Dr Petronella Chaminuka is the Head of the Economic Analysis Unit of the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa. Petronella is energetic and driven by a passion to build capacity for scientific research amongst young scholars and to inspire them to develop emotional intelligence skills. Because of her PhD training in multi-disciplinary research at Wageningen University, Petronella has an interest in a number of research areas related to agricultural economics, including economics of research and technology policy, poverty and livelihoods analysis, and land-use modelling. She has more than 20 years’ international work experience in university teaching and research, postgraduate student supervision, and consultancy. Petronella has authored more than 50 publications (journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings) and has participated in various international multi-disciplinary research projects. Her PhD work was awarded funding by the World Conservation Society and the International Foundation for Science (IFS). She is currently serving as a Scaling Advisor for Science on the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) scalingXchange project. Outside of work, Petronella loves to cook and contribute to the empowerment of young women in her church.
