Ismahane Elouafi

Bio

From December 1, 2023, Dr. Ismahane Elouafi will take on her new role as the Executive Managing Director for the CGIAR. 

Dr. Ismahane Elouafi holds the position of Chief Scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Before that,  she was the Director General at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) based in the United Arab Emirates. In this role, she spearheaded the development and implementation of the center’s long-term strategy and expanded its mandate to marginal environments, an agroecosystem concept which she helped to mainstream in the global research and development discourse. 

Dr. Elouafi previously held senior scientific and leadership positions, including: Senior Adviser to the Assistant Deputy Minister, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Branch in Ottawa (AAFC), Canada (2006-2007); the National Manager of Plant Research Section (2007-2010); and Director of Research Management and Partnerships Division at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) (2010-2012).

Dr. Elouafi holds a B.Sc. in Agricultural Sciences (1993) and an M.Sc. in Genetics and Plant Breeding (1995) from the Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Morocco, and a Ph.D. in Genetics (2001) from the University of Cordoba, Spain.