Simone R. Sterly (maiden name Schiller) has an MSc. in Agricultural Sciences. She has over fifteen years of professional experience in research, project management, consulting and in development cooperation. Her focus is on sustainability of agriculture and rural development applying methods of transdisciplinary research, scenario development and policy analysis.

Since 2007 she is working as senior researcher, and since 2008 as head of unit at the Institute for Rural Development Research (IfLS). In that position she has, amongst others, coordinated the EU FP7 project ‘Assessing the impact of rural development policies’ (RuDI, 2008-2010) and participated in the FP7 project ‘Transition pathways to sustainable agriculture’ (FarmPath, 2011-2014). Simone currently is the manager of the Ruragri ERA-Net project ‘RETHINK - Rethinking the links between farm modernization, rural development and resilience in a world of increasing demands and finite resources’ (2013-2016). She is currently working in the EU projects IMPRESA and PEGASUS.

Between 2000 and 2006 she has worked as agricultural and economic development advisor for the German Development Cooperation (now GIZ) in different positions in Ghana and Cambodia. In that context she has made experiences with different agricultural extension and innovation approaches such as the PTD (Participatory Technology Development) and the Farmer Promoter. In particular she has been working in a pilot project on organic rice production and exxport. As a former trainer and tutor she has extensive capacity building and facilitation experiences.