Andy Hall is a researcher at UNU-MERIT and, together with Jeroen Dijkman, coordinates LINK from his base in the LINK South Asia Rural Innovation Studies Hub in Hyderabad. His area of specialisation is the study of processes and policies associated with rural innovation in developing countries and is known for his pioneering work on the application of the innovation systems concept in agricultural development and research planning. Andy was previously based at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in India from 1997 2004, on secondment from the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, UK where he was a Reader in Innovation Systems. Andy received his PhD in Science and Technology Policy Studies from SPRU, University of Sussex in 1994 and holds an MSc in Rural Resource management. He has extensive research experience in India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa and has published extensively in his area of specialisation.

Rasheed Sulaiman V is Director, Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy, (CRISP) Hyderabad, and Director for the LINK South Asia Rural Innovation Policy Studies Hub. Previously he was Senior Scientist at the National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi, India. The main area of his work relates to issues of institutional change and poverty relevance in relation to agricultural research and extension. He has worked on consultancy assignments with the Overseas Development Institute, UK, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics and the UNU-MERIT. Since 1999, Rasheed has been working on the development and application of the innovation systems concept in relations to agricultural research and rural development. His recent studies have focused on understanding innovation capacity in various rural sectors and the role of civil society organizations in promoting pro-poor rural innovation.

Mirjam Steglich, a rural innovation analyst, is a UNU-MERIT researcher, based at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) in Nairobi, Kenya. Her undergraduate and post graduate training was at Humboldt University of Berlin where she specialized in international agricultural development. Her PhD research was on animal genetic resource management and local animal breeding knowledge systems. She has undertaken research on dairy development in the Ethiopian Highlands and its impact on human welfare, in particular child nutrition. She was previously employed by the International Trypanotolerance Centre in The Gambia. She is currently conducting research on the nature of rural innovation capacity in Ethiopia and Kenya.

Laxmi Thummuru is a Researcher at the Centre for Research on Innovation and Science Policy (CRISP), Hyderabad, India and a regional associate researcher of UNU-MERIT's LINK South Asia Rural Innovation Policy Studies Hub. She was awarded a PhD in Sociology of Science from University of Hyderabad in 2003. Her thesis explored the deployment of biotechnology. Laxmi joined CRISP in August 2004 where she has undertaken a variety of research studies including: an institutional history watershed research and development work at the International Crops Research Institute and a study the Non-Pesticide Management in Andhra Pradesh, India.  In 2006 she was awarded a fellowship to visit the Netherlands on the Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development.

Ekin Keskin is a PhD researcher of UNU-MERIT undertaking research on pro-poor innovation response capacity in Ethiopia as part of UNU-MERIT's LINK East Africa Rural Innovation Policy Studies Hub. She is a graduate of the Business Administration Department of the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University. She has worked as a researcher for the Turkish government and for a non-governmental organisation, The Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies in Ankara. She has an MSc in Science and Technology Studies from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, where she also worked as a research assistant prior to her PhD studies. She is currently based at the International Livestock Research Institute as a Graduate Fellow in the LINK project office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Her work focuses on development of response capacities to cope with evolving markets, norms and standards in the livestock sector in Ethiopia and Kenya.

Maija Hirvonen, a PhD student in Science and Technology Studies at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom recently visited UNU-MERIT's LINK South Asia Rural Innovation Policy Studies Hub in Hyderabad as part of her preliminary research into the evolution of bio-fuels policies and innovation practice in India. Prior to starting her PhD studies, Maija worked as a research assistant on UNU-MERIT’s Rural Innovation projects in Kenya, India and the Netherlands. She has a MSc. in Science and Technology Studies from the University of Edinburgh, and a BSc. in Biology from the University of Sussex.

LINK Associates

Norman Clark is Emeritus Professor at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. He is a LINK associate. Currently he is acting as Director of Research at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Nairobi; and Visiting Research Professor at the Open University, UK. Previously he was Vice Chancellor of Kabarak University, Nakuru, Kenya, and before that Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at the University of Strathclyde. He is a development economist specialising in science, technology and environmental policy issues with particular relevance to Third World problems, a field in which he has published extensively. He has lived and worked in many countries with particular concentration on Kenya, Nigeria and India. Previously he held academic posts at the Universities of Glasgow and Sussex. While at Sussex he acted as the Founding Director of Graduate Studies at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) where he worked for some 15 years and now holds the post of Honorary Professor. He has had some 30 years experience as an adviser and consultant to governments, international agencies and NGOs including the World Bank, UNCTAD, IDRC, DFID, ITDG, CGIAR, UN-Habitat, UNU and UNDP. He is a member of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Task Force Team 10 on Science, Technology and Innovation and is currently acting as an adviser to the NEPAD secretariat in Pretoria.

Mona Dhamankar is a freelance international development consultant and LINK associate. Her areas of specialisation include facilitator for project formulation, program evaluation, development orientation of professionals, process documentation, capacity building, and institutional development for field-based programs. Her domain expertise is in capacity building for rural extension and livestock-based livelihood interventions. At present she is on long term assignment with the National Dairy Development Board of India. As a consultant she has been a team member on evaluation design and implementation missions in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal and Bolivia for many of the international donors. Prior to that she worked for 14 years as a development professional in a large Indian NGO (BAIF) where she headed the organisation's Management Training Centre. Mona holds Masters degree's in Information Science and Sociology and is presently pursuing a PhD at the Department of Communication and Innovation Studies at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. She is a Fulbright Scholar (USDA-NAL 1991-92), a LEAD (Leadership in Environment and Development) fellow and is trained in human process facilitation at the intra-personal, interpersonal, inter-group dimensions and with collectivities, and is a versatile user of participatory video for development.

Rajeswari Raina is a rural innovation analyst at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi India and a LINK associate. She is an agricultural science graduate with a PhD in economics from the Centre for Development Studies, in Trivandrum, India. Her work focuses on changes within science, policy processes and other socio-political factors that enable effective generation and utilization of knowledge for rural development. Rajeswari's recent work explored the role of and need for financing rural innovation; the nature and extent of institutional change in cases of rural innovation; and institutional reform processes in conventional agricultural research organizations/disciplines. Recent publications analyse features of, and lessons from, successful innovation systems, contest the notion of political neutrality of science, emphasise the need to distinguish between institutional and organizational change in the agricultural sciences, and highlight the role of professional associations in fostering better practices and policies for effective utilization of knowledge in developing countries.