The Director of the Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START), Dr. Hassan Virji will talk about ‘Transdisciplinary Research, Transformative Change and Leadership: Essential ingredients for Sustainable Development’ in a Seminar to be held on 14 October 2013 at the Operations Room, Abelardo M. Samonte Bldg. University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), College, Laguna. This Seminar is organized by UPLB in partnership with the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) and the OML Center.

Dr. Virji holds academic degrees from the Universities of Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Wisconsin. He was on the academic and research faculty at the University of Nairobi and the University of Wisconsin, and was a Senior Fellow at the Wissenschaft Kolleg in Berlin. He has worked as the Program Director for the Climate Dynamics Program of the US National Science Foundation, Deputy Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, and Executive Secretary of the US Inter-agency Subcommittee on Global Change Research where he was involved in setting up the US Global Change Research Program.

He is a Lifetime National Associate of the National Research Council of the National Academies of the USA and a member of the Governing Boards of the International Centers of excellence located at CSIR/South Africa and the Academia Sinica/Taipei. Dr Virji is also a member of the International Steering Board of UK-based Education, Learning, and research for Humanitarian Assistance, and member of the Board of Civilian Research and Development Foundation of USA. He serves on the editorial boards of “Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability” and “Advances in Climate Change Research”.