Julius Adewopo is a Digital Agriculture Innovation and Geodata Scientist at IITA. Within the past 14 years, he has acquired multidisciplinary experience in leading research in agricultural system sustainability, geospatial analytics, and emerging technologies. He earned his Ph.D. in Soil and Water Science from the University of Florida (UF), M.Sc. in Forest Resources from the University of Arkansas-Monticello, and Bachelor’s degree in Forestry and Wood Technology from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. His broad collaborations reflect the scope of his research interests in digital agricultural development, data-driven decision-support for agronomy, human-centered design for innovations, and impact-driven scaling of technologies. His outstanding accomplishments have earned him numerous recognitions including award for excellence from the International Union of Forestry Research Organization (IUFRO), induction into the Gamma Sigma Delta Agriculture Honor Society, and the Future Africa Award for Agriculture. In 2019, he was honored with the Louis Malassis Laureate award by the Agropolis Foundation in Montpellier, France. Julius is currently advancing innovation frontiers focused on data-driven decision support for food systems by leading diverse projects focused on early warning and surveillance of plant disease, agile digital extension delivery, and pure crowdsourcing system for near-real time intelligence on food prices, diets, and input networks.
Julius has served as focal point and coordinated side events at high-level UN processes such as UNFCCC-COP16 at Cancun, UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) 8th and 9th session at Manhattan (NY), and UNFF Major Group Meeting at Ghana. He has successfully implemented high-impact projects funded by development partners including GIZ, European Commission Joint Research Center, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.