Alan Duncan

Alan Duncan is the overall project lead of the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action, a research initiative based in Nairobi, Kenya launched in 2021 by the University of Edinburgh, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Save the Children, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Community Jameel to harness data and technology to prevent climate shocks resulting in hunger in vulnerable livestock farming communities.

A zoologist by training, Alan is a livestock feed specialist and holds dual roles as professor of livestock and development at the University of Edinburgh and principal research scientist at the ILRI. He is interested in societal, economic and institutional barriers to improved livestock productivity and how livestock feed options improve the lives of smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia.

Alan holds a master’s degree from the University of Aberdeen and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, both in the field of livestock nutrition. With 30-plus post-PhD research career, Alan has previously worked at the James Hutton Institute before joining the ILRI as a livestock scientist in 2007 where he developed a portfolio of research for development projects on livestock systems in developing countries, and developed several participatory approaches to livestock feed improvement including the widely used Feed Assessment Tool (FEAST).