Director, Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Mabid Ali Al Jarhi is presently Director of the Islamic Research and Training Institute at the Islamic Development Bank. He served from 1978-1983 as Division Chief and Senior Economist at the Economic Policy Institute at the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), as well as Technical Editor for AMF’s Joint Arab Economic Report. From 1984-1996 he served as Chief of a number of divisions at the AMF, and as Secretary General of the Council of Governors of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities.

Director, Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Mabid Ali Al Jarhi is presently Director of the Islamic Research and Training Institute at the Islamic Development Bank. He served from 1978-1983 as Division Chief and Senior Economist at the Economic Policy Institute at the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), as well as Technical Editor for AMF’s Joint Arab Economic Report. From 1984-1996 he served as Chief of a number of divisions at the AMF, and as Secretary General of the Council of Governors of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities.

After his first degree in Plant Biology at the University of Wales, Prof. Azam-Ali completed his PhD in Environmental Physics at the University of Nottingham in 1983. He then worked as a plant physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India, before returning to Nottingham where he became Professor of Tropical Agronomy in 2006. At Nottingham, Prof. Azam-Ali coordinated three major EU-funded Programmes on bambara groundnut and was a principal partner in two other EU programmes. He was also Principal Investigator for six UK DFiD projects.