Meet our Team.

A Doctorate from the prestigious University of Cambridge (The UK), Dr. Navin Sharma has an illustrious research and development career and has 30 years of sound experience of working with prestigious multinational company like Unilever and also major Indian conglomerate like ITC Ltd. His career has been further enriched by the opportunity and experiences of his working for international organisation CGIAR. Besides industry and international development agencies, Dr. Sharma has also contributed to the academic sector through his stint as the Director Research at Amity University as Director Research (Amity Institute of Food Technology), at The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences & Technology (Bangalore) as Dean Research and at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (A DBT Institute) as Head – Resources and Planning.

Dr. Sharma was a recipient of the prestigious Cambridge Nehru Scholarship while doing his Ph.D from the University of Cambridge (UK). He was funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foods (UK) to do a Postdoc at the University of York (UK). Dr. Sharma was conferred the Star Alumnus award ‘Jawahar Ratna’ by JN Agriculture University. He has executed several international and Indian collaborations such as with CSIRO (Australia), CSIR (South Africa), EMBRAPA (Brazil), KeyGene (The Netherlands), FuturaGene (Israel), IISc and UAS Bangalore.

From 2013 to 2019, Dr. Sharma worked as Director (Internationally Recruited Scientist (IRS C7) with World Agro-forestry Centre (Nairobi), a part of CGIAR. During this stint, he worked with the bottom of pyramid and developed solutions for their stated and unstated needs on Foods and energy security. He got the opportunity to manage programmes of up to US$ 5 Million. He was also the leader of cluster of activity CoA 5.3 of phase II of CRP FTA in CGIAR. He was the architect of a global programme using agro-forestry systems and addressing the livelihood / sustainability challenges (Food-Nutrition & Energy)- demonstrated such system in three continents such as Asia (India), Africa (Kenya) and Latin America (Brazil). Dr. Sharma was also the observer at GBEP (FAO) and was invited speakers at many international conferences and has contributed to various policy dialogues.

Shri Pathak, a Graduate in Agriculture with specialization in Agri Entomology and Apiculture is currently working as the Board Member, Min. of Labour & Employment, ESIC, Govt. of India. He has worked with reputed and important Govt. agencies like APEDA (under Min of Commerce, Govt. of India) as a Member of the Executive Board and as the Board Member of various important Ministries like Min. of Railways, Min of Information and Broadcasting, Min of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Shri Pathak is adept in Project Advisory activities, critical backstopping, stakeholder management and establishing smooth linkages with various Govt. Agencies / Departments both at National level and also at State level in Assam.

Dr. Gerald Leppert is an Economist and political scientist (Ph.D.) with over 15 years of professional experience in research and evaluation with strong expertise in quantitative, mixed-methods, and impact assessments. A thematic focus on social risk management, climate change, social policy, and public health. Expert in climate change adaptation, residual climate risks, social resilience, micro (health) insurance, support systems for self- help and cooperative approaches, and health care financing.

Strong track record in leading and managing large and international research projects and complex evaluations with multiple stakeholders.  Extensive knowledge of state-of-the-art research and Monitoring, Evaluation and  learning (MEL) methods, from rigorous impact assessments and randomized controlled trials (RCTs), over mixed-methods designs, quantitative data analysis, to evidence synthesis. This includes (quasi-) experiments, quantitative surveys, causal analysis, multi-method/mixed-methods research, but also systematic reviews, meta-analysis, etc.

Worked as Senior Evaluator and Team Leader at the Competence Centre for Evaluation Methodology of the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), the University of Heidelberg (Global Health), and the University of Cologne (Social Policy; Cooperative

Studies). Managed and led large and international research and evaluation projects as well as cooperation projects, e.g., with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Department of Applied Earth Sciences (University of Twente), University of  Ghana, University of Malawi, University of Botswana.

Selected recent evaluations: • Evaluation of interventions for climate change adaptation” (2018-2022). Climate change adaptation, climate risks, climate finance. • “Instruments for managing residual climate risks” (2019-2021). Residual climate risks, limits of adapation, loss & damage, social risk management. • “Germany’s Contribution to the Forest and Climate Protection Programme REDD+” (2019-2020). Climate change mitigation, forest protection, rural development. • „Global evidence on climate change adaptation“ (2018-

2020). Climate risk management, development impacts, social resilience. • “Impact, diffusion and scaling-up of a comprehensive land use planning approach in the Philippines. From development cooperation to national policies towards achieving the SDGs” (2016-2018). Rigorous impact assessment, land-use planning disaster risk management, rural development.

Mr. Ghosh, a Post Graduate in Agriculture (Genetics and Plant Breeding and a MBA has a rich and illustrious industry experience of working at senior level position and at the level of Country Head. He has worked for various large sized multinational companies in agri inputs like Bayer Crop Sciences, Isagro etc. He has long years of experience in working in the plantation sector, particularly the tea sector in Assam and Dooars region in West Bengal. Mr. Ghosh adds diversity to the project team composition by bringing his hardcore expertise in management of commercial and financial aspects of large scale bankable and commercial projects. Besides, Mr. Ghosh is rich with hands-on, field level experience and knowledge of crop protection and good agricultural practices which forms an important success factor for profitable formulation, implementation and commercially viable project related crop plants and natural resources in the plant kingdom including tree species.

Prof Kausik Pradhan is currently working as Professor and Head of the Department of Agricultural Extension, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Cooch Behar, West Bengal. He is a Ph. D. in Agriculture Extension from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal and has an illustrious career and contribution to the intricate aspects of agri extension and enabling the last mile connectivity and dissemination of latest innovations in agri & allied sectors to the fields of the farmers and rural stakeholders. In his career spanning over almost two decades, besides an active role in academics, teaching, research and extension activities in agri sector, Prof Pradhan has also been a part of various important projects and initiatives of various reputed agencies. As a Socio-Economist, Prof. Pradhan was associated with projects sponsored by Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); as a Member Secretary in initiatives funded by ICAR-NAARM under NAHEP-2A, as an active member of “National Information System on Agricultural Education Network in India (NISAgNET)”, as a consultant and senior member of study teams for projects under Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, GoI and various other National and International projects.

Prof Pradhan is a Life Member of various associations / bodies like Indian Society of Extension Education, IARI, New Delhi; Society of Extension Education, Bhubaneswar, Odisha; Global Association for Humanities and Social Science Research (GAHSSR); International Society for Research and Development (ISRD); Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA etc. Till date, Prof. Pradhan has supervised more than 10 Ph.D dissertation work besides being playing instrumental roles in design and development of a large number of advanced courses and skill development programmes.

 Pinaki Ranjan Dey is a trained business management and consulting industry professional (MBA- International Business Consulting from Germany) with a Bachelors in Agriculture Sciences (B. Sc Agri from India) and has over 20 years of experience in consulting across agribusiness value chain including project implementation. He has been associated with large scale World Bank funded projects in India in agri and allied sector as an agri-marketing expert. He also supports various Government agencies / departments in some of the States and in North Eastern region in livelihood development, agri-entrepreneurship development and studies in agri and allied sectors apart from supporting few agribusiness consulting organizations as their Agribusiness Expert and Retainer Expert. He has travelled to more than 15 overseas locations outside India and worked extensively in several countries on various field level agribusiness projects related assignments including African nations like Zambia, Uganda, Central African Republic. He specializes in Detailed Project Report, Value Chain Studies, Feasibility Studies, On-field Project Implementation Support, Training & Capacity Building, Agribusiness Knowledge Management, Data Analytics, Monitoring & Evaluation, Livelihood Development, International Agribusiness Marketing, Agribusiness Consulting Project Management and Agri Marketing Strategy Development. He brings with him proficiency of financial analysis vis-à-vis the techno-commercial aspects of agribusiness and crop cultivation along with expertise in identifying convergence of different industry sectors and their overarching and cross-cutting implications on agribusiness sector. He also has indepth understanding of emerging and disruptive technologies impacting global agri value chain.

Science graduate with an MBA in International Business & Marketing, started with the automobile industry. Spearheaded business development for India's leading print media for half a decade. Driven growth strategies for an audio-visual news media for number of years. Contributing to audience engagement and brand development through advertisements at a leading entertainment TV network for long with Corporate and retail businesses.

Work Ex: 16+ Years