D.Watson grew up on small family-farm in northeast England & has over 30 years of commercial farming experience. He has a BSc in Agricultural Botany from the University of Reading, UK, & an MSc and PhD in food system development from the University of Hull, UK. Throughout the 1990s, he taught courses on Sustainable Agriculture and Environment at the University of Hull. During the past 10 years, he has managed research-for-development partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa; first as program leader for innovative partnerships in the Innovation Systems Programme of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and more recently as Director for Project Development and Management at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Major achievements include the adoption of innovation systems & value chain approaches in IITA. Key aims of his professional career include ensuring that agricultural research is demand-driven and leads to significant development outcomes & impact