Dr Éliane Ubalijoro
CEO of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
Éliane Ubalijoro, PhD is Chief Executive Officer of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and Director General of ICRAF. An accomplished leader with a background in agriculture and molecular genetics, she serves on several boards and has been recognized for outstanding contributions in the areas of innovation, gender equity, and sustainable prosperity creation.
Dr Ubalijoro has been a professor of practice for public-private sector partnerships at McGill University since 2008, with research interests focusing on innovation, gender and sustainable development for prosperity creation. From 2021 to March 2023, she was the Executive Director of Sustainability in the Digital Age and the Canada Hub Director for Future Earth. She is a member of Rwanda’s National Science and Technology Council and Presidential Advisory Council, the Impact Advisory Board of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet, the Science for Africa Foundation, and the Capitals Coalition Supervisory Board, among others. She is a fellow of the International Science Council.
Recognized for her work in leadership and gender equity, Dr Ubalijoro is a recipient of the International Leadership Association‘s 2022 awards in women and leadership for outstanding practice with broad impact, and is part of a cohort of appointed International Science Council fellows in recognition for outstanding contributions to promoting science as a global public good. She has facilitated the UNAIDS Leadership Programme for Women at the United Nation System Staff College. Dr Ubalijoro was a member of FemStep, a research network highlighting rural girls’ and women’s perspectives for engendering poverty reduction strategies in Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, DR Congo and Ethiopia using arts-based methodologies. Her career path was featured in Forbes in celebration of International Women’s Day 2019.
Dr Éliane Ubalijoro – SIR JOHN CRAWFORD MEMORIAL ADDRESS 4 September 2023
Session 5. Conversation on policy settings – Ubalijoro, Fowler, Anderson, Umberger, 5 September 2023