Sonja Vermeulen

Sonja Vermeulen is Managing Director of Genetic Innovation, CGIAR.

She has served as Director of Programs at the CGIAR System Organization since 2019, coordinating the delivery of the CGIAR Research Programs and Platforms, and the development of the 2030 Research and Innovation Strategy. She previously held posts as WWF’s Global Food Lead Scientist, Head of Research at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS),  Director of the Programme on Business and Sustainable Development at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and Research Fellow at the University of Zimbabwe.

She is an Associate Fellow at the Sustainability Accelerator at Chatham House in London and served as a Commissioner on the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Sustainable Diets. She holds a BA and MA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Tropical Resource Ecology from the University of Zimbabwe, and a PhD in Population Biology from Imperial College London.