Elke, with a background in agriculture, natural resource management and environment, contributes to systems research at glocolearning. She has over fifteen years of experience in agricultural research for development, where she worked primarily with CGIAR Centers, such as the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in Benin and Tanzania, and the International Potato Center (CIP) in Rwanda. Her work has focused on sustainable intensification, diversification, and climate resilience in mixed smallholder farming systems. During her work as a systems agronomist in various countries across sub-Sahara Africa, and a Country Representative for CIP, she has engaged public, civil society and private sector stakeholders in project implementation and the development and scaling of agricultural innovations.
Elke is particularly interested in working at the intersection of agriculture, climate change and natural resources - enhancing our understanding of the complex interactions between agriculture and the environment to inform evidence-based strategies and policies. She holds a PhD and an MSc in Bioscience Engineering from the University of Leuven in Belgium.