He has over twenty years of experience working on water management issues worldwide. Nicholas strives to influence the way managers, decision makers and funders view and implement policies to sustain water use in agriculture. He and his team partner with many kinds of stakeholders to understand, test and validate new technologies and business models. He has mentored a growing community of students and young professionals dedicated to improving water and food security globally.
Before joining the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) in 2014, he worked at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in different scientific and management capacities in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Central Asia, and Bangladesh. He has about 30 years of experience in action research aimed at finding agronomic and engineering solutions geared towards mitigating the incipient water logging and salinity problems of irrigated areas and developing conservation strategies for the water-scarce regions of the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and Central Asia.
A member of the Director’s staff and appointed representative by EU Institutions and international organizations of the Italian National Association of Land protection and Irrigation Consortia (ANBI), and a member of the Board of Directors of the Euro-Mediterrannean Irrigators Community (EIC). He has more than 40 years of experience as researcher and project manager in the fields of irrigation, fertigation and cropping system’s sustainability. Since 1990, he has been involved as principal scientist in EU research projects and as scientific responsible for projects financed by public bodies and private institutions, industries and stakeholders.