Steering Committee

Established Professor (Chair) of Plant Science & Director of Ryan Institute for Sustainable Development, National University College Galway

Prof. Spillane established the Plant & AgriBiosciences Research Centre (PABC) in NUI Galway, and also the Masters degree programs in Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (MScCCAFS) in partnership with the CGIAR’s Global Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) CRP programme. In 2017, Prof. Spillane was appointed as the Director of the Ryan Institute for Sustainable Development at NUI Galway, where he leads the strategic development of the Ryan Institute as NUI Galway’s largest research institute spanning the entire university. The Ryan Institute is comprised of 100 research groups and 12 research centres with over 500 full time researchers, including 111 Postdoctoral Fellows, 54 Research Assistants, and over 243 PhD students. The Ryan Institute has four thematic research areas, including agriculture and bioeconomy, which are aligned to impact pathways and theories of change relating to realising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Patrice is the coordinator of IFIAD, bringing eight year’s experience in agriculture and markets development, and natural resource management in East and Southern Africa. Patrice has previously worked with UNDP, Irish Aid and Ecorys (Zambia).

Don’s focus is on income generation activities and livelihoods projects. He supports Misean Cara member organisations by assessing funding applications, liaising with Development Mentors, and taking part in monitoring field visits. Don has a Degree in Civil Engineering from Dublin Institute of Technology and a Master’s Degree in Charity Management from Dublin City University (DCU). Don has over 15 years of International experience in the Emergency and Development sector, working in South Sudan and East Africa between 2005 and 2009. He is passionate about the SDGs, Soil health and building back better.

Director of the Masters in International Development Practice, School of Geography & Ryan Institute for Sustainable Development –University College Galway

Dr Una Murray lectures in policy and programme planning, and lectures on gender and climate justice on a MSc in Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. Una began her international development career at FAO in the 1990s, and since 2000 began working more broadly as an Evaluator and Consultant across a wide range of UN organisations (e.g. ILO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNECE, UN Vienna), as well as bilateral organisations (including Irish Aid, DFID), focusing on topics such as migration, labour, social protection, gender, and social inclusion across a range of sectors (agriculture, climate). Most recently, in 2022, Una worked with the FAO NENA office to be the key editor for the NENA region State of the World Land and Water Resources. She worked as a gender advisor on FAO projects including a Lao PDR on a rice-fish aquaculture for UNDP/FAO project; an FAO/EU earthquake rehabilitation project in the Philippines (CASCADE).

Orla Kilcullen, has been Programmes Director with Self Help Africa since 2015. She has field and head office experience in long-term development programming through innovative approaches in agriculture and agribusiness and in emergency programming with prior experience in the private sector as a commercial bid manager. Her experience includes strategy development and implementing and supporting programmes in South America, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Self Help Africa (SHA) is an international NGO dedicated to the vision of an economically thriving and resilient rural Africa. Headquartered in Ireland, SHA creates scalable and sustainable solutions to eradicating long-term poverty through knowledge transfer, investment, and market linkages.

In 2021, Self Help Africa merged with United Purpose. This doubled our size and created an international NGO that is implementing projects to end extreme hunger and poverty across 17 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Collectively a part of the wider Gorta Group, which also includes social enterprise subsidiaries Partner Africa, TruTrade and Cumo Microfinance, the organisation will work with close to six million people this year.

Patrick is Deputy Director, Policy Unit, Development Co-operation & Africa Division, Department of Foreign Affairs.

David Butler, Head of Sustainable Food Systems Ireland (SFSI), has over 25 years’ experience in the delivery of publicly funded developmental services and projects in the fields of agri-food, SME development, investment promotion and new market development. He is responsible for oversight and management of all SFSI operations and the technical assistance and co-operation projects that it undertakes around the world. Prior to joining SFSI, David managed the food investment promotion programme of Enterprise Ireland.

He also worked in enterprise development with the same organisation and was Commercial Counsellor/Enterprise Ireland Country Manager at the Embassy of Ireland in Budapest, Hungary between 2005 and 2010. Prior to this David worked with IDA Ireland in investment promotion, and private sector trade and SME consultancy roles. He has a BComm Degree from University College Dublin and a Master of Business Studies Degree from the Smurfit Graduate School of Business.

Paul is Head of International Relations and Corporate Strategy

Previously, Paul Maher led the strategic development and modernisation of the Teagasc advisory and life-long learning programmes in his role as Assistant Director of Knowledge Transfer. Prior to that he worked in Teagasc in organisation wide functions such as business evaluation, business planning and risk management as well as farm financial management, advisory and education roles. He also worked in Ireland and New Zealand in commercial and agri-extension roles. He is a graduate of UCD with a Bachelor and Masters in Agricultural Science and also holds a post graduate qualification in business studies from WIT.

Paul Wagstaff is the Head of the Global Technical Advisory and Research Team,
Self Help Africa

 Before joining SHA Paul was an agriculture advisor with Concern Worldwide, working on Climate Smart Agriculture, Conservation Agriculture, agriculture and nutrition, crop protection, soil and water conservation, and rodent control in 25 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. While working for Concern he provided technical support to the CRAM project in Chad on the interactions between agriculture, livestock, climate change and child nutrition, which triggered his interest in the One Health debate. Paul has a MSc in Tropical Agroforestry, lived in East Africa and Nepal and has worked for a range of National Governments, the EU and development NGOs.

Vita is a smart, successful, next-generation Irish development partner that has been supporting farmers and communities in Africa for over 32 years. Vita’s goal is to facilitate thriving rural climate-smart economies in Africa with access to services, markets, and livelihoods for all. John’s background is in forestry where he was CEO of Coillte Consult where over the next 10 years he worked across Africa and central Europe on a wide range of EU and World Bank development projects.  John has worked with Vita since 2009, where he coordinated the formation of the Irish Potato Coalition.

John is currently a desk officer with Concern Worldwide based in Ireland with responsibility for Sierra Leone and Liberia. This includes providing support in the design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of both country programmes. It involves keeping up to date on current thinking and best practices and engaging at organisational and country level at a strategic and policy level. John has over 20 years overseas development experience and has worked in: Namibia, Afghanistan, Liberia, DPRK, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Lebanon. Contexts ranged from post conflict to transition, to development and across multiple sectors including health, nutrition, WASH, livelihoods, food security and emergencies. Specific experience in the areas of food security and agriculture, WASH, nutrition programmes and programme evaluations. He has an MSc in Rural Development for University College Dublin and an MSc in Farm and Rural Business Management from Aberdeen University in Scotland. John is from a farming background and initially trained as a farm manager in Ireland with work experience in New Zealand and Australia. John has a keen interest in sustainable farming systems including regenerative agriculture and has evaluated conservation agriculture programmes in Malawi and Zambia.

Dr Monica Gorman is lecturer in Agricultural Extension and Innovation in the School of Agriculture and Food Science since September 2013. From a farming background in Co Wicklow, Dr Gorman has held senior management roles for a range of organisations in Ireland and in Africa including Oxfam, Self Help Africa, APSO, IUCN, Irish Aid and Concern Worldwide. She has done extensive consultancy work for a range of clients in the area of rural development, adult education, communications and organisational change management.

Isabella Rae holds a Ph.D. in International Law and an LLM in International Human Rights Law. She is Head of Policy and Research with Gorta-Self Help Africa (GSHA). Prior to GSHA, she worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Bioversity International, and the World Food Programme (WFP). She has experience in the design and management of technical cooperation programmes, with emphasis on Eastern and Western Africa, and with policy analysis and development. She is Peer Reviewer with the Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Rights Law, New York, and is a visiting lecturer in International Human Rights Law.  She has designed and delivered training courses in food security and international law for parliamentarians and the judiciary in Uganda, Mali, Senegal and Togo. She has published in areas of women’s rights, food security and the right to food.