Hom Nath Gartaula, PhD, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines
Dr Hom Nath Gartaula is a Senior Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines. He is an agricultural anthropologist specializing in gender and social equity in agri-food systems, including agricultural innovation, climate change, seed system, digital innovation, labor migration, food and nutrition security, and the wellbeing of smallholders across South Asia and East Africa. He has an undergraduate degree in agriculture from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS) in Nepal, as well as a MSc and PhD in Social Sciences with a disciplinary focus on Sociology and Anthropology of Development from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Before joining IRRI, he was Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico. Dr Gartaula has also taught at the University of Winnipeg and worked as a program manager at an international corporation based in Winnipeg, Canada.
As a researcher, educator, and a development practitioner, Dr Gartaula has collaborated with many national and international organizations in South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, Europe, and North America, including research organizations like CGIAR centers, universities, and non-governmental organizations. His current research projects include contextualizing socio-technical innovation bundles, socially equitable locally led adaptation, gender-responsive nature-based solutions, and gender and social implications of decision support tools in regenerative agriculture. Dr Gartaula has over 150 publications as journal articles, working papers, manuals, book chapters, and an edited book.
Gabrielle Roesch-McNally, PhD, American Farmland Trust, Oregon State University, USA
Dr Gabrielle Roesch-McNally received her PhD in Sociology and Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University where she was a research assistant as part of a large-scale USDA-NIFA Regional Approaches to Climate Change & Cropping Systems Coordinated Agricultural Project (sustainablecorn.org). On this project, she was one of the lead sociologists responsible for the socio-economic research effort, which sought to characterize farmer beliefs and concerns about climate change, their attitudes toward adaptive/mitigative strategies, and the types of decision support farmers will need to contend with increasingly variable weather patterns. Dr Roesch-McNally received her MS from the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forestry Science, with a focus on environmental economics and worked five years with Washington State University Extension on agriculture and forestry activities.
She was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the USDA PNW Climate Hub where she conducted social science research to better understand decision making in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation. She has expertise in social science theory with a grounding in both economics and sociology. Additionally, she has experience developing research tools from surveys to focus groups and in-depth interviews.
Dr Roesch-McNally currently directs the Women for the Land program at American Farmland Trust, which is working to ensure women landowners and farmers have access to resources, technical advice, and policy facilitators to ensure they lead in conservation and building resilient agrifood systems.
