LEONARD SONNENSCHEIN
Founder, Chief Science Officer
Leonard has accomplished much in the area of Coral Ecology, Fisheries Science, Land-to-Sea Relationships, and Community Engagement including extensive global field studies. Since 1999, Professor Sonnenschein has been leading multi-stakeholder initiatives driven to increase community involvement toward better sustainable solutions to balance the conservation needs with the societal demands; especially in agriculture technologies.
As president of World Aquarium he has led a number of innovations for public aquariums throughout the world including co-founding the World Ocean Network. Also by founding the Conservation for the Oceans Foundation he has provided grant support for projects in numerous countries and has sat on several other granting committees that has led to 100s of projects being supported worldwide. As an author, Leonard has published numerous books, articles, and abstracts (150+). Over 50 universities regularly provide students for internships in the laboratories at the World Aquarium in St. Louis,
MO. His consultative participation with United Nations agencies includes UNEP, UNDP, FAO, WHO, and UNESCO. He contributes regularly with the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts and Islands; forums on the future of fisheries. This work includes collaborations with The World Bank, MSC and WWF.
TIBERIOUS BRIAN ETYANG
Managing Director, Africa
Tiberious is trained with Masters of Science in Agricultural Information and Communication Management with wide breadth of working and technical knowledge in matters of rural development, innovative financial solutions, farmer training, development communication, ICT4 Ag, farming systems research, food security, technologies adoption and agricultural developments having worked in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) system for over 10 years in different capacities. HE worked with International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as the lead consultant for the impact assessment for the Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC).
The Outcome of that is the current ongoing project led by IITA called Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) that is funded by Africa Development Bank. At the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) he worked for the Tropical legumes-II project on improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in drought-prone areas of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia through enhanced grain legume production and productivity; with Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) as a Communication lead consultant in documenting impact stories and at the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (TSBF-CIAT) as a Project Assistant and Communication Assistant
KENNETH MASUKI
Research and Developmenet Director - AFRICA
Kenneth Masuki is an Extension Agronomist, with experience in soil science, soil and water management, natural resources management, knowledge management and adoption & scaling up. He is trained as a Soil Scientist and Soil and Water Engineer and Agricultural Education and Extension Specialist at doctorate level in the field related to Water System Innovations.
He has acquired relevant skills and experience through working in a number of agricultural and natural resource projects funded by EU, IFAD, IDRC, SIDA, IrishAid, DFID, USAID, SDC, BMGF and other donors in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Rwanda, Ghana and Zambia. He has worked CGIAR Systems for 8 years, (3 years as working as Project Country Coordinator for Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA) project, with International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and 5 years working as a Knowledge Management Specialist with World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).
He also worked as a Programme Manager with Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) Secretariat in Entebbe, Uganda while operating in 11 member states of Eastern and Central Africa, which are Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. In his career he practiced as an Agricultural Research Officer at the National Soils Research Centre in Tanzania before join the regional and international positions. In his engagement in the above positions, he collaborated with some universities in research activities and supervision of postgraduate students at MSc and PhD levels. As a scientist, Kenneth has authored and co-authored a number of publications in various peer reviewed journals, books, and other scientific articles. Kenneth is also a consultant in areas of agronomy, soil science, integrated water resources management, natural resource management, knowledge management, adoption and scaling up of technologies and resource mobilization. He is currently a member of various consortia such as Global Water Partnership (TZ) where he volunteers as a Head of Resource Mobilization; Global Evergreen Agriculture Alliance; Soil Health Partnership (a consortium under SAGCOT Ltd in Tanzania); He is also a long time member of Soil Science Society of East Africa.
FRANCIS OSIA ODULA
Chief Science Director - Africa
Osia a PhD graduate from the University of Hannover in Germany, whose studies focused on increasing irrigation water use efficiency in crop production under semi-arid conditions in the framework of climate change and water shortage. He has an MSc degree in Plant and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Experimental Statistics with a focus on environmental crop production from Clemson University in United States of America and BSc in Horticulture with a focus on personal protective equipment (PPE) usage among small scale farmers in Kenya from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
As a Germany, USA and Kenya trained and experienced agricultural scientist with well-developed skills and experience in maize production; Osia is known not only as an irrigation agronomist but also in breaking down technical knowledge with farmers, some of whom have either formal basic education or none at all. Osia has vast experience in farming systems research and technologies adoption having worked in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and Sustainet East Africa (NGO) as a monitoring and evaluation specialist on improving the livelihoods of small scale farmers in the context of climate change and water scarcity through adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices (CSA).