James Legg

James Legg is a Principal Scientist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, with 25 years’ experience of working on plant viruses and their insect vectors. Most of James’ professional career has focused on strengthening understanding of cassava viruses, and using that improved understanding to develop and facilitate the promotion of control strategies. In addition to playing a
direct active role in research, James has also contributed to strengthening African science capacity through producing training materials, leading training workshops and supervising post-graduate students. James has been based at the IITA East Africa hub in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for the last thirteen years, and he has been involved in running several regional R4D projects focused on cassava viruses, their whitefly vectors and the development and implementation of sustainable seed systems. An important new area of work has been the application and scaling of mobile-phone based methods for instant field diagnosis of cassava diseases and pests. Recently, James has played an increasing role in managing research on roots, tubers and bananas. He is currently IITA’s Focal Point for the Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) CGIAR Research Programme (CRP), as well as the leader for RTB’s Flagship Project 3 on Resilient Cropping Systems.