Mr. Elias Nelly BAPFAKURERA, Is a research and innovation officer at the University of Rwanda-College of Agriculture Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine (UR-CAVM) since July 2013. Elias Nelly has twelve years of working experience in agriculture developments in Rwanda and 4years of working experience as a teacher. He has an MSc in agriculture and a BSC in agriculture. He is more experienced in providing and designing training, project designing, and working with rural communities in agriculture transformation, climate-smart agriculture, environmental projection, agroecology,indigenous vegetables, etc. He served in various projects as a research and innovation facilitator, research Project team leader, Programme Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Coordinator, student mentorship and coordination, and community-based projects as a team leader. He has done different professional training in Kenya on sustainable agriculture management, in Sweden on Urban water and sanitation, and in Zambia on solid waste management, in Uganda, In Bahrain, in Italy etc on Agriculture research management . He attended and participated in different national, local, and international conferences. Elias Nelly is much interested in the integration of indigenous knowledge with research knowledge. He is also much interested in projects based on community development.

Mr. Elias Nelly has served in different leadership roles and currently, he is doing PhD at Sokoine University of Agriculture.