Mohammed Assen is a professor at Addis Ababa University. Trained in Geography and Soil science, his research work focuses on watershed management and rural development, land use planning, soil survey and mapping, climate change and adaptation, agricultural development and rural youth migration, land use dynamics and its impacts. Mohammed has field experiences largely from Ethiopia but also from South Sudan, Malaysia, Ghana, India, Botswana, South Africa and Kenya. He has attracted research funds from EIAR, IDRC- Canada and DFID-UK, and the World Bank and Addis Ababa University. Mohammed has collaborated researched or has research projects with international Universities including University of East Anglia (UK), University of Bristol (UK), Cardiff University (UK), University of Nairobi (Kenya) and several Ethiopian Universities and agricultural research Institutes.

Within DOWN2EARTH, Mohammed will serve as AAU PI and has a critical role in designing, implementing, and analyzing field assesments of agro-pastoralist communities in Ethiopia.