Sir Gordon Richard Conway (6 July 1938 – 30 July 2023) was a British agricultural ecologist, who served as the president of the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

and the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. He was latterly Professor of International Development at

Imperial College, London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and Director of Agriculture for Impact, a grant funded by the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

, which focuses on European support of agricultural development in Africa.

Early life and education

Gordon Richard Conway was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

on 6 July 1938. He was educated at the

Bangor University Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

Career

In the early 1960s, working in

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

, North Borneo, Conway became one of the pioneers of

sustainable agriculture Sustainable agriculture is agriculture, farming in sustainability, sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an ...

and integrated pest management. From 1970 to 1986, he was Professor of Environmental Technology at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. He then directed the sustainable agriculture program of the International Institute for Environment and Development in London before becoming Representative of the Ford Foundation in New Delhi from 1988 to 1992. He was Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

and Chair of the

Institute of Development Studies An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

. Conway was elected the eleventh President of The Rockefeller Foundation in April 1998, a position he held until 2004. From 2004 to 2009 he was also President of the Royal Geographical Society. He took up his appointment as the UK

Department for International Development The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

's Chief Scientific Adviser in January 2005, serving until 2009. Conway later worked at Imperial College London and headed the Bill & Melinda Gates-funded project Agriculture for Impact looking into ways to increase and enhance agricultural development for

smallholder A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was an independent advocacy initiative, and was based at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and was supported through the Agriculture for Impact

. According to the organisation's website, the initiative ran until the summer of 2016. Agriculture for Impact also convened the Montpellier Panel, a group of international experts from the fields of agriculture, trade, policy, ecology and global development. He was a Deputy Lieutenant for East Sussex.

Death

Conway died of blood cancer on 30 July 2023, at the age of 85.

Honours and awards

*June 2004 awarded an honorary degree from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

as Doctor of the University. *2004: elected a Fellow of the Royal Society *2005: invested Knight Commander of the

Order of Saint Michael and Saint George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(KCMG) *2005: listed on The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll *2008: elected an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

*2017: awarded the

Founder's Medal The Founder's Medal is a medal awarded annually by the Royal Geographical Society, upon approval of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, to individuals for "the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery". Foundation From ...

of the

Books

He authored: * ''Unwelcome Harvest: agriculture and pollution'' (Earthscan, Island Press) * ''The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for all in the 21st century'' (Penguin and University Press, Cornell) * ''Islamophobia: a challenge for us all'' (The Runnymede Trust) . He co-authored:
''Science and Innovation for Development''
(UK Collaborative on Development Sciences (UKCDS))
''One Billion Hungry: Can we Feed the World?''
was published in October 2012.

References

External links

Prof Sir Gordon Conway, KCMG, DL, FRS
at Debrett's ''People of Today'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Gordon 1938 births 2023 deaths Alumni of Bangor University Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of California, Davis alumni English ecologists British agriculturalists Scientists from Birmingham, West Midlands Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of the University of Sussex Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Presidents of the Royal Geographical Society Deputy lieutenants of East Sussex Presidents of the Rockefeller Foundation Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Recipients of the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal