Soji Adelaja

John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in Land Policy

Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Michigan State University, MI, United States

Email: adelaja(at)msu.edu

Soji Adelaja is appointed in the tenure stream in AFRE and in 2004 was named the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in Land Policy. Until April 2011, he served as director of the Land Policy Institute, which he founded in 2006. In that capacity, he also served as the director of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, funded Michigan Higher Education Land Policy Consortium (MiHELP), and the People and Land Initiative (PAL). Dr. Adelaja’s work in public policy is highly respected and he has served as advisor to several key local, state, and national policy makers. 

Prior to coming to MSU in 2004, Dr. Adelaja was at Rutgers University for 18 years, during which period he served as Executive Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dean of Cook College, Executive Director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Director of Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Professor and Chair of Agricultural Food and Resource Economics, Director of the Food Policy Institute, Director of the Food Innovation Center, and Director of the Eco-Policy Center.

Soji has received numerous awards for excellence in research, outreach and policy leadership, including being named ARER Fellow in 2012 by the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, the 2011 Distinguished Faculty Award from Michigan State, 2010 tribute from the Governor of Michigan for his contribution to public policy and the State’s economic development, a 2011 Outstanding article of the year award from Emerald Publishers, the 2010 Outstanding article of the year award from the Agricultural and Resource Economic Review, the 2003 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Public Policy through Economics from NAREA, the Rutgers Presidential Award for Distinguished Public Service from Rutgers University, the 1999 Person of the Year Award from the National Prepared Foods Association, the 2002 Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Pennsylvania State University, and the New Jersey Governor’s Recognition for Outstanding Contributions to the Garden State.

Emmanuel Kaunda is currently the Vice Chancellor of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi. He is a Professor in Fisheries Science having worked for over 30 years in Fisheries ecology, Fish Trade, Fisheries Policy and development of Aquaculture in Africa, and he was accorded the Aqua-culturist of Year award by the Aquaculture Association of Southern Africa (AASA) in 2011. He currently serves on the Board of Africa Centre for Aquatic Research and Education (ACARE) and is current President of Pan Africa Fish and Fisheries Association (PAFFA). He is also a Past Robbin Welcome Fellow at Michigan State University. Professor Kaunda also serves as a Board Chair for the National Commission of Science and Technology (NCST) in Malawi. Professor Emmanuel Kaunda has mad remarkable contributions to the African continent, particularly within the fisheries sector and the higher education sector more broadly. As a respected leader and scholar in his discipline, Professor Kaunda possesses invaluable insights and perspectives that can provide the AAP with strategic guidance of the highest calibre. His dedication to advancing education and his commitment to transformative change align perfectly with the AAP's mission to create a lasting impact and improve the lives of people across Africa.

Somachi Chris-Asoluka is the CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF). She was most recently the Director of Partnerships and Communications for the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the leading philanthropy empowering young African entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries. In this role, Somachi oversaw marketing, communications, policy, advocacy, and partnerships for the Foundation. She leads TEF’s efforts to build strategic relationships with stakeholders, multilateral organizations, development institutions, civil society, foundations, and other key development partners to support African entrepreneurs and mobilize capital investments in these small businesses. She leads the Foundation's regional and global external engagements and oversees TEF’s global brand strategy and positioning.

Ahmadou Aly Mbaye

Vice Chancellor

University Cheikh Anta DIOP (UCAD)

Dakar, Senegal

Email: ahmadou.mbaye(at)ucad.edu.sn 

Ahmadou Aly Mbaye is Vice Chancellor at the University Cheikh Anta DIOP (UCAD) since August 2020. Previously, Professor Mbaye was the Rector and a Professor of Economics at the University Cheikh Anta DIOP (UCAD) in Dakar, Senegal. He was a nonresident Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development, Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institute in the US, a senior research associate at the Centre for Development Research (ZEF, University of Bonn, Germany) and held the position of director of the Laboratoire d’Analyse des Politiques de Developpement (LAPD). He was also the director of the regional graduate program in climate change economics (including 10 countries). Previously, he had served as the dean of the School of Economics and Management at the Cheikh Anta DIOP University and chair of CIEREA-PTCI (the Francophone African network of research and higher education in economics) Board for 10 years. Mbaye has been a consultant for many regional and international organizations. He is managing several international programs within his universities and has numerous publications on development economics and Africa. Mbaye has been serving as a member in the AERC’s Programme Committee for more than four years now.

In the area of research, Mbaye developed a new concept of the informal sector, which challenges the mainstream formal/informal dichotomous classification, and proposes an approach of informality based on a continuum of degrees of formality. He then led an international team that implemented the methodology in most Francophone African countries. The multi-donor financed project that resulted from this experience has led to several publications, including a volume and numerous peer reviewed papers.

Linley Chiwona-Karltun

Email: Linley.chiwona-karltun(at)slu.se

Linley Chiwona-Karltun is currently an Associate Professor, in the Department of Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). She is Malawian / Swedish and has externally funded projects with institutions in South, East and West Africa from SIDA and other funding agencies. Professor Chiwona-Karltun visited MSU in 2019 and was part of a team working on an insects innovation proposal that was submitted internally for the MacArthur Foundation $100 million grant competition. She is the President of the Association of African Agricultural Professionals in the Diaspora - Europe (AAAPD-E) MSU (through the European Studies Center) and SLU are members of the Global Challenges University Alliance (GCUA). Leverage SLU and other European institutions to work with AAP members on external funding from European sources.

Barnabas Nawangwe

Vice Chancellor

Makerere University 

Kampala, Uganda

Email: nawangwe(at)gmail.com

Barnabas Nawangwe is a Ugandan architect, academic and the current Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, the largest public university of Uganda. He was a lecturer and Head of Department of Architecture, from the time the department was founded in 1987 until 2002. He became Senior Lecturer in 1996. In 2002, he was appointed Associate Dean, Faculty of Technology. The following year, he became Dean, Faculty of Technology, serving in that capacity from 2003 until 2010. In 2004, he became a Professor. He served as the Principal, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology from 2010 - 2013. He was then the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, "responsible for the planning, budgeting and development of the university" from 2013 -2017. 

Professor Barnabas Nawangwe was installed as Vice Chancellor of Makerere University on 14 September 2017, at a ceremony at which the president of Uganda was the chief guest. He serves as a consultant architect and has been involved in many architectural projects at the university for a period stretching back at least 20 years. 

Dorothy Ngila

Director

Science Granting Council Initiative & Resource Partnerships Development at the South African National Research Foundation

Pretoria, South Africa

Email: dorothy.ngila(at)nrf.ac.za

Dorothy Ngila is the Director: Science Granting Council Initiative (SGCI) and Resource Partnerships Development at the South African National Research Foundation (NRF). Her core responsibility is to coordinate the NRF’s contribution to the multi-stakeholder and multi-agency capacity strengthening programme, the SGCI in sub-Saharan Africa, which serves 15 public science granting councils in East, West and Southern Africa. She is chair of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) South African National Chapter; and serves on the Global Research Council (GRC) Gender Working Group, both advancing conversations and actions promoting the equality and status of women in research. Prior to joining the NRF, she served in various capacities within the international partnerships programme of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). Ms Ngila is currently completing her PhD in Science and Technology Studies at Stellenbosch University, and has a Masters degree in Geography and Environmental Management from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa and a Bachelor of Arts (Public Administration and Environmental Sciences) from the University of Botswana.