Rajeev Kumar Varshney

Rajeev Kumar Varshney (born 13 July 1973) 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 Biotechnology 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. 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.

He is a highly prolific author and Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher for 9 consecutive years in a row since 2014. He is the only agricultural/plant scientist in India, and the only translational plant biologist in Australia to achieve an h-index of >100 as per Google Scholar. He is an elected fellow/Academician to about 10 science and agriculture academies/ societies in India, Germany, USA, Africa, that is a rare feat for any scientist. His research work has been recognized with >30 prestigious awards from USA, Germany, China, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Philippines, UAE, and many countries in Africa including the most coveted science award, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, and the most prestigious agricultural science award, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award, from Government of India, International Crop Science Award from USA, Qilu Friendship Award, and Guangdong Friendship Award from China. Varshney has been named as the Top Scientist in Agronomy & Crop Science category in the list of 250 Top Scientists in Australia by The Australian newspaper’s Research Magazine in 2022, among the Top 100 scientists from Asia by The Asian Scientist magazine in 2022, among 25 global researchers in biotechnology by Nature Biotechnology in 2021, and one of 10 most influential Indian scientists by The Times of India, a leading Indian daily newspaper in 2019.

Varshney, a TEDx speaker is frequently invited in international conferences as Plenary/ Keynote/ Inspirational speaker or Session Chair. He has presented research and novel concepts related to food and nutrition security in several high-level fora such as: G8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture on Open Data in Genomics and Modern Breeding for Crop Improvement, organized by US and UK Governments in the World Bank (2013); Brainstorming session on Digital Revolution for Agriculture at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in (2012); Brainstorming session on DNA Fingerprinting for Impact Assessment, BMGF, USA (2018); FAO's international conference on Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries in Mexico (2010); FAO's Regional Conference on Agricultural Bio technologies in Sustainable Foods Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017) etc. Varshney’s research and interviews have been published in many Indian/ International print and electronic media including TV channels and radio programs. Varshney’s research and interviews have been published in many reputed media houses including TV channels and radio programs e.g. The New York Times, The Economist, BBC, Forbes, SciDevNet, ISAAA, Food Technology, Cosmos Down to Earth, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu Business Line, Financial Express, Mongabay, Australian Broadcasting Corp, Doordarshan, E-TV, AP24X7, FM Radio, etc. Provided by Wikipedia