International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has recently named Shahidur Rashid as new regional director for South Asia, based in New Delhi, India.

Rashid, a senior research fellow at the IFPRI's development strategies and governance division, received his PhD in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MS in economics from the University of Chittagong.

Since joining the IFPRI as a postdoctoral fellow in 1999, he has conceptualised and implemented multi-country research progra-mmes in both Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, says a statement issued yesterday.