Filippo Bassi is a senior scientist leading ICARDA’s Durum Wheat Breeding Program, which aims to deliver superior varieties with increased yields against a backdrop of rapid climate change. He also works inEthiopia, India, Senegal, Mauritania, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, and several other countries, to improve local scientists’ capacity to innovate. He was the recipient of the 2017 OLAM Prize for Innovation in Food Security for the release of heat-tolerant durum wheat varieties in the Senegal River Basin, and also won the Beachell-Borlaug Scholarship. He is a member of the Wheat Initiative’s Scientific Steering Committee, which oversees the Expert Working Group in Durum Wheat.