Rui Benfica is a Senior Research Fellow in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. Prior to joining IFPRI in  2019, he worked with the Research and Impact Assessment Division at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), where he undertook research in areas relevant for the overarching goal of overcoming poverty and achieving food security and nutrition, development and dissemination/outreach of policy research outputs, the design and implementation of impact assessments of the Fund’s interventions in client countries in Asia and Latin America, and economy-wide modeling analysis to inform IFAD’s Country Strategies. He was also Associate Professor of International Development at Michigan State University and worked on research in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with the Food Security Group (FSG) on a wide range of issues including policy analysis and evaluation of development interventions aimed at promoting income diversification, reducing poverty, fostering gender equality and women’s empowerment, and promoting food and nutrition security. Early in his career, he worked at the World Bank as an Economist with the Gender and Development Group and as Poverty Economist in the Africa Region, Mozambique Country Office, where he engaged in research and policy dialogue with the Ministries of Planning and Development and of Agriculture and Rural Development, undertaking poverty assessments, impact evaluations, and poverty and social impact analyses.

Rui holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University, with a focus on International Development, Commodity Market Analysis, and Quantitative Development Policy Research. He is a member of several professional organizations, has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, and served as founder and co-editor of the IFAD Research Series.