Dr Aldo Stroebel is Executive Director Strategic Partnerships at the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa, and Visiting Fellow at the Institute for African Development at Cornell University, USA. He serves as South Africa’s National Contact Point for the ERC to H2020, and on the boards of the Water Research Commission (WRC) and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC). He is a past President of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA). In 2017, he was admitted as a Foreign Fellow of the Ugandan National Academy of Science, and is a founding member of the SA Young Academy of Science (SAYAS). Education credentials: University of Pretoria (BSc- and Hons-degrees); University of Ghent, Belgium (Masters in International Agricultural Development); University of the Free State and Cornell University, USA (PhD); Postdoctoral research at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. He has published widely in smallholder farming systems, and has been acknowledged as a leader in internationalisation of Higher Education, and research and innovation management