Philip Thornton was a flagship leader for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) from 2010-2021 and a Principal Scientist at ILRI. Based in Edinburgh, he is a Research and Innovation Strategist with Clim-Eat, a think-and-do-tank in the Netherlands, and an Honorary Professor in the School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh. His research has centred on assessing, prioritizing and targeting adaptation options and policy support in smallholder farming systems. He received a BSc (Hons) degree in agricultural systems from Reading University in the UK and a PhD in farm management from Lincoln College in New Zealand. He has over thirty-five years’ experience in agricultural research for development in many countries throughout the tropics and subtropics, particularly in Africa and Latin America. He has contributed to several global assessments in the area of agriculture and food systems, including the IAASTD and the IPCC’s Fourth and Fifth Assessment reports, was a Lead Author for the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report for Working Group II, and contributed to background papers for the UN's 2021 Food Systems Summit.
