Bourgeois, Robin
Robin Bourgeois recently joined the GFAR Executive Secretariat as Senior Foresight and Development Policies Expert under a secondment from the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE). Robin, who was born in Paris, has an Engineer Degree in Agronomy and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Montpellier.
Robin worked at ISNAR in the Netherlands from 1988 to 1992 as a research fellow on research-technology transfer linkages. He was then hired and seconded for four years by the MAEE to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) in Costa Rica. There, Robin and his IICA colleagues developed and applied an integrated approach for strengthening the competitiveness of agro-food systems in Central America, linking research with institution-building through a “dialogue for action” process. They published the CADIAC method in Spanish, French and English, which is still a reference for students and scientists working in this area.
In 1996, Robin joined CIRAD as an economist. In 1998 he was seconded to the UNESCAP-Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture (CAPSA, ex-CGPRT Centre) where he developed tools to aid decision-making in the elaboration of public policies. With colleagues he published several books, including a handbook on applied Participatory Prospective Analysis. Simultaneously, Robin conducted several expert activities for various organisations such as the World Bank, Total, Danone, the UNDP, UE/Birdlife, and developed training modules for analysts and scientists on public policy analysis and foresight.
In 2004, Robin was deeply involved in revising the CAPSA mandate and its focus on poverty alleviation and contributed to promote CAPSA’s advocacy role. In charge of the Information Service Database program, he contributed to significantly increase the visibility of the Centre through its website and publications and edited a book on pathways out of poverty, based on cross-country experiences in Asia and the Pacific.
In 2007, Robin returned to CIRAD, in Montpellier, where he continued his research on inequalities and constitutional change in rural areas, focusing on foresight as a triggering mechanism. He participated as a Lecturer to M.SC programs in Development Economics and co-supervised Ph.D. students in Thailand, Indonesia, Haiti, and Burkina Faso. In 2009, Robin started a comprehensive and participatory applied-foresight research on the future role and place of agriculture and the rural world in Mayotte, leading to the elaboration of nine scenarios. This work is still on-going, under the responsibility of his locally-trained colleagues.
In the GFAR Secretariat, Robin now has specific responsibility for strengthening GFAR’s role in foresight and for providing an open and multi-stakeholder space for dialogue and action on the future of agricultural research. Robin will also focus on the links between Science and Society, especially the links between research and development policies. These are key needs in addressing the GCARD Roadmap and GFAR programme of work. We look forward to the valuable contribution he will make in this regard for all involved in GFAR.