Professor Dr Joachim von Braun, a long-time colleague, supporter and friend of CGIAR was recently announced by The Vatican as the new President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Dr von Braun, who is currently the Director of the Center for Development Research succeeds the Swiss biologist and Nobel Prize winner Werner Arber in this prestigious position.
Founded in 1603, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Latin Pontificia Academia Scientiarum, PAS), is under the authority of the reigning Pope. Its overall goal is to promote progress in the natural sciences and to study associated epistemological problems. Its members include some of the most respected scientists of the 20th century, including Stephen Hawking and Nobel laureates Ernest Rutherford, Max Planck, Niels Bohr and Otto Hahn.
“A valued colleague of CGIAR for many years, we congratulate Dr von Braun on this appointment. As Director General of IFPRI from 2002 – 2009, Dr von Braun led ground breaking research across economics, agriculture and nutrition. We are delighted to see our colleague and friend take on this prestigious role and look forward to working with him over the next 5 years,” said Elwyn Grainger Jones, Executive Director, CGIAR System Organziation.
Dr von Braun has had a long and illustrious career and has brought his expertise and passion as an economist to the area of agricultural research for development. As Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from 2002 – 2009, Dr von Braun led research on a range of important international and development economics topics including markets and trade, poverty, health and nutrition, agriculture and science and technology. Prior to this he spent 10 years at IFPRI first as a research fellow and then as Director of its Food Consumption and Nutrition Division.
Dr von Braun currently co-chairs the Malabo-Montpelier Panel. He is also a member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), the Academy of Sciences of the Vatican, the North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the African Academy of Science. Von Braun is chairman of the Federal Government’s bioeconomic council as well as vice president of Welthungerhilfe.