Aly Abousabaa Offical image

Director General

Augusto Becerra

Deputy Director General - Research

Roula Majdalani

Climate Change Advisor

W Garrick Arden Long

Special Advisor to the Director General

Riham Hafez

Administrative Officer to the Director General

Abdoul Aziz Niane

Senior Scientist for Seed Systems, International Nurseries and Seed Health and Regional Coordinator APRP

Shiv Kumar Agrawal

Head of the Food Legume Research Platform (FLRP) of ICARDA and Regional Coordinator of the ICARDA South Asia and China Regional Program

Hassan Machlab

Lebanon, Jordan & Palestine Country Manager

Majd Jamal

Head of Government Liaison

Aladdin Hamwieh

Senior Scientist Breeder, Biotechnologist/ Country Coordinator – Egypt

Zakaria Kehel

Research Team Leader - Genetic Resources, conservation, characterization, and use (GRS)/ Country Coordinator - Morocco

Azaiez Ouled Belgacem

Rangeland Ecology and Management Specialist/Country Coordinator - Tunisia

Akmal Akramkhanov

Senior Scientist - Sustainable Land Management/Country Coordinator - Uzbekistan

Hassan Osman Ahmed El-Awad

Sudan Office Country Manager

Mesut Keser

Country Coordinator - Turkey

Muhi El-Dine Hilali

Food and Feed Processing Scientist/Country Coordinator - Syria

Aynalem Haile

Principal Scientist - Small Ruminant Breeder/Country Coordinator - Ethiopia

Muhammad Imtiaz

Scientist – Seed System Specialist/Country Coordinator - Pakistan

The Breeding Team develop new crop varieties that offer higher, and better-quality yields through improved tolerance and resistance to diseases, insect pests, drought, heat, cold, parasitic weeds, and other stress factors. ICARDA’s climate-smart crops are developed alongside National Agricultural Research Systems country partners and follow CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform guidelines.

Breeding and Scaling Improved Varieties of dryland cereals and pulses

Michael Baum

Research Team Leader - Breeding and Scaling Improved Varieties of dryland cereals and pulses

Khaled Al-Sham'aa

Associate Scientist - Biometrics

Miguel Sanchez Garcia

Senior Scientist - Barley Breeder

Sripada Udupa

Senior Scientist, Biotechnology

Mesut Keser

Country Coordinator - Turkey

Wuletaw Tadesse Degu

Principal Scientist - Spring Bread Wheat Breeder

Filippo Bassi

Principal Investigator Genetic Innovation

Fouad Maalouf

Legume Breeder

Seid-Ahmed Kemal

Principal Scientist - Plant Pathologist

Aladdin Hamwieh

Senior Scientist Breeder, Biotechnologist/ Country Coordinator – Egypt

Shiv Kumar Agrawal

Head of the Food Legume Research Platform (FLRP) of ICARDA and Regional Coordinator of the ICARDA South Asia and China Regional Program

Andrea Visioni

Pre-Breeding and Physiology Scientist

Tawffiq Istanbuli

Chickpea Research Associate/BCI Farm Coordinator in Terbol

Sawsan Tawkaz

Coordinator - Biotechnology and Plant Cell Culture

Hicham Chao

Research Team Administrator, Project Monitoring, and Knowledge Management Assistant

Hafssa Kabbaj

Research Associate – Genomic Selection of Durum Wheat

The GRS Team plays a crucial global role in conservation and use of dryland genetic resources, making ICARDA a center of excellence for capacity building and technical support on all aspects related to conservation and sustainable use of dryland agro-biodiversity. Core activities include developing and applying best practices for acquisition, pre-breeding, regeneration, conservation, distribution and documentation of genetic resources. 

Genetic Resources, conservation, characterization, and use

Zakaria Kehel

Research Team Leader - Genetic Resources, conservation, characterization, and use (GRS)/ Country Coordinator - Morocco

Mariana Yazbek

Genebank Manager – Senior Scientist

Athanasios Tsivelikas

Senior Scientist - Genebank Manager

Anna Elisabeth Backhaus

Post-Doctoral Fellow - Pre-breeder for cereals

The SINH aims at developing a functional pluralistic and inclusive seed system operating across ‘open-borders’ for easy movement of varieties and seeds. It is involved in diverse and broad range of activities that collectively addresses seed system constraints working in an integrated holistic approach with emphasis on emerging challenges in seed sector development. 

Seed systems, International Nurseries and seed Health

Zewdie Bishaw

Research Team Leader - Seed systems, International Nurseries and seed Health

Muhammad Imtiaz

Scientist – Seed System Specialist/Country Coordinator - Pakistan

Abdoul Aziz Niane

Senior Scientist for Seed Systems, International Nurseries and Seed Health and Regional Coordinator APRP

Safaa Kumari

Head of ICARDA Seed Health Laboratory/Plant Virologist

The SWA Team conducts research to build resilience and sustainably improve water productivity of rainfed and irrigated production systems in dry areas. We work to diversify and intensify these systems in the face of changing climate by combining soil health management techniques, water-saving technologies, and agronomic practices into contextualized solutions for impact at scale. 

Soil, Water and Agronomy

Dr. Vinay Nangia

Research Team Leader - Soils, Waters and Agronomy

alaa mosad

Researcher for Field Measurements and Package of Practices Reporting

Rachid Moussadek

Systems Cropping Agronomist - Joint Researcher - INRA

Mina Kumari Devkota Wasti

Senior Scientist - Dryland Agronomy

Mohie El Din Omar

Research Associate - Irrigation and Water

Anas Mansouri

Training Instructor

Rania Gamal

Senior Research Assistant - Land and Water Management

Mohcin Elmarzak

Field Technician - Marchouch Station

Arash Nejatian

Activities Coordinator Officer

Mohamed Slimani

Field Senior Research Technician

Samar Mohamed Attaher

Research Associate - Agronomist

Krishna Prasad Devkota

Senior Scientist - Dryland Farming

Lokendra Choudhary

Consultant - Project Facilitator-SWA

Rahul Choudhary

Project Facilitator (Precision Farming)

Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP) is an economically self-sustainable approach to protect pollinators in agricultural land. It builds on amelioration of agricultural land by marketable habitat enhancement plants, nesting support for wild pollinators and cross-sector policies. FAP increases productivity per surface and is scalable also in low- and middle-income countries.  

Farming with Alternative Pollinators

Youssef Bencharki

Senior Research Assistant - Farming and Alternative Pollinators

The Resilient Agro-Silvo-Pastoral Systems (RASP) team develops integrated innovation packages for livestock-based systems  in low rainfall areas to improve livelihoods and increase system resilience. The team conducts research related to small ruminant (sheep and goats) genetics, breeding, feeding and health, dryland forages, rangeland ecology and management and ecosystem restoration.

Resilient Agrosilvopastoral Systems

Barbara Ann Rischkowsky

Research Team Leader - Resilient Agrosilvopastoral Systems (RASP) and Social Economy and Policy Research (SEP)

Abdul Hussain Memon

Research Associate - Small Ruminant Breeder/Livestock Economist

Mounir Louhaichi

Research Team Leader of Rangeland Ecology and Forages

Aynalem Haile

Principal Scientist - Small Ruminant Breeder/Country Coordinator - Ethiopia

Bezaiet Dessalegn Abebe

Social Sciences Specialist

Dr. Jane Wamatu

Senior Small Ruminant (SR) Nutritionist

Akmal Akramkhanov

Senior Scientist - Sustainable Land Management/Country Coordinator - Uzbekistan

Mourad Rekik

Principal Scientist - Small Ruminant Physiology and management

Muhi El-Dine Hilali

Food and Feed Processing Scientist/Country Coordinator - Syria

Mira Haddad

Research Associate - Spatio-temporal assessment

Udo Rudiger

Agricultural Innovation Specialist

Sawsan Hassan

Associate Scientist - Forage Agronomist

Tesfaye Getachew Mengistu

Research Management Coordinator

Joram Mwacharo

Senior Scientist - Small Ruminant Genomics

Betty Abrilian

Research Team Administrator

Abeyou Wale Worqlul

Scientist - Soil and Water Conservation Modeling

Azaiez Ouled Belgacem

Rangeland Ecology and Management Specialist/Country Coordinator - Tunisia

Bouajila Essifi

Research Associate - Rangeland Landscape Ecology

The Social, Economy and Policy (SEP) Team plays a crucial role in analyzing the adoption of ICARDA’s innovations and their impact on poverty alleviation, food security, systems resilience  and social inclusiveness. The team also works on innovative solutions for more inclusive markets and value chains, natural resource management governance, context-sensitive targeting and scaling of sustainable land and livestock management options and gender transformative approaches.

Social Economy and Policy

Barbara Ann Rischkowsky

Research Team Leader - Resilient Agrosilvopastoral Systems (RASP) and Social Economy and Policy Research (SEP)

Yigezu Atnafe Yigezu

Principal Agricultural Economist

Boubaker Dhehibi

Principal Natural Resources Economist

Girma Tesfahun Kassie

Principal Agricultural Market Economist

Aymen Frija

Principal Agricultural Economist (Economic Modeling)

Dina Najjar

Senior Gender Scientist

Quang Bao Le

Agricultural Livelihood Systems Expert

Zied Idoudi

Research Associate – Economics and Participatory Methods

Woinishet Asnake

Research Officer II - ILRI/ICARDA

Dorsaf Oueslati

Senior Research Assistant - Gender Equality, Inclusion and Women's Empowerment

Meseret Tsige Abebe

Post-Doctoral Fellow in Gender Research

Irene Carpentier

Geographer - CIRAD

The GeoAgro Team combines geoinformatics, big data, climate change modelling, mapping farming systems dynamics, and citizen science, to support and accelerate research for development for sustainable agroecosystem  solutions that ensure food, nutrition, and ecological security and better livelihoods in the dry areas.

Geo BigData Driven Digital Augmentation for Sustainable Agro-ecosystems

Ajit Govind

Senior Climate Scientist and Systems Modeler

Layal Atassi

GIS Lab Manager

Abdul Karim Hammadeh

Meteorological Observer

ICARDA’s Capacity Development Unit (CDU) ensures that our innovations are deployed by the communities we work with, and helps national and international organizations and farmers build the capacity to manage their goals. The CDU works alongside national ministries and local authorities, NGOs, global universities, National Agricultural Research Systems, and the private sector. 

Capacity Development

Charles Kleinermann

Team Leader - Capacity Development Unit

Masafumi Tamura

Technical Training Officer

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) platform facilitates faster and more informed decision-making for organizations. Designed for input, archiving, extraction, and sharing of a broad range of data, knowledge, and ideas MEL helps stakeholders to plan, manage, monitor, evaluate, report, and share activities and results. 

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

Enrico Bonaiuti

Research Team Leader - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning and CIP-Program Management Officer

Laura Becker

MEL Team Coordinator

Lyudmila Berezina

MEL-LEG Administrative Assistant

Innocent Bikara

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist

Ruth Mawia

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Officer

Joren Verbist

Technologies Systemization Officer

Pietro Bartolini

Data Management Specialist

Asma Jeitani

MELIA Officer

Sara Jani

Knowledge Management Coordinator

Valentina De Col

MEL and Knowledge Management Officer

Elvin Carol Kohen

Project and Knowledge Curation Officer

Fatten Khudershah

Consultant - Knowledge Management Assistant

Valerio Graziano

Knowledge Management Officer

Svetlana Saakova

MEL Platform Manager