The new year brings with it exciting changes at IFPRI, including a new director for the Institute’s Communications Division. Gwendolyn Stansbury begins her role as the division’s director on January 3, 2012. She has been at IFPRI since 2006, serving most recently as head of the Publications Unit. Gwendolyn received a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a PhD from the University of New England in Australia, and, prior to joining IFPRI, held positions as a writer, editor, and university lecturer.

IFPRI’s Mark Rosegrant will present today at an official side event of the 2nd Intersessional Meeting of UNCSD at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. He will discuss a current IFPRI project on the impact of agricultural technologies.

Co-organized by IFPRI, Croplife International, and Farming first, the side event, Technology and Knowledge Sharing for Sustainable Agriculture, is one of only three agriculture-themed events. Tim Benton of the University of Leeds, Bruce McNamer of Technoserve, and Roger Johnson, of the World Farmers and the National Farmers Union, will also present.

Food price volatility is one of the most critical economic and food security challenges facing policymakers today. Spikes in food prices can have a significant impact on incomes, markets, and nutrition worldwide and, in extreme cases, can cause widespread violence and social unrest. Understanding the causes behind price volatility and exploring policy responses to it can help stabilize domestic and global food markets and protect poor people around the world, who spend 50-60% of their income on food.

On October 27, TEDxWashingtonCircle will host three speakers from different disciplines, who will come together and talk about their own experiences with development initiatives and share effective communication strategies.

People in developing countries need easy access to useful information in order to improve their lives. Widened public awareness allows communities to devise and execute initiatives that lead to sustainable development results.