Compiled biography
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Dr. Khandakar Md. Iftekharuddaula
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Dr. Khandakar Md. Iftekharuddaula is a Chief Scientific Officer and Head, Plant Breeding Division. He was born in Kushtia in 1971. He Joined BRRI Regional Station, Cumilla as SO on 20 August 1998 and promoted to CSO in 2019. He obtained Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1993 and Masters of Science in Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2003. He also obtained PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2010 from the same University doing research work at IRRI on Marker Assisted Backcross Breeding. He has so far supervised seven Masters and two PhD students. His total number of journal publications is 72 with H-Index 16, i-10-Index 20. A number of research projects have been implemented by him which are Stress Tolerant Rice Varieties for the Poor Farmers in South Asia (STRASA), Water Saving and Aerobic Rice, Development of Submergence and Salinity Tolerant Rice Varieties (BMZ), Integrated Agricultural Productivity Project (IAPP), Transforming Rice Breeding (TRB), AGGRi Alliance, NATP Bacterial Blight, NATP Multiple Salt Tolerant QTLs, etc. He acted as Collaborative Research Fellow in Transforming Rice Breeding Project during 2016 to 2019 at BRRI. He is blessed with one son and one daughter. |
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Dr. Andrew Sharpe
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Dr. Andrew Sharpe is the Bangabandhu Research Chair in Food Security at the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), Canada. The Chair was established in 2021 to carry out research in key areas of crop genomics and phenomics and post-harvest processing traits. The Chair is part of the Bangladesh Partnership that is co-led by GIFS and the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC). Previously Dr. Sharpe was the Program Director (2018-21) for the ‘Plant Phenotyping and Imaging Research Centre (P2 IRC)’at USask. This interdisciplinary program with contributions from multiple USask faculties (e.g., Plant Science, Soil Science, Computer Science and Engineering) and research facilities (e.g., Canadian Light Source) has a focus on the use of imaging technology, digital data acquisition and machine learning tools together with genomics and bioinformatics resources to accelerate the delivery of climate resilient crops. Dr. Sharpe was also Director of Genomics and Bioinformatics (2015-18) at GIFS, in which he established an integrative ‘omics platform, the ‘Omics and Precision Agriculture Laboratory (OPAL)’ at GIFS that supports with genomics, phenomics and informatics needs of the researchers in Saskatoon and Canada. He was also co-lead for the Genome Canada ‘Canadian Triticum Applied Genomics (CTAG2)’ project (2015-20) that established the first de novo wheat genome assembly, and he has led efforts to furnish reference genomes and pan-genomes in canola, wheat and other crops. | |
Dr. Pankaj Bhowmik
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Dr. Pankaj Bhowmik received his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology from Kagawa University, Japan. Following JSPS, Killam and NSERC postdoctoral training. Pankaj joined the National Research Council of Canada in Saskatoon in 2009 where he is now a Senior Research Officer and a member of the Cell Technologies team. Pankaj also has an additional role as the Scientific Support Lead for NRC’s Sustainable Protein Production (SPP) program where he closely works with small and large companies in the plant biotech and ag-food sector, academia and other Government Departments to establish multi-organizational research collaborations with external stakeholders. He has more than 20 years of experience in plant cell technologies and tissue culture. His specific research focuses on improvement of crops through tissue culture, transformation and gene editing. | |
Dr. Damien J. Platten
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Dr. Damien J. Platten has worked at the International Rice Research Institute since 2009, where he contributes to native trait discovery and deployment efforts. Much of his work revolves around enabling marker-assisted selection in mainstream breeding programs. Genome resequencing datasets are used to inform the design and implementation of reliable trait markers, and deployment and augmentation efforts make major genes available to mainstream breeding efforts in clean, high-quality elite genomic backgrounds without the yield penalties and linkage drag associated with the original donor landraces. Associated with these activities, analytical pipelines to help apply markers successfully have been developed. | |
Dr. B.P Mallikarjuna Swamy
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Dr. B.P Mallikarjuna Swamy was born to a farming family in India and has always had a keen interest in agriculture from his early young age. His desire to be a researcher in agriculture to improve the livelihood of farming families made him pursue his career in Agricultural Sciences. He successfully completed his Doctoral Degree in Genetics in India, 2009. His PhD work resulted in mapping of major QTLs for yield and related traits, registered novel germplasm, and released a high yielding rice variety. Later he moved to International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) as a Post-doctoral fellow in drought molecular Breeding, wherein he mapped major QTLs for grain yield under drought and successfully pyramided them into popular rice varieties along with other major QTLs for biotic and abiotic stresses. He significantly contributed to the genetics of drought tolerance in rice through meta-analysis and identification candidate genes. His works were well recognized at IRRI and worldwide, so he was appointed as Lead Breeder for Healthier rice development in 2013. He has been playing a pivotal role in developing healthier rice and major milestone have been achieved in developing Golden rice and Micronutrient rich rice varieties. He is also a prolific writer and published in high impact journals and actively involved in disseminating knowledge of health and nutrition, and training future researchers. He is active member of plant science societies and editorial board member of scientific Journals. His unquenching thirst for science, desire to address complex problems in rice science makes him an invaluable member of any research team. | |
Dr. Hiroyuki Shimono
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Dr. Hiroyuki Shimono is a professor of Iwate University, Japan. He obtained his BS, MS and PhD degree from the Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Japan. Screening new cultivars through yield trials in multiple environments has improved crop yields, but the accumulated data from these trials have not been effectively reused. Dr. Shimono and his group proposed a simple method that quantifies cultivar-specific characteristics of productivity using two regression coefficients for yield-ability (β) and yield-plasticity (α). Dr. Shimono worked as Postdoc Fellowship at the National Agricultural Research Center for Tohoku region, Japan (2003-2005) and also JSPS Postdoc Fellowship at the Japan Society for the Promotion Japan (2005-2007). He served also as Visiting Scientist in Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, USDA-ARS, USA and Australian National University, Australia. He awarded Japan Prize in Agricultural Sciences, Achievement Award for Young Scientists 2010 (The Foundation of Agricultural Sciences of Japan) and also awarded Young Scientists Award of Japanese Society of Crop Science 2010 (The Crop Science Society of Japan). He has seven selected publications those have high impact in crop science. | |
Dr. Md. Nurul Haque Mollah
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Dr. Md. Nurul Haque Mollah received his B.Sc. (Hons.) and M.Sc. degrees in statistics from the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. He completed his PhD degree research in Statistical Science from the Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM), Tokyo, Japan in 2005. He joined as a lecturer in the Department of Statistics, University of Rajshahi in 1996 and then was promoted to Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor in 1999, 2005 and 2010, respectively. He was also a post-doctoral researcher on statistical bioinformatics from 2006 to 2008 at ISM, Tokyo, Japan. His area of research specialization covers multivariate statistics, robust statistical inference, biostatistics, data science, computational biology and bioinformatics. He has published more than 130 research articles in the reputed international journals, and 150 articles in the proceedings of national and international conferences. He has supervised more than 50 research students at Master and PhD levels. He successfully led several research projects funded by University Grant Commission (UGC, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Bangladesh medical research council (BMRC), BANBEIS and World Bank as the Principal Investigator (PI). He also organized several national/international workshops, seminars and conferences as convener/co-convener. He also served as a founder president of Bioinformatics Research Group of Rajshahi University and Bangladesh Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Association. | |
Professor Dr. Tofazzal Islam
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Professor Dr. Tofazzal Islam is an internationally reputed researcher in the field of molecular host-microbe interactions and agrobiotechnology. He did his PhD at the Hokkaido University in applied Biosciences. Dr. Islam conducted postdoctoral research at Hokkaido University, University of Goettingen, University of Nottingham and West Virginia University under the fellowship programs of JSPS, Alexander von Humboldt, Commonwealth and Fulbright, respectively. Prof. Tofazzal discovered a large number (>50) of bioactive secondary metabolites from the host and non-host organisms, and elucidated the mode of actions of some of these natural products. He has been leading a large group of national and international researchers for the mitigation of worrisome wheat blast disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae Trticum since its first epidemic outbreak in Bangladesh in 2016 using genomics, genome editing and other advanced molecular approaches. His team developed a rapid, convenient and highly sensitive method for the diagnosis of wheat blast fungus in collaboration with researchers in China, USA and KSA using CRISPR-Cas12a technology. Recently, his team sequenced the whole genome of a year-round fruiting jackfruit which opens opportunity for molecular breeding and agro-processing of this national fruit for food and nutritional security. He is the Editor-in-Chief of two series books, Bacilli and Agrobiotechnology, and CRISPR-Cas Methods that publish by Springer Nature. He serves as an Academic Editor of PLOS ONE, Editor of Scientific Reports, Associate Editor of Frontiers in Microbiology and Member of Editorial Advisory Board of CABI Reviews. Prof. Islam is an elected Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (FBAS), American Phytopathological Society (FAPS), Bangladesh Academy of Agriculture (FBAA) and The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS). He received many awards and medals including a Gold Medal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Commonwealth Innovation Award, Islamic Development Bank Innovation Award, and the GNOBB Award. He published more than 350 articles in the international journals and book series with >7,500 citations (h-index 46). He is the highest cited researcher in Bangladesh in the field of Genetics and Molecular Biology. His research team utilizes frontier technologies to mitigate new challenges in agriculture such as wheat blast. | |
Dr. Moin Us Salam
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Dr. Moin Us Salam is an agricultural scientist internationally recognized as agro-systems analyst, crop modelling, forecaster of crop diseases and agriculture sector development expert. Dr. Salam served the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA) for 17 years and held the position of a Principal Research Officer, which was the highest level attainable for a practicing scientist in the public service of the Government of Western Australia. He studied in Reading University, UK, for PhD and University of Florida, Gainesville, USA, for postdoc. Dr. Salam was associated with the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh, Bangladesh, for 17 as a student and a faculty in the Department of Agronomy. He stood First Class in First Position both in bachelor and master’s degrees from BAU. As academic recognition, among others, he received Chancellor Award 1987 by the President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Chancellor of the Universities for outstanding results in the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Honours) examinations. As academic recognition, among others, he received ‘Global Achievements Awards in the Field of Phyllosphere Biology” in 2012 by the Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, India. Currently, Dr. Salam is working as a Freelance International Consultant. His recent work places included International Maize Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the University of Western Australia (UWA). He has published 100 refereed papers in reputed journals (including Agronomy Journal, Agricultural Systems, Annual Review of Phytopathology, Australasian Plant Pathology, Crop Protection, Diversity and Distributions, Ecological Modelling, Euphytica, European Journal of Plant Pathology, International Journal of Food Security, Microbial Ecology, Plant Pathology and Phytopathology) and 45 papers in conference proceedings, 15 articles in books and delivered 25 Consultancy Reports. Dr Salam significantly contributed for the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) in developing Rice Vision 2050 and Doubling Rice Productivity. BRRI conferred him the ‘Plaque of Recognition in 2021 for his outstanding scientific contributions to formulate and materialize the "Doubling Rice Productivity in Bangladesh (DRP)" strategic document. | |
Dr. Md. Ayub Hossain
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Dr. Md. Ayub Hossain is the Chief Scientific Officer of Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur. Dr. Hossain obtained BSc. Agricultural Engineering (Hons) degree from Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) in 1986. He completed MS degree from the Department of Farm Power and Machinery, BAU in 1996. He awarded PhD in Farm Power and Machinery from BAU in 1984 under Commonwealth Split-Site Scholarship between BAU and University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He also completed Post-doctoral under Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Potsdam, Germany. He has published about 150 technical articles including 85 scientific papers in various journals at home and abroad. He also regularly publishes various articles on science research in daily and monthly magazines. He joined in Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) in 1992 as a Scientific Officer in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering. He worked in different responsibilities and positions in BARI. About a dozen of contact research projects funded by Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Bank, WorldFish, USAID, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Krishi Gobeshona Council (KGF) were carried by his leadership. The major fields of his research are farm machinery and mechanization, conservation agriculture, solar irrigation and crop drying. He is the life fellow of Institute of Engineers’ Bangladesh (IEB), life member of Krishibid Institute Bangladesh (KIB), Bangladesh Society of Agricultural Engineering (BSAE), Bangladesh Solar Energy Society (BSES) and Bangladesh Association of Advancement of Sciences (BAAS). | |
Mr. Mohammed Masum
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Mr. Mohammed Masum was born in 1945, obtained degree in Agriculture (B. Ag) in 1967, served in EPADC/BADC for 9 years, started own business in Agriculture and other sectors, started Supreme Seed Company in 1978. Associated with the development of Seed Industry particularly private Seed Industry for the last 52 years. Now he is the Chairman of Supreme Seed Company Limited, Bangladesh. | |
Dr. Mohammed Eunus Ali
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Dr. Mohammed Eunus Ali is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka since May 2014. He is the group leader of the Data Science and Engineering Research Lab (DataLab) in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at BUET. He received his PhD degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering from the University of Melbourne in 2010. He also worked as a Research Fellow and Visiting Research Scholars in the University of Melbourne, Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology, and RMIT University. Dr. Eunus is the recipient of the prestigious UGC Award in the year 2012 for his outstanding research contribution. Dr. Eunus’s research falls in the intersection of data management and machine learning. His research areas cover a wide range of topics in database systems and information management that include spatial databases, practical machine learning, NLP and smart agriculture. Dr. Eunus’s research papers have been published in top ranking journals and conferences such as the VLDB Journal, TKDE, Biosystems, DMKD, Information Systems, ICDE, PVLDB, and UbiComp. He served as a Program Committee Member of many prestigious conferences that include SIGMOD, VLDB, AAAI, and SIGSPATIAL. Dr. Eunus is also involved in different projects that investigate the role of ICT for the development of developing countries like Bangladesh. Dr. Eunus was the founding Chair of BUET ACM Chapter | |
Dr. M. Nahid Sattar
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Dr. M. Nahid Sattar is an Associate Professor in Department of Agricultural Economics at Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. He obtained PhD from Michigan State University, USA with funding from the USAID/BHEARD program; MA in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia, UK under the Commonwealth Scholarship; and MS and BSc in Agricultural Economics from Bangladesh Agricultural University. His research area includes economic analysis of agricultural production systems, sustainable use of natural resources, policy issues like paddy and rice procurement, as well as a range of other topics in agricultural, development and environmental economics. | |
Dr. Mohammad Jahangir Alam
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Dr. Mohammad Jahangir Alam is a Professor in Agricultural and Public Policy Economics at the Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, Bangladesh Agricultural University. Dr. Alam is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Economics and Business, University of South Australia, Australia and in School of Business Administration in Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at Crawford School of Public Policy at Australian National University, Australia. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, USA. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at Louisiana State University, USA and a Commonwealth Post-doc Fellow at SOAS, University of London, UK. Dr. Alam was a Visiting Professor (EU Erasmus Mundus) at Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland where he taught `Global Food System` and a Visiting PhD Scholar at Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, USA during his PhD studies at Ghent University, Belgium. He has published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, several book chapters and written several research reports with Google Citation index of 2383 and h-index of 23. He has research experiences in Bangladesh, Belgium, UK, Australia, and USA. Dr. Alam is experienced in collaborating with IFPRI, FAO, IRRI, Australian National University, University of Plymouth, University of South Australia, SOAS, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Wageningen University, Lincoln University New Zealand, University of Oxford, University of Arkansas, Asian Productivity Organization etc either as consultant or as a team leader/member in different research projects. He has delivered many projects funded by the USAID, ACIAR, DFAT, EU, BMGF, FCDO etc, to name a few. Dr. Alam has been collaborating with several Australian and European Universities on several projects related to agricultural transformation, fertiliser management, climate -smart agricultural technologies, food system Foresighting. Dr. Alam has been involved in agricultural and food systems in Bangladesh, FAO of the United Nations, IFPRI, to name a few. |