Dr. Hall joined UNU-INTECH, now the UNU Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), in April 2004, as a researcher in the area of Innovation Processes and Policies in Agriculture. His research focus is on institutional learning and change processes in relation to sustainable development and the strengthening of local innovation systems. Dr. Hall was based at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India from 1997, on secondment from the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, UK, where he was a Reader in Innovation Systems. From 2001, Dr. Hall was regional coordinator for a research programme of the British agency for international cooperation, DFID, where he was instrumental in establishing a regional portfolio of partnership projects based on innovation system principles. Dr. Hall received his Ph.D. in Science and Technology Policy Studies from SPRU, University of Sussex in 1994 and holds an M.Sc. in Rural Resource Management. He has extensive research experience in India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa and has published extensively in his area of specialization.