Dr Clive James, an agricultural scientist and founder of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), was made an Honorary Fellow of Aberystwyth University on Friday afternnon (15th July).
Dr James was born in Llansaint near Kidwelly and graduated from Aberystwyth University in 1961 with a first degree in Agricultural Botany, followed by a PhD from Cambridge University.
He founded the ISAAA in 1990 in order to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and the acquisition and transfer of crop biotechnology applications from the industrial countries, for the benefit of resource-poor farmers in the developing world. The ISAAA is a not-for-profit charitable organisation and its mission is to alleviate hunger and poverty in the developing countries.
He emigrated to Canada in 1968, where he worked for Federal Departments of Canada Agriculture and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Prior to his association with ISAAA he was Deputy Director General at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico, where he worked with the late Dr Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who was the founding patron of ISAAA.
The last 25 years have been spent living and/or working in developing countries and he has served, as Senior Agricultural Adviser to the Canadian Bilateral Aid Agency, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
Dr James will be presented by Professor Wayne Powell, Director of the Institute of Biological,
Environmental and Rural Sciences.
He is one of seven Fellows to be honoured by Aberystwyth University during the 2011 Graduation Ceremonies which take place on 12, 13, 14 and 15 July.
