Speakers
Invited Talk
Title: Democratising plant science research to accelerate food and nutrition security in low resourced countries
Carol Ibe is founder and president of the JR Biotek Foundation, an organization dedicated to upskilling and empowering Africa’s next generation of agricultural scientists. Carol completed her PhD in Plant Sciences from the University of Cambridge (as a Gates scholar) and a postdoctoral research training at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK. Her PhD and postdoctoral research focused on two major global staple cereal crops (rice and wheat) and how their interactions with beneficial and harmful fungi may be optimized for practical agricultural applications. Although she enjoyed working on these interesting projects, Carol has become increasingly restless about the looming hunger and malnutrition problems affecting millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. She now devotes most of her time and efforts towards developing innovative solutions aimed at advancing research on scientifically neglected and undervalued African indigenous (local) crops. Carol strongly believes that the democratization of plant science research will enhance the accessibility of plant bio-technologies to enable scientists in low resourced scientific communities in Africa and elsewhere to accelerate food production in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Carol’s outstanding research, leadership and absolute commitment to improving lives and systems has led to several awards including the 2019 Bill Gates Sr. Prize and the University of Cambridge’s Society for the Application of Research Awards (CSAR).