M. Jahi Chappell has worked across several disciplines and sectors in his career. After an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and a stint as a formulator for a consumer products company, he returned to graduate school and completed a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan. He was subsequently a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University’s Department of Science and Technology Studies, followed by three years as an assistant professor of environmental science and justice at Washington State University Vancouver. From 2012-2013, he additionally served as the Associate Director of the WSU Vancouver’s Center for Social and Environmental Research. In 2013, he left WSU to serve as Director of Agroecology and Agricultural Policy and then Senior Staff Scientist at an NGO, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. During his time there, he spearheaded an open letter to the Secretary-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that helped to solidify the FAO’s commitment to agroecology. He has consulted for the La Vía Campesina, the FAO, and the World Future Council. His first book, Beginning to end hunger: Food and the environment in Brazil and beyond, will be published in 2017 by the University of California Press.

Ways, places and opportunities for food sovereignty to be institutionalised; Defining and designing policies from the local to international scale to support food security, sustainability, and biodiversity conservation