Bram Govaerts
Mini visit: November 6-10, 2023
Full visit: March 14-18, 2022

• Director General a.i. (Secretary General and CEO) International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
• ADW-PAL term: 2019-25
• Subject Area: Life Sciences
• Faculty host: Johannes Lehmann (Professor, CALS-Crop & Social Sciences) 

Bram Govaerts is the Director General a.i. (Secretary General and CEO) of International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). Govaerts specializes in the fields of bioscience engineering and soil sciences. He is a scientist renowned for pioneering, implementing, and inspiring transformational changes for farmers and consumers in meeting the sustainable development challenges. In his work, he brings together multi-disciplinary science and development teams to integrate sustainable, multi-stakeholder, and sector strategies that generate innovation and change in the agri-food systems. These initiatives have resulted in improved nutrition, nature conservation, and national and international resilience and security.

Govaerts sets out an integrated approach of excellent science for impact, carried out by partnerships with a strong emphasis on capacity building. He is known for his energy, vision, and innovation in food products and production especially for small rural farms. He combines the research of the academy through the practices engaged in real-world organizations, utilizing 21st-century social networking systems to move forward in his efforts. His work is geared toward transforming subsistence agriculture and failed farming systems into productive and sustainable production units. He is considered to be a current major innovator in the agro-sustainable movement embracing modern practices while integrating traditional farmer knowledge and efforts worldwide as a means to influence and guide the future of farming. These efforts are recognized as critical to rural livelihoods, food safety, nutrition, nature conservation, and regional and national security.  He holds a Ph.D. in Bioscience Engineering – Soil Science; a master’s degree in Soil Conservation and Tropical Agriculture; and a bachelor’s degree in Bioscience Engineering, all from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.