Iain Wright is currently the Deputy Director General-Integrated Sciences at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), one of the CGIAR research centres, based in Nairobi. He oversees about 280 staff covering many biophysical and social science disciplines, across Africa and Asia, working in three programmes: Sustainable Livestock Systems, Policies Institutions and Markets, and Impact at Scale.
Previously he was the program leader for the Animal Science for Sustainable Productivity and ILRI Director General’s representative in Ethiopia and from 2006 to 2011 he was ILRI’s regional representative for Asia. Prior to joining ILRI, he managed a number of multi-disciplinary research programs at the Macaulay Institute in Scotland, including on Land Use and Agro-ecosystems. This involved leading and participating in research projects across the European Union and from 1997 in Asia. From 2003 to 2006 he was the chief executive of Macaulay Research Consultancy Services Limited, a subsidiary company of the Macaulay Institute, offering consultancy services on land use and the environment.
He has a long and broad experience of research in development in agriculture, environment and food systems across Europe, Africa and Asia, with considerable management experience across many disciplines, spanning biophysical and social sciences. He is passionate about ensuring that research ‘makes a difference’ to policy and practice and has been engaged in policy research and policy dialogue at national, continental and global levels.
He has a BSc (Agriculture) and a PhD in Animal nutrition.
He has been a member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) since October 2021.
He is a national of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
