Clemens Breisinger is an economist and senior research fellow at IFPRI’s Development Strategy and Governance Division, which he joined in 2006. Since 2010, Clemens leads the Middle East and North Africa team, which provides knowledge, strengthens capacity and aims at influencing policy and investment decisions for an Arab World free of poverty and malnutrition. Major partners in the region include national institutions such as ministries of planning, agriculture and health and international organizations such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Bank and the World Food Programme. The team’s academic papers, reports and policy briefs are widely read and quoted by media such as Reuters, Time Magazine and The Economist.

Before leading the MENA team, Clemens’ work covered a broad range of issues related to the roles of agriculture and mineral resources for economic development, global crises and their impacts on food security and poverty, and the economic effects of climate change and options for adaptation. He received his PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Hohenheim in 2006, where he also worked as a research and teaching associate since 2003.

Languages spoken: French, German