Director General at International Food Policy Research Institute

Johan Swinnen has served as Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) since 2020.

Previously, he was a professor of economics and director of the LICOS Centre for Institutions & Economic Performance at KU Leuven (Belgium), lead economist at the World Bank, economic adviser to the European Commission and a frequent adviser to international organizations.

Dr. Swinnen earned his PhD from Cornell University. He is a fellow of both the AAEA and EAAE and served as president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists.

He has published extensively on agricultural and food policies, international development, political economy, institutional reform, trade and global value chains. His work has received numerous awards, including for his books The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies (2018) and COVID-19 and Global Food Security (2020). His most recent books are The Political Economy of Food Systems Transformation (2023) and Food Policy: Lessons and Priorities for a Changing World (2025).