Rajeev K VarshneyRajeev Kumar Varshney FRS is an Indian agricultural scientist, specializing in genomics, genetics, molecular breeding and capacity building in developing countries. Varshney is currently serving as Director, Western Australian State Agricultural Biotchnology Center; Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute at Murdoch University, Australia since Feb 2022.[1] Before joining Murdoch University, Australia he served International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a global agriculture R&D institute, for more than 16 years in different scientific and research leadership roles including Research Program Director for three global research programs- Grain Legumes, Genetic Gains and Accelerated Crop Improvement Program. He has the onus of establishing and nurturing the Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology (CEGSB), a globally recognized center for genomics research at ICRISAT that made impacts on improving agriculture and development of human resources in several countries including India, China, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, etc. Varshney holds Adjunct/Honorary/Visiting Professor positions at 10 academic institutions in Australia, China, Ghana, Hong Kong and India, including The University of Western Australia, University of Queensland, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (University of Ghana), University of Hyderabad, Chaudhary Charan Singh University and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University. Varshney is a globally recognized leader for his work on genome sequencing, cataloguing and utilizing genetic diversity, genomics-assisted breeding, seed system and capacity building in developing countries. He has made centrally important contributions towards improving food and nutrition security in India and several countries in Africa and Asia by assembling genomes, developing genomic resources and integrating genomic technologies in crop improvement programs in many tropical crops, and delivering several superior crop varieties to some of the world's poorest farmers. His research group at present at Murdoch University is working on improving wheat, legume and horticultural crops for a range of agronomic, and abiotic stress tolerance traits by developing and deploying novel genomics and pre-breeding approaches such as pangenomics, haplotype cataloguing and functional genomics approaches. Read More Read Less