Click on the link below to view the webinar by Bolanle Adebayo from Virginia Tech University, USA, on 18 December 2025 entitled Exploring Participation in Citizen Science for Leadership Identity Development and Food Systems Leadership: A Case Study of Tricot.
Presenter Bio: Dr. Bolanle Adebayo recently completed her PhD in the Department of Agricultural Leadership and Community Education at Virginia Polytechnic and State University, USA, in partnership with IITA. Her research sits at the nexus of community leadership development, agricultural development, farmer-to-farmer extension approaches, mentoring, and food systems leadership.
For more info, contact Bolanle at abolanle@vt.edu
Summary of presentation: Bolanle demonstrated how participation in citizen science contributes to leadership identity development and food systems leadership, using a tricot study carried out in Osun State, Nigeria. Her findings show that participatory research spaces foster leadership identity through relational processes such as knowledge sharing, community recognition, and bridging researchers and local actors. The study highlights citizen science as a critical pathway for cultivating grassroots leadership capacity in food systems, with implications for participatory research design, extension practice, and sustainable food systems development.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| I want to add two quick points. First, since Nigeria is very diverse, I’d like Tricot materials to include more local languages—not only Yoruba, but also Igbo and Middle Belt versions—especially because these zones grow cassava well and Tricot is being expanded there. This would make the presentation more inclusive and appealing. |
Second, for continuity, we should involve established groups with strong structures, like the Nigerian Seed and Breeds Association (active across 20+ states) and the ADP. They can help nominate farmers, and we can then select and interview lead farmers based on readiness (like phone access and capacity). | On the language point, it was actually intentional that I used Yoruba. Because my work is grounded in indigenous research approaches, and language really matters for how people translate and express their experiences. Even though I’m in an English-speaking school, I presented my results in both Yoruba and English to elevate participants’ voices.
Right now my data comes from Osun State, and in future research I’d like to explore other cultural settings because culture affects how leadership happens. So I was trying to prioritize participant voice, and in a different context the language choice would be different.
I also appreciate what you said about continuity. The participants want more than being “used” once—they want this to continue and to expand beyond the current Tricot crops in the community, which are sweet potato and cassava. |
| What about the direction of your research on leadership and food systems. Since “food systems” is a broader, downstream impact, did you also examine nearer-term outcomes of leadership—like faster adoption, improved variety use, or greater crop diversity—as earlier indicators that lead toward food-system change? | If I get the opportunity to continue this work after this study, I would focus on agricultural outcomes. That came up in my committee exam too—they asked about outcomes, since the bigger goal is food system development. But for this dissertation, my scope had to be narrower: I studied food system leadership, not food system development, and I focused mainly on the relational aspects of leadership.
I didn’t explicitly ask research questions about agricultural outcomes because it wasn’t within my original research questions. Still, it’s now part of my required corrections, so I’ll emphasize it more before I finalize and print. Even so, it’s not the core of this current study—it was only mentioned indirectly—but it’s definitely where I want the research to head next. |