Petra brings over 15 years of research experience in development challenges in agriculture and water management in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. Her main experience centers around developing and implementing water solutions to improve agricultural water management in smallholder farming systems and assess its effect on water resources at scale. Petra is a Principal Researcher at the International Water Management and recently supported the World Bank Group in operationalizing farmer-led irrigation development in Africa. She has co-authored over 100 publications on the topics of agricultural water management, smallholder farming and watershed management. She holds a PhD from the University of Hohenheim, a master in Bio-engineering and a master in water resources engineering from KULeuven.

Jerry Glover is a National Geographic Society Explorer and Senior Sustainable Agricultural Systems Advisor for USAID. He earned bachelor degrees in soil science and philosophy and then a PhD in soil science at Washington State University in 2001. Prior to his work at USAID, Jerry studied native grasslands and farming systems, including no-till, perennial, organic and integrated systems. He has published the results of his work in Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Scientific American. His work in soil science and perennial-based farming systems has been highlighted in National Geographic, Nature, and three documentary films. Most recently, Scientific American included Jerry’s work in its December 2011 special issue on the “Top Ten World Changing Ideas.”

Nicole Lefore is the Director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation at the Borlaug Institute at Texas A & M, where she leads a consortium of interdisciplinary research and private partners in the U.S. and Feed the Future countries to increase equitable access to profitable and sustainable irrigation. She has over 25 years of international experience in research, policy advocacy and project implementation related to development, natural resources (water and land), institutions and capacity strengthening, primarily in Africa.

Professor Peter G. McCornick is the executive director of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska, where he leads the institute in delivering on its vision of a water and food secure world, building its partnerships and collaborations in Nebraska, nationally in the US, and other key food producing regions in the world. He is a tenured professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Robert B. Daugherty Chair of Water for Food.

Prior to joining DWFI, Peter was the deputy director general of research at the International Water Management Institute. With an international career focused on improving the sustainable management of water resources, he has led inter-disciplinary research and development programs on water, agriculture and the environment in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Canada and the U.S.

He earned his bachelors from the University of Newcastle, and his masters and doctorate from Colorado State University. He is a licensed professional civil engineer in the State of Colorado, and a member of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. Peter was recently elected to the Board of Governors of the World Water Council; and is a member of the steering committee of the Water Scarcity in Agriculture (WASAG) initiative, a global partnership organized by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO).

Dr. Zachary P. Stewart is the Production Systems Specialist with USAID within the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security and has nearly 15 years of experience in international agricultural research and development. He earned his bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Environmental Sciences, and International Relations from Creighton University, master’s degree in Control of Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and PhD in Soil Science and Crop Physiology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Prior to his work at USAID, Dr. Stewart was a Research Assistant Professor at Kansas State University where he served as a Principal Investigator on research activities across sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. He also served as the Program Manager for the SOILS Consortium with the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification and International Fertilizer Development Center. His research is primarily related to the sustainable intensification of smallholder farming systems and improving the health and fertility of soils as the foundation for nutritious food production and resilient and sustainable livelihoods. His work is strongly collaborative with a diversity of partners across disciplines and institutions.

Jean Damascene Nyamwasa joined USAID/RWANDA in August 2016 as Agriculture Productivity Team Leader. Prior to joining USAID, he worked  with IFDC-International Fertilizer Development Center as the Regional Capacity Building Coordinator and  Deputy Director for CATALIST, an agriculture productivity and value chain development project covering Rwanda, Burundi and DRC. Jean Damascene has experience of   more than 25 years in development project management, planning and evaluation. He is an agriculture Engineer from the National University of Rwanda. He also holds a Master’s degree in development management from Open University in Milton Keynes / United Kingdom. He is managing Feed the Future Hinga Weze, an Activity that builds farmers resilience capacities to climate change by promoting small scale irrigation among other climate smart technologies.