Alain Vidal

Alain Vidal is the Senior Adviser, External Engagement at CGIAR System Organization, the largest agri-food research partnership in the world, made-up of 15 research centers with 10,000 staff in over 70 countries. Alain began his professional tenure in Morocco in 1986 – which sparked a decade long research career with the French Environment Research Institute. He also worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on innovations in scientific research uptake and technology exchange. Alain Vidal’s interest in global food, environment and poverty issues spans over the entirety of his career. In 2009, he was appointed the Director of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, a ten-year program that explored new types of partnerships and institutional capacities that could help transform research to impact. Since October 2012, he has also held an advisory role on the management committee of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. In 2014, Alain later joined the CGIAR Consortium as Director of Strategic Partnerships, under which capacity development and partnerships resided until 2016 along with communications and resource mobilization. He has authored and co-authored more than forty refereed papers, and edited 5 books. Alain received his PhD in water science from the University of Montpellier in 1989.