I hails from a farming family in a tiny village Gudisagar in Navalagund taluk of Dharwad district, I took both my Bachelors and Masters degrees in Agriculture at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad in first class with distinction. My Masters with a specialization in Agronomy involved research into Integrated Nutrient Management in a rainfed Sunflower and Pigeonpea Inter-cropping System, which conclude that the 50 per cent of inorganic fertilizers can be saved with the incorporation of poultry manure or vermicompost.

Bayuni Shantiko has been working as research officer at Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) based in Bogor Indonesia since 2010. He works on several research topic such as land use change, tenure security, action research and value chains. He also engages as foresight practitioner, he has been working on the facilitation of foresight exercise working with range of stakeholders: government, private sectors, and rural communities. His current research involved regional timber value chains in ASEAN member countries.