Deputy director general Iain Wright reappointed to UN Panel of Experts on Food Security

Iain Wright, deputy director of general research and development – integrated sciences at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), has been reappointed to the Steering Committee of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

The HLPE-FSN is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to global food security and nutrition and is governed by a steering committee of 15 world-renowned scientists drawn from academia, research institutions, the public and private sector, civil society and other constituencies. His reappointment recognises his significant contribution to food security and nutrition globally.

Wright has been deputy director general research and development–Integrated Sciences at ILRI since 2014. Previously, he was program leader, animal science for sustainable productivity and ILRI director general’s representative in Ethiopia. 

Within ILRI, he was director of the people, livestock and environment research theme, and from 2006 to 2011, he was ILRI’s regional representative for Asia. 

Before joining ILRI, he managed several research programs at the Macaulay Institute in Scotland, including research on land use change and land use systems and their impacts. He has a BSc in agriculture and a PhD in animal nutrition.

Wright’s research interests include the role of sustainable livestock systems in food security and nutrition and food systems transformation, including mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation of livestock systems to future climate change, around the world, but with a particular focus on the global south. He has also been instrumental in promoting the development of country-specific master livestock plans.

During his first term as a member of the HLPE-FSN Steering Committee, Wright has been particularly active in developing the 2022 report Critical, emerging and enduring issues for food security and nutrition and overseeing the production of the report Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition in the context of urbanization and rural transformation.

The letter conveying his reappointment reads in part: “Your reappointment reflects your exceptional experience and expertise, and it is a remarkable achievement that shows the high regard in which you are held within the FSN community.”

Iain Wright, ILRI deputy director general (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).