From Davis to Nairobi: IAD Alumni Leading CGIAR Climate Action and Scaling for Impact

When hundreds of researchers, practitioners, funders and partners gathered at the International Livestock Research Institute campus in Nairobi for CGIAR Scaling Week, UC Davis was represented in a particularly meaningful way.

Todd Rosenstock and Timothy “Tim” Krupnik - both graduates of the UC Davis master’s program in International Agricultural Development - now lead two of CGIAR’s major systemwide research programs. Rosenstock serves as Director of the CGIAR Climate Action Program, while Krupnik is Director of CGIAR’s Scaling for Impact Program, which convened Scaling Week.

For Erin McGuire, Executive Director of the International Agricultural Development Graduate Program (and an IAD alumna), it was a pleasure to reconnect with two IAD alumni whose careers demonstrate what interdisciplinary agricultural development can look like in practice.

From interdisciplinary training to global leadership

Although their careers have taken them through different regions and research areas, Rosenstock and Krupnik share an important foundation. Both combined graduate study in International Agricultural Development with doctoral training in fields related to agroecology and environmental systems at UC Davis.

That combination—technical expertise grounded in an understanding of institutions, livelihoods, partnerships and development processes—has remained visible throughout their careers.

Today, both work at the intersection of science and delivery. Their central question is no longer simply whether an agricultural innovation works. It is whether that innovation responds to real demand, can move through complex food systems, and can generate durable benefits for farmers and communities without producing unintended social or environmental consequences.

Timothy Krupnik: Building pathways from research to impact

Timothy Krupnik holds an M.S. in International Agricultural Development and a Ph.D. in environmental studies, with a focus on agroecology, from UC Davis.

Over more than two decades, his work has spanned Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Before assuming his current CGIAR-wide position, Krupnik served as a Principal Scientist and regional leader within CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems Program. He was also CIMMYT’s Country Representative and CGIAR Country Convener in Bangladesh, representing CGIAR in senior-level engagement with government and research partners.

Krupnik led major multi-institutional programs including the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia and Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia. These initiatives brought together agricultural research, policy engagement, partnerships and market systems to address productivity, resilience and livelihood challenges across the region.

As Director of CGIAR’s Scaling for Impact Program, Krupnik now leads CGIAR’s first systemwide program devoted specifically to accelerating the uptake and use of demand-led, evidence-based innovations. Its work recognizes that successful scaling requires much more than identifying an effective technology. It requires understanding incentives, markets, finance, policies, delivery systems, local capacity and the different consequences an innovation may have for different groups.

Todd Rosenstock: Connecting climate science with decisions

Todd Rosenstock holds an M.S. in International Agricultural Development and a Ph.D. in ecology from UC Davis. Earlier in his career, he studied the causes and consequences of changes to the nitrogen cycle in California. His work subsequently moved into smallholder farming systems across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Rosenstock spent nearly a decade with World Agroforestry, working from Nairobi and Kinshasa. There, he investigated the relationships among smallholder agriculture, food production, soil health, livelihoods and climate change. His research drew on field experiments, data synthesis and modeling, but it was consistently oriented toward a practical challenge: making environmental evidence useful for policy and investment.

He later became a Principal Scientist with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. His work included improving how agricultural adaptation is tracked and how climate data can inform investment and policymaking. Among the initiatives he helped lead are Adaptation Insights, which strengthens the availability and use of adaptation data in Africa, and the Africa Agriculture Adaptation Atlas, which supports countries and funders in identifying climate risks and prioritizing action.

Rosenstock has also contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report, particularly its work on mitigation in agriculture and land use.

Now, as Director of CGIAR’s Climate Action Program, Rosenstock leads a cross-institutional partnership designed to connect climate science, innovation and action across agrifood, land and water systems. The program’s emphasis is not simply on producing more evidence, but on ensuring that evidence reaches the producers, investors and policymakers who can act on it.

Scaling Week: Asking what it really takes to create impact

Held September 22–24, 2026, Scaling Week brought approximately 300 members of the global scaling community together at ILRI’s Nairobi campus. Rather than relying only on conventional presentations, the event was organized around open-space discussions, interactive sessions, demonstrations and opportunities for participants to identify their own questions and needs.

The agenda reflects the breadth of the scaling challenge: responsible scaling in fragile settings; equity, legitimacy and power; demand-driven research; climate and nature finance; evaluation; partnerships; development finance; youth leadership; gender-responsive scaling; and the difficult question of who will pay for scale as traditional aid budgets decline.

One session shares lessons from 19 flagship solution-scaling tracks within the Scaling for Impact Program, examining why technically sound innovations sometimes take root—and why they often stall when finance, infrastructure, inputs, institutional mandates or capable delivery partners are missing. Another focuses on mobilizing climate and nature finance, an issue closely connected to the Climate Action Program’s work.

Together, the programs led by Krupnik and Rosenstock address two deeply connected challenges. Agrifood systems urgently need to adapt to climate change and reduce emissions. At the same time, climate-smart innovations will have little effect unless institutions and partners can move them beyond individual research projects and into sustained use.

Responsible scaling

McGuire was also at Scaling Week to speak about responsible scaling, alongside Esther Kihoro, a scientist at ILRI working with CGIAR’s Scaling for Impact Program; Ojong Enokenwa Baa of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI); Hanna Ewell of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT; and Rashmi Ekka, a UC Davis MBA.

Their discussions focused on who benefits when innovations scale, who carries the risks, and who has a say in those decisions. These questions are central to how IAD prepares students to turn agricultural research into lasting, equitable impact.

The enduring value of IAD

Seeing Todd and Tim in leadership at Scaling Week was also a reminder of what the IAD program has long sought to cultivate.

Agricultural development professionals need scientific and technical knowledge, but they must also understand people, institutions, political economies and the unequal ways change can affect communities. They need to work across disciplines, build partnerships, listen for demand and recognize that innovations do not move through the world on technical merit alone.

Todd Rosenstock and Timothy Krupnik have built distinct careers, but both have carried this systems perspective into their work. Today, they are helping CGIAR confront two of the defining questions in global agricultural development: how food systems can respond to a changing climate, and how research can translate into responsible impact at scale.

For current and future IAD students, their paths offer a powerful example of where interdisciplinary training—and a sustained commitment to connecting knowledge with action—can lead.