AI for Food Security Working Group

Aspen Digital has convened this group of experts building off of a year of research, interviews, workshops, and the Feeding the Future global survey. Their perspectives, informed by diverse technical, political, and geographic contexts, will help develop community-aligned AI benchmarks, new mechanisms for measuring AI progress.

The Working Group’s focus for 2026 is AI capabilities to promote inclusive land governance through participatory policy and legal processes, the top strategy identified by global food security practitioners in the Feeding the Future survey.

Thank you to Siegel Family Endowment for their support for this work and to Heila Precel for her research and facilitation.

Philipp Zimmer headshot

Philipp Zimmer

Applied AI Scientist, World Bank Group

Gisèle Yasmeen headshot

Gisèle Yasmeen

JW McConnell Professor of Practice, McGill University

Josh Woodard Headshot

Josh Woodard

Strategic Digital & Data Advisor, International Rice Research Institute

Ichsani Wheeler headshot

Ichsani Wheeler

Research Coordinator, OpenGeoHub Foundation

Caitlin Welsh headshot

Caitlin Welsh

Director, Global Food & Water Security Program, CSIS

Nicholas Vincent headshot

Nicholas Vincent

Assistant Professor, Simon Fraser University

Gabriel Tseng headshot

Gabriel Tseng

Research Scientist, Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence

Zane Swanson headshot

Zane Swanson

Deputy Director & Fellow,, Global Food & Water Security Program, CSIS

Ryan Shi headshot

Ryan Shi

Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh

Carmen Ruiz headshot

Carmen Ruiz

Director of Strategic Partnerships, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR)

Jona Repishti headshot

Jona Repishti

Director, Strategy & Data Insights, Digital Green

Shaolei Ren headshot

Shaolei Ren

Professor, University of California Riverside

John Reid headshot

John Reid

Executive Director, Center for Digital Agriculture, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Alpan Raval headshot

Alpan Raval

Chief Scientist, AI/ML, Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence

Naveen Raman headshot

Naveen Raman

PhD Student, Carnegie Mellon University

Nikolai Pushkarev headshot

Nikolai Pushkarev

Team Lead EU Policy for Food and Land Use Sectors, Agora Agriculture

Branka Panic headshot

Branka Panic

Founder and Executive Director, AI for Peace

Peter-Michael Osera headshot

Peter-Michael Osera

Associate Professor, Grinnell College

Rachel Oluwatuyi headshot

Rachel Oluwatuyi

Researcher, University of Cape Town

Kyle Newell headshot

Kyle Newell

Impact Ventures Lead, Impact Pathways

Dr. Catherine Nakalembe headshot

Catherine Nakalembe

Assistant Professor, University of Maryland

Howard Lakougna headshot

Howard Lakougna

Senior Program Officer, Gates Foundation

Mala Kumar headshot

Mala Kumar

Executive Director, Humane Intelligence

Katya Klinova headshot

Katya Klinova

Head of AI for Humanitarian and Development Action, United Nations

Samuel Klein headshot

Samuel Klein

Director, Concordance Project

Leah Kellenberger headshot

Leah Kellenberger

Program Manager, Cadasta Foundation

Francisco Jure headshot

Francisco Jure

EConomist and Technology Policy Professional, Johns Hopkins SAIS

Sonam Jindal headshot

Sonam Jindal

Researcher, Independent

James Henderson headshot

James Henderson

Agriculture Program Lead, Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data

Lara Groves headshot

Lara Groves

Senior Researcher, Ada Lovelace Institute

Gaurav Godhwani headshot

Gaurav Godhwani

Founder & CEO, CivicDataLab

Diego Garcia-Olano headshot

Diego Garcia-Olano

Senior Research Scientist, Meta

Fei Fang headshot

Fei Fang

Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon University

Alain Christian Essimi Biloa headshot

Alain Christian Essimi Biloa

Senior Land Governance Expert, International Land Coalition

Isaac Corley headshot

Isaac Corley

Director of AI/ML Research, Taylor Geospatial

Mike Cooper headshot

Mike Cooper

Researcher, Metagov

Avery Cohn headshot

Avery Cohn

Co-Lead, Clay: AI for Earth

Allegra Cohen headshot

Allegra Cohen

Program Director, AI Objectives Institute

Han Sheng Chia headshot

Han Sheng Chia

Director and Policy Fellow, AI Initiative, Center for Global Development

Carlos Centeno headshot

Carlos Centeno

Ethics & Technology Practitioner Fellow, Stanford University

Adriana Bora headshot

Adriana Bora

AI and Modern Slavery Researcher, Monash University

Dinesh Balam headshot

Dinesh Balam

Head of Food Systems, AI and Regenerative Agriculture, Indian School of Business

Duygu Altinok headshot

Duygu Altinok

Research Scientist, Independent

Hamed Alemohammad headshot

Hamed Alemohammad

Associate Professor, Clark University

Benson Adomako headshot

Benson Adomako

Development Economics Researcher, University of San Francisco

Zara Abdurahaman headshot

Zara Abdurahaman

Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND School of Public Policy

Heila Precel headshot

Heila Precel

Researcher, Boston University

Eleanor Tursman's headshot. A person with short hair, wearing glasses and a turtleneck, smiles at the camera.

Eleanor Tursman

Senior Researcher, Emerging Technologies

B Cavello's headshot. A person with short hair, wearing a turtleneck sweater, leans their head against their hand and looks at the camera.

B Cavello

Director, Emerging Technologies