Year of Honorary Fellowship, 2001
Professor George Hendrich Ludwig Rothschild is a dual British-Australian citizen with over 50 years of post-doctoral experience of research and development in low and middle income countries with lengthy periods of residence in two South-East Asia countries, and shorter-term assignments elsewhere in 40 developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
He obtained a BSc (Hons) at the University of Nottingham – UK in 1959, and a PhD and DIC from the Imperial College of Science & Technology – UK in 1962. His ‘hands-on’ research spanned the first 30 years of his career (up to 1987), mostly in insect pest behaviour and ecology, and their application in integrated pest management; this included 17 years as Chief Research Scientist and Deputy Divisional Chief at the Commonwealth Scientific &Industrial Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, but also assignments in Asia during that time.
From 1987 through 1998, Professor Rothschild held various positions including Foundation Director of the then Australian Bureau of Rural Science (BRS), CEO of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and Director-General of the CGIAR International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). He also served for some time as the lead technical adviser to several Australian Federal Government Ministers – including the Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, three successive Ministers for Overseas Development, and the Minister for Primary Industries & Energy.
Professor Rothschild joined NRI in 1998 on a part-time basis, assisting the then Director with resource mobilisation and policy issues, and since retirement in 2001 has worked for NRI in various projects funded by the European Commission, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and others. From 2005-2015, he was a part-time programme advisor for Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Chemical Regulatory Directorate (CRD), and is presently (2019) working in two projects in Africa and another in Myanmar.
Throughout his career and up to the present he has served as Chair or Member of the governing Boards of a number of international organisations, including:
- Chair of Board of CGIAR ‘Challenge Programme on Water & Food’ (CPWF). 2008-2011.
- Chair of Board of ’International Centre for Underutilised Crops’/ ‘Crops for the Future’. 2005-2009.
- Chair of ‘European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development’ (EFARD). 2007-2010.
- Chair of ‘UK Forum on Agricultural Research for Development’ (UKFARD). 2007-present.
- Member of FCDO RNRRS Crop Protection Research Advisory Committee. 1999-2006.
- Member of FCDO RNRRS Plant Sciences Research Programme Advisory Committee 2000-2006.
- Member of Governing Board of CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International). 1992-2000.
- Member of Board of Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS). 1995-97.
- Member of Committee of International Plant Protection Congresses. 1986-89.
- Vice-President of Australian Entomological Society. 1984-88.
