CARON Patrick
CIRAD, France
Agropolis International, France
- With education in veterinary sciences (doctorate), nutrition (MSc), public health (MSc) and development geography (PhD), Patrick Caron is specialist of food systems, with focus on controversy analysis and multi-scale governance.
- Researcher at Cirad (https://www.cirad.fr/), he is co-Chair of Agropolis International (https://www.agropolis.fr/) and Chair of the CGIAR Integrated Partnership Board.
- He joined CIRAD in 1988 and has been Director for research and strategy (2010-2016). He was Chair of the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the UN Committee on world Food Security (2015-2019), Vice President of the University of Montpellier (2019-2023) and Director of the Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK’IT, 2018-2024), and member of the Science Group of the 2021 UN Food System Summit. He is a member of the French Academies of Technology and of Agriculture.
- He is actively engaged in the Montpellier Process, a collective and community-owned process convened and curated by an alliance of partners whose aim is to demonstrate more effective, more iterative, and better coordinated Science-to-Policy Interfaces (SPIs) across scales (global, national and local), across sectors (environment, health, people) and across knowledge systems.
Recent publications:
- Caron Patrick, et al. Breaking the ‘scaling-up’ stalemate. Perspective 2025; 65: 1-4. Avallone S, et al. Beyond their nutritional value, school meal programs support agricultural and food transition toward sustainability by creating multi-sectoral values in France. Front Nutr. 2025 Aug 13;12:1616375.
- Caron Patrick. Pour saisir les désaccords, l’intérêt des expertises mondiales sur la sécurité alimentaire : l’exemple du HLPE-FSN. Cahiers Agricultures, 2025 ; 34:32.
- Fraser Evan, et al. Uncertain times require new thinking for agri-food science to ensure food security and nutrition for all. Trends in Food Science and Technology, 2025 ; 65:105261.
- Schneider Kate R., et al. Governance and resilience as entry points for transforming food systems in the countdown to 2030. Nature Food, 2025 ; 6 : 105-116.
- Caron Patrick. A renewed interest in controversies. 2025. Nature Food, 6 : 121-122.
- Shrivastava Paul, et al. Science in crisis times: The crucial role of science in sustainability and transformation. PLoS Sustainability and Transformation, 2024; 3 (10):e0000132.