Nuwan Waidyanatha

Nuwan Waidyanatha is Sr. Research Manager, LIRNEasia with LIRNEasia. He has a background in Operations Research and Computer Engineering, and has been working in the ICT4D field since 2005. Much of his research with LIRNEasia takes place in the Asia Pacific but he collaborates with partners around the world. He actively contributes to several free and open source software communities and holds an official position with the Sahana Software Foundation. He plays a key role in managing the partnership from Sri Lanka and working with Dr. Gow to establish the ICT testbed and evaluation methodology for the project.

Dr. Naomi Krogman

Naomi Krogman is a Professor in Rural and Environmental Sociology. She has done research in, or taught in, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mongolia, and India, all of which had a focus one way or the other on local resource management, community based-conservation, and the connections between well-being and environmental stewardship. She has taught the Sociology of Environment and Development, Gender and Development and Environmental Sociology for several years. Currently, she continues to work in the cross-cultural and interdisciplinary intersections that are changing and expanding the meaning and practice of sustainability, particularly in her capacity as Academic Director of the Office of Sustainability (2012-15).

Dr. Mary Beckie

Dr. Mary Beckie is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta and holds an interdisciplinary doctorate in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development from the University of Saskatchewan. Over the past fifteen years her work has focused on sustainable community development and community-based resource management, particularly as relates to agriculture and food. Her role in the partnership will be to provide intellectual leadership in the area of knowledge mobilization for sustainable agriculture. Her experience in community-based research provides important contribution to governance and collaboration.

Dr. Helen Hambly

In 2003, Helen Hambly joined the Capacity Development & Extension program in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph. She teaches communication and development as well as research design and qualitative analysis.

Before joining the UoG, Helen worked in international R&D programs in Africa, North Africa and Latin America. She worked for several years with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Broadly defined Helen’s research interest crosses information, communication and rural society. In Ontario, her research focuses on capacity development, media and communication process for agricultural knowledge translation and transfer, including the importance of rural broadband. With longstanding interest in development issues in Africa, especially those affecting women farmers, Helen has a project called Linking Agricultural Research and Rural Radio in Africa. Helen coordinates an OAC trust fund known as the Don Snowden Program in Communication for Development which has an important legacy in Canada and the world for communication and community development. With support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Snowden Program Helen has set up a multi-media lab for rural communication studies in SEDRD with links to universities around the world as well as community partners such as the campus/community radio station in Guelph CFRU 93.3 and the Keewaytin-Okimakanak Network.

Dr. Jessica Laccetti

Dr. Jessica Laccetti is currently leading a new master’s course on new media narratives that she has designed for the University of Alberta as well as advising on a new citation in social media. Besides lecturing, Dr. Laccetti also consults for government, NPOs and SMEs usually with a focus on social media in relation to education/learning or agriculture. Her current projects draw from interests such as transliteracy, new media, digital humanities, education, and agriculture . 

Dr. Laccetti has lectured at universities in the U.K. and Canada and has published papers in her areas of interest.  Dr. Laccetti's transdisciplinary Ph.D in Creative Technologies is from De Montfort University, her M.A. is from Royal Holloway, University of London and her joint honours B.A. is from the University of Waterloo.

You can connect with Dr. Laccetti on LinkedIn  and Twitter.

Mahmuda Anwar

Mahmuda Anwar is studying for an MSc in Capacity Development & Extension in the University of Guelph. She obtained MSc. in Soil Science from Agriculture University, Bangladesh in 2008. She has over 10 years of working experience in Agriculture Extension, Community IPM and media and communication development. She has served as an Agriculture Extension Officer under Ministry of Agriculture, Bangladesh(1994-98), Master Trainer in Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA) funded project(1998-2002 & 2004-2007), Agriculture Information Officer under Agriculture Information Service, Bangladesh( 2009-2010).

Mahmuda has working experience with government, non-government and donor agency as well as with end users at the field level. She has professional experience on tropical agriculture given emphasis on crop production and crop protection, skilled in organizing and facilitating training programs for farmers on agriculture crop production, farmers group formation and use of Information and Communication Technologies(ICTs)by the farmers.

Mahmuda has keen interest working with farmers specially with women in rural development in the field of agriculture, capacity development for farmers and media and communication development at the grassroots level. She has several professional trainings, trainers of training(ToT) and got exposure in international farming community in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Denmark. She is member of several professional agricultural organizations in Bangladesh.

Cody Skinner

Cody Skinner is a first year student in the Capacity Development and Extension MSc program at the University of Guelph. Within this project he will be examining the potential use of emerging ICT with rural radio projects. Interested in ICT for development, community informatics and communication for social and environmental change, Cody's Master's research will examine the use of ICT in climate change adaptation strategies in rural Ontario.