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From the stage of the 30th Anniversary celebration of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in India, Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food Prize, announced that Dr. Madhura Swaminathan has joined the Foundation’s Council of Advisors.
“I am extremely pleased to be able to announce today that Dr. Madhura Swaminathan, the Chair of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, has accepted our invitation to join the World Food Prize Council of Advisors,” said Amb. Quinn. “It is particularly meaningful that I could make this information public in Chennai, India, while attending the 30th anniversary celebration of the founding of the MSSRF and in the presence of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the first World Food Prize Laureate and the closest collaborator with Dr. Norman Borlaug in igniting the Green Revolution in the 1960s.”
On the Council, Dr. Swaminathan will review, advise and guide the World Food Prize leadership on their policies as well as the design and implementation of Foundation programs. Other responsibilities delegated to Dr. Swaminathan include participating in appointing members of the World Food Prize Laureate Selection Committee and endorsing the Selection Committee’s choice of a new Laureate each year.
“Food is a basic human necessity,” said Swaminathan. “The World Food Prize, initiated by Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recognizes people and institutions across the world working to address the problems of hunger and food insecurity. It is an honour to join the Advisory Council of the World Food Prize.”
Dr. Swaminthan currently serves as a professor and head of the Economic Analysis Unit at the Indian Statistical Institute in Bangalore. She was a member of the Government of India’s High Level Panel on Long Term Food Security and has served on the Committee of Development Policy of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations from 2013 to 2015. She has authored numerous books and publications and most recently she was a contributing author of the Report on ‘Multi-stakeholder Partnerships to Finance and Improve Food Security and Nutrition in the Framework of the 2030 Agenda’ by the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in Rome.
Dr. Swaminthan received her PhD in Economics from the University of Oxford.
Press Contact:
Nicole Barreca, Director of Communications and Events
+1.515.245.3735 (direct) or nbarreca@worldfoodprize.org
About the World Food Prize: The World Food Prize is an international award that honors individuals who have improved the quality, quantity, or availability of food world-wide. The Prize was founded by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, for his work that contributed to increases in agricultural outputs which was termed the Green Revolution. Since then, the Prize has been awarded to 49 worthy individuals during the Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium. The Symposium, also known as the Borlaug Dialogue, is a week of events dedicated to an issue surrounding food insecurity or hunger each year.
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