Born in 1979 in Berlin and at present resident in Zurich, Dr. Nadja El Benni has worked as a Senior Scientist in the Socioeconomics Group at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) since November 2015. In her current capacity she is responsible for the Market and Consumer Research Division as well as nutritional policy, heads national and international projects, and is involved in the acquisition of third-party funds. The key areas of her current projects are market and market-potential analyses. In national and international agricultural economics research she works in partnership with researchers from the ETH Zurich, the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL), the University of Wageningen (Netherlands), the Thünen Institute in Braunschweig (Germany) and the University of Bonn (Germany), among others. At Agroscope, the Swiss Federal Centre of Excellence for Research in the Agriculture and Food Sector, she will be taking over the reins of the ‘Competitiveness and System Evaluation’ Strategic Research Division.

Education and research in Germany and Switzerland

After doing a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences at Humboldt University in Berlin, Nadja El Benni went on to complete a Master’s in Agricultural Economics at the ETH Zurich, where she then obtained her PhD in Agricultural Economics, as well as a postgraduate diploma in Applied Statistics from the Department of Mathematics. Nadja El Benni’s previous and current activities are closely associated with those of the ‘Competitiveness and System Evaluation’ Research Division, with one of her research projects e.g. involving the evaluation of the impact of agricultural policy measures on the income situation of farms in Switzerland. The analysis of agricultural markets and the competitiveness of Swiss agriculture were also an integral part of her position at the ETH Zurich and the University of Technology and Economics in Chur (HTW Chur), as well as her current post at the FiBL. Before taking up her job at the FiBL, she was a Senior Methodologist in charge of the ‘Methods Competence Centre’ Administrative Department at the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) in Bonn.

Sound knowledge of Swiss agricultural economics and agricultural policy

Competitiveness is a key topic in the Swiss agriculture and food sector. The main duty of the person responsible for Agroscope’s ‘Competitiveness and System Evaluation’ Strategic Research Division is therefore to successfully position and further develop this new division in both the national and international sphere according to the stated strategic objectives. With her sound knowledge of the Swiss agriculture and food sector, her topic-related experience, her scientific track record and her international networking, Nadja El Benni offers the ideal prerequisites for accomplishing this task.

Agroscope from 2017

As part of the reconfiguration of Agroscope announced by Agroscope Council on 6 April 2016, ten new management units – seven Strategic Research Divisions and three Spheres of Competence for Research Technology and Knowledge Exchange – will be created as of 2017. The reconfiguration will enable Agroscope to deal optimally with the concerns of the different stakeholder groups, including farmers, companies, associations, public authorities and the science sector. Agroscope’s new Executive Board commenced preparations for the 1 January 2017 start back in June; Nadja El Benni will be joining the Board from 1 January 2017.

Nadja El Benni to head ‘Competitiveness and System Evaluation’ Research Division