Dr. Chrysantus Mbi Tanga is a Senior Scientist and the Head of Insects for Food, Feed and Other Uses (INSEFF) Programme at icipe.

Dr. Tanga received his BSc in Zoology and MSc in Medical Entomology from the University of Buea, Cameroon. Through the ARPPIS-DAAD PhD scholarship, he obtained his PhD in Agricultural Entomology from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, in 2012. He returned to icipe, Nairobi, Kenya, as a consultant in 2013, and later as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the African Fruit Fly Programme (AFFP) in 2014. As a Postdoctoral fellow, Tanga managed and provided a lot of support to the INSEFF programme and in 2019, he was recruited as a Research Scientist in the same programme.

His dedication and innovation in Insects for Food and Feed has been largely successful at multiple levels, transforming and facilitating growth in the utilisation of insects for food and feed, development of standards for commercial insect products, resource mobilisation, up-scaling, dissemination of innovative technologies to smallholder farmers, improving food and nutrition security, empowering women and youths, and networking people to improve their well-being.

The efforts of Tanga and his team leading the continent-wide initiative on Insects for Food and Feed won global recognition and was privileged to be awarded the prestigious Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize in 2020.

Tanga has published more than 95 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals, several book chapters and training manuals, and given over 56 presentations at scientific gatherings. He has mentored several PhD, MSc, BSc, and internship students from 16 countries. He is an enthusiastic member of the Entomological Society of America, and African Association of Insect Scientists, among others.