IAC MEMBER BIOS
Arti Ahuja
Arti Ahuja has held various senior level positions in the government of India over a career spanning 34 years. She has steered implementation as well as policy making in different positions in the state of Odisha, LBSNAA Mussoorie and Union Govt, from where she superannuated in February 2024 as Secretary Labour and Employment, Govt of India. Her focus on system building has led to many policy reforms, especially in health and nutrition, and issues relating to women, which have been nationally and internationally recognized. She has worked in the fields of health, women and children, nutrition, labor and employment and other social sectors, besides commercial sectors. Recognizing her expertise, she was placed in charge of Covid pandemic management in the Union Health Ministry from 2020 till 2022. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from Princeton, Masters in Public Health from Harvard University, Masters in Economics from Chandigarh, and LLB from Delhi University. She was a Member of the Independent Expert Group for the Global Nutrition Report. She also held the position of Senior Honorary Research Associate, Global Institute for Health, University College London. She has to her credit numerous articles on health, nutrition and social sector issues in prestigious peer reviewed publications.
Kaleab Baye
Kaleab Baye is a Full Professor of Human Nutrition at the Center for Food Science and Nutrition, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He is also an honorary research fellow at the Research center for Inclusive Development in Africa (RIDA). Prof. Baye has a PhD in Nutrition and Health from the University of Montpellier, France, a Master’s in Food Science and Nutrition, and a Bachelor’s in Chemistry from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. His research interest is on maternal and child nutrition, micronutrients, dietary intake assessment and interventions to improve diet quality. Prof. Baye is Deputy Editor of the journal Public Health Nutrition; member of the editorial board of the journal Global Food Security; has previously served as Associate editor for the journal BioMed Research International and BMC public health. He served as Deputy Secretary for the Africa Region for the World Public Health Nutrition Association. Prof. Baye is a member of the World Academy of Sciences (WAS), the African Science Leadership Program (ASLP), and the Ethiopian Young Academy of Sciences (EtYAS). He was the Director of the Center for Food Science and Nutrition at AAU from 2016 to 2019. He is a member of several nutrition societies including the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), The World Public Health Nutrition Association (WPHNA), and the Food and Nutrition Society of Ethiopia (FoNSE). He has and continues to serve as a member of expert panels and advisory boards to institutions like the WHO, UNICEF and the Rockefeller Foundation on matters related to child nutrition and diet quality.
Boubacar Fall
Boubacar Fall is a teacher-researcher in the Geology Department of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the “Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar” (UCAD) in Senegal. Dr. Fall's research interests focus on coastal zones vulnerability and issues of vulnerability and adaptation assessment to climate change in general. In addition to teaching at UCAD, Dr. Fall is an expert in vulnerability assessment and adaptation to climate change, with over 15 years' experience. He coordinated the development of the adaptation component of Senegal's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). He has solid experience in institutional support for the development, selection and implementation of adaptation and climate risk management strategies at regional, national and local levels. As Chairman of the Adaptation Commission and Vice-Chairman of the National Climate Committee, he also advises the Government of Senegal on climate change issues and the implementation of the UNFCCC at national level. Boubacar is also a member of Least Developed Countries Roster of Experts for NAP.
Susan Kaaria
Susan Kaaria is the director of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) program hosted by CIFOR-ICRAF. AWARD is investing in women’s leadership to foster equality in Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) and strengthening institutions capacity to adopt gender-responsive policies and practices. Prior to joining AWARD, Dr. Kaaria served as the Team Leader for Gender at the Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations (FAO), where she provided strategic leadership to the organization’s technical work on gender which aimed to support governments and other stakeholders to integrate gender in agricultural policies, programmes and strategies. She has also previously worked as a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation Office for Eastern Africa and as a Senior Scientist and Senior Research Fellow at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. She holds a PhD in natural resource economics from the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree in agricultural economics from the Iowa State University, USA and a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of Eastern Africa in Kenya.
Gustavo Luedemann
Gustavo Luedemann is a researcher at the Coordination of Environmental Sustainability Studies (Cosam) at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) and a member of the public policy hub of the Rede Clima, a government-funded net of climate science researchers in Brazil. Gustavo has experience in governmental executive duties, having been designated the Brazilian National Authority’s focal point for the Clean Development Mechanism from 2013 to 2014 as well as the first contact person for the Brazilian National Designated Entity for the Climate Technology Center & Network at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI). At MCTI, he oversaw the administration of projects as the GEF funded ‘Mitigation Options of GHG Emissions in Key Sectors in Brazil’ and the Third National Communication to the UNFCCC. Gustavo is a member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group since April 2022. He also advised the Climate Investment Funds’ evaluation and learning initiative from 2015 until 2021. His research interests include climate action financing, just transition, climate-biodiversity linkages, climate justice and emissions pricing.
Sugra Mahmood
Sugra Mahmood is the Director of Nutrition and Food Safety at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Nigeria.
Veronica Nzilani Ndetu
Veronica Nzilani Ndetu has a wealth of experience in areas of agriculture and climate change. She is the former coordinator of the Climate Change unit of the MOALFC and has been involved in the implementation of a number of climate related projects that include the GOK-GIZ Adaptation to Climate Change and Insurance (ACCI), GoK-FAO Integration of Agriculture into the National Adaptation Plan (NAP-Ag), and the GCF-GOK-FAO NAP-Readiness “Enhancing capacity for planning and effective implementation of climate change adaptation in Kenya.” Veronica is at the forefront of the development and implementation of the climate smart agriculture strategy and implementation framework. Through establishment of networks and partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders she has been able to build technical capacity of many stakeholders in state and no-state agencies at national, county and even the farm level on climate change and climate smart agriculture. Veronica holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of Nairobi and a master’s degree in Seed Science and Technology from the University of Eldoret.
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