Plant Genetics and Crop Science with over 30 years of experience in Africa. He holds PhD degree in Plant Breeding from the University of the Free State/South Africa in 2003, an MSc in Plant Breeding from Wageningen University/The Netherlands in 1996 and a BSc in Plant Sciences from Haramaya University/Ethiopia in 1991.
From 1991 to 1999 he served as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at Haramaya University of Agriculture/Ethiopia. In 2003, he served as a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State in South Africa. In January 2004, he was appointed as a senior research scientist at the Agricultural Research Council - Small Grain Institute, Bethlehem in South Africa. In August 2004, he was recruited by the University of the North (now the University of Limpopo), Polokwane, South Africa and served as a Lecturer in Plant Breeding and Quantitative Genetics. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2006 and Associate Professor of Plant Breeding in 2008 at the University of Limpopo. He served as the Head of the Department of Plant Production from 2006 to 2008 at the University of Limpopo.
In November 2008, he was recruited by the African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), as an Associate Professor of Plant Breeding.
He serves as Professor and Chair of Crop Science (from January 2016) and Director of the African Center for Crop Improvement (July 2023).
Professor Shimelis has had an outstanding career, with significant, ongoing contributions to Plant Breeding, including new variety design and training of 60 PhD and 38 MSc level next-generation plant breeders and agricultural scientists and delivering quality research outputs. He is a well-recognized academic by UKZN as a top-performing and established researcher, consecutively ranked in the top 10 highly published researchers for the last six years. He was the top pusblihed researcher at UKZN in 2022. He has a C-1 rating from the National Research Foundation of South Africa.
He has published over 400 articles in high-impact and peer-reviewed journals and over 150 abstracts in regional and international conference proceedings. His publications are relevant to issues related to small-scale agriculture and plant breeding programs in Africa and internationally. His publications are widely cited and are part of the global knowledge base. He has a Scopus H index of 32, a Google Scholar H index of 50, and a Web of Science H index of 28, making him an outstanding scientist. Based on the publication output and academic impact database of the SciVal/Elsevier rankings in the agriculture and biological science category from 2020 to 2023, Professor Shimelis was ranked in the top two in South Africa and seven in Africa out of 500 researchers.
He has excellent partnerships with National Agricultural Research and Extension Services in 20 African countries, public and private sector funders, CGIAR international research centres and local, regional and international universities. He is a founding member and a key partner in a Pan Africa Demand-led Breeding (DLB) initiative as a new frontier and market-driven approach to plant breeding in Africa.
He was recognized as one of Africa’s 20 most influential plant breeders of 2020 by the Southern Africa Plant Breeders’ Association (SAPBA).
Dr. Solange UWITUZE
Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board
Dr. Vitumbiko Chinoko
Project Manager, African Agricultural Technolgy Foundation (AATF), Kenya
Ms. Esther KUNDA
Master of Ceremony (MC)
Ms. Esther KUNDA
Master of Ceremony (MC)
Director General, Innovation & Emerging Technologies, Ministry of ICT and Innovation, Government of Rwanda
Mr. Blaise Ruhima MBARAGA
Rwanda Development Board
Mr. Blaise Ruhima MBARAGA
Rwanda Development Board
Blaise Ruhima is the Head of the Intellectual Property Division in Rwanda Development Board since 2015in the office of the Registrar General, Lawyer and IP PR practitioner from 2008, He is also a qualified trainer and mediator in intellectual property and has contributed in drafting different policies, laws and regulations related to intellectual property rights and the improvement of regional regulations of intellectual property rights.
He holds A Master’s Degree in International Human right law (2005) from St Louis University- Belgium, and various certification in International laws from UNITAR, WIPO and ARIPO Academies. Having represented Rwanda in different multilaterals conferences and Assemblies, (EAC, WIPO-GA, ARIPO), he holds various experience in international treaties and IP trends.
Contact
PHONE: +250788632160
EMAIL: blaise.ruhima@rdb.rw
Dr. Stanley Mukasa,
Associate Director of Entrepreneurship, CMU Africa
Mr. Sina Gerard
Owner & Managing Director, SINA GERARD/Ese URWIBUTSO
