Dr. Jean Albergel, Emeritus Senior Scientist, Dr Albergel joined IRD (the French Research Institute for Sustainable Development) in 1979 and spent most of his working life in Africa; especially in semi-arid countries where he addressed four related scientific topics: (1) infiltration processes, runoff, erosion and fluxes transfers at the scale of cultivated catchments, (2) impacts of climate variability on water resources, (3) water and land management and ecosystem services under threat from climate change, (4) nexus water, energy, food security.

He has held the following positions in research management: (1) coordinator of the HYDROMED programme on small dams posted in Tunis (1995-2001), (2) laboratory director at the Montpellier Agricultural School (2001-2006), (3) representative of the French Research Institute (IRD) for East Africa, posted in Nairobi (2006-2012), (4) director of European affairs at the IRD headquarters (2012-2013), and (5) representative of the French research institutions in Southern Africa and director of the IRD-CNRS-CIRAD joint office in Pretoria (2013-2017), Special Advisor to Prof. Jean-Paul Moatti for the UN Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR 2019) and as director of the mission on expertise and consultancy (2017 – 2022). He retired in February 2022 with the status of Emeritus Senior Scientist and as Executive Secretary of the Commission for International Agricultural Research (CRAI) at the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.