CGIAR Integrated Partnership Board, Member
Dr Rachel Chikwamba is the Group Executive for Advanced Chemistry and Life Sciences at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a premier African research and technology organisation. With a PhD in Genetics, Chikwamba rose through the research and innovation ranks to the position of Chief Scientist and went on to become an executive responsible for key portfolios, including organisational strategic partnerships and business development.
In recent roles, she has been the lead executive in the development of the CSIR’s current organisational strategy, as well as the commercialisation strategy, culminating in the launch of the CSIR’s standalone company, mandated to commercialise research outputs across the organisation’s many disciplinary focus areas. In her current and other roles, Chikwamba has been responsible for leading businesses with different focus areas, but a common mandate and vision.
In her current role, she leads a portfolio or research, development and innovation that encompasses agriculture and food, chemicals, materials, pharmaceuticals, health and related sectors, working collaboratively with local and global partners. She has mobilised resources from competitive sources national private and public partnerships, development banks, foundations, international public funders such as the European Commission framework, among others.
Chikwamba has served on advisory and governance boards of organisations in agriculture and health, including ACCESS, ICRISAT-IN, ACIAR, Wits Health Consortium, the South Africa Medical Research Council, among others. She also serves on the high-level African Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET), advising the African Union Member States on harnessing established and emerging technologies for Africa’s economic development.