Céline Termote, a Belgian citizen, joined Bioversity International in January 2013. Currently, she is the Country Representative for Bioversity Kenya and works as a scientist on agricultural biodiversity and diet diversity within the Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems Initiative.
Céline has over 10 years of experience conducting multi-disciplinary research on agricultural biodiversity and healthy diets, combining ethnobotany, food security, diet quality, nutrition, drivers of food choices, value chains, agroecology and sustainable food systems in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Benin, DR Congo, Burkina Faso). She integrates participatory research methodologies and working in close collaboration with local communities, policymakers, NGOs, community health workers and research institutions.
After obtaining her Master’s degree in Applied Biological Sciences, Céline started her career as a development worker for a Belgian NGO. Based in Kabinda, Kasaï-Oriental, DR Congo, she worked with two local partner organizations on food security, sustainable agricultural practices, capacity building and organization strengthening.
In late 2005, she rejoined Ghent University as an assistant at the Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Agronomy and Ethnobotany and started her PhD project on the use of wild edible plants in Tshopo District (Kisangani region), DRCongo. This multidisciplinary work comprised a documentation of wild edible plants within different ethnic groups through ethnobotanical surveys, actual and future market potential of wild edible plants and an evaluation of the contribution of local biodiversity to the diets of rural and urban women.