22 Facts About Calestous Juma

Calestous Juma was named one of the most influential 100 Africans in 2012,2013 and 2014 by the New African magazine.

Calestous Juma was Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of the Innovation for Economic Development Executive Program at Harvard Kennedy School.

Calestous Juma was elected to the Royal Society of London, the US National Academy of Sciences, Third World Academy of Sciences, the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, the African Academy of Sciences and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Calestous Juma grew up on the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria, where he obtained early education as one of the pioneer students of the Port Victoria Secondary School from 1968 to 1971.

Calestous Juma first worked as an elementary school teacher before becoming Africa's first science and environment journalist at Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.

Calestous Juma later joined the Nairobi-based Environment Liaison Centre International as a founder and editor of trilingual quarterly magazine, Ecoforum.

Calestous Juma later received an MSc in Science, Technology and Industrialization and a DPhil in Science and Technology Policy from the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex.

In 1988, Calestous Juma founded the African Centre for Technology Studies, Africa's first independent policy research institution designed to advance research on technology in development.

Calestous Juma made significant contributions to understanding the dynamic role of technological innovation in economic transformation in developing countries.

Calestous Juma developed the concept of "evolutionary technological change" to explain how socio-economic environments shape the adoption and diffusion of new technologies.

Calestous Juma directed the International Diffusion of Biotechnology Programme of the International Federation of Institutes of Advanced Studies.

Calestous Juma further provided international leadership in research, training and outreach through Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and advanced scholarship in this field as editor of the peer-reviewed International Journal of Technology and Globalisation.

Calestous Juma's research helped to improve understanding on the role of property rights in conservation under the rubric of "ecological jurisprudence" as outlined in the volume, In Land We Trust.

Calestous Juma's work guided international negotiations on the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity as documented in Biodiplomacy.

Calestous Juma later became Executive Secretary of the CBD where he advanced the use of scientific knowledge in conservation policy and practice.

Calestous Juma taught graduate courses on the role of science, technology, and innovation in development policy.

Calestous Juma taught an executive course for senior policy makers and practitioners.

Calestous Juma chaired the Global Challenges and Biotechnology of the US National Academy of Sciences and served as co-chair of the African High-Level Panel on Modern Biotechnology of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

Calestous Juma led international experts in outlining ways to apply science and technology to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals arising from the 2000 UN Millennium Summit.

Calestous Juma argues that institutions of higher learning, especially universities, should have a direct role in helping to solve development challenges.

In 2012 Calestous Juma was appointed by the African Union to chair its High-Level Panel on Science, Technology and Innovation.

In December 2014, Calestous Juma published "Global Risks of Rejecting Agricultural Biotechnology" on a website called "Genetic Literacy Project, Science trumps ideology" with the help of a Monsanto marketing firm and failed to disclose his communication with them.