Oscar Vicente

Dr. Oscar Vicente is a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Professor at the Department of Biotechnology and research group leader at the Institute of Conservation and Improvement of Valencian Agrodiversity (COMAV), Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), Spain. Dr Vicente obtained his PhD in Sciences in 1983 from the Autonomous University of Madrid. After a three-year postdoctoral period at the Friedrich-Miescher Institut in Basel (Switzerland), Oscar Vicente moved in 1988 to the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, University of Vienna (Austria), where he established and led a research group working on different aspects of plant reproductive biology and its biotechnological applications, and on the molecular characterisation of pollen allergens and plant MAP kinases. Oscar Vicente returned to Spain in 1996 to join the UPV faculty, where he currently teaches different subjects in the molecular biology and biotechnology areas to Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering students. In Vienna and Valencia, he has supervised the work of many undergraduate, master and PhD students, exchange students and visiting scientists. Dr Vicente's research interest focuses on studying plant responses to abiotic stress and stress tolerance mechanisms in the context of climate change, using as experimental material different crops, crop relatives, and wild species naturally tolerant to stress (e.g., halophytes), and combining field and laboratory/greenhouse work, and physiological, biochemical and molecular approaches. Oscar Vicente has published over 190 indexed scientific papers, most in the Plant Sciences category (Web of Science; h-index: 41). He is vice president and coordinator for Spain of the European Biotechnology Thematic Network Association (EBTNA) and is included in the ‘Top 100’ Spanish scientists in Plant Science and Agronomy (Research.com). In 2017, Dr Vicente was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa degree by the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca (Romania).

Presentation title: Agroecology and Biodiversity under the Current Climate Emergency

 Yüksel Tüzel

Yüksel Tüzel is working at the Horticulture Department of the Agricultural Faculty of Ege University as a Full Professor. She graduated from Ege University in 1981 with an MSc degree and received her PhD in 1989. Between 1983 and 1984 she was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry and thereafter became Research Assistant at the Faculty of Agriculture of Ege University. She became Associate Professor in 1992. Since 1998 she has been working at Ege University as a Full Professor. Prof. Tüzel was a Visiting Scientist at Horticultural Research International in Littlehampton, United Kingdom, April-September 1988, and at Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands, January-June 2012. Her main interest is the development of sustainable vegetable production technologies in greenhouses. She has worked on soilless culture systems, irrigation and fertilization management, abiotic stress response and grafting. In 2000 she started to work on organic greenhouse vegetable production. Prof. Tüzel has lectured on protected cultivation to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She has supervised over 30 Master and PhD students and conducted international and national projects. She has authored more than 300 scientific articles in SCI journals, national refereed journals, international and national symposia, books and chapters. Prof. Tüzel is the member of FAO Regional Working groups on Protected Cultivation. She convened six ISHS symposium and a Congress (IHC2018). She served as the President of International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) between 2018 and 2022.

Presentation title: Integrating agroecology for sustainable horticulture

 Abigail Borron

Dr. Abigail Borron is an associate professor and extension specialist at the University of Georgia (U.S.), specializing in agricultural and science communication within the context of community engaged research and collaboration.

With over 20 years of experience in the U.S. Cooperative Extension System, she has been involved in a wide array of interdisciplinary research projects, such as farmer perceptions regarding technology adoption, public perception of agricultural practices and food production, community disaster preparedness and response, consumer food safety practices, and non-profit organization management of food insecurity.

In her teaching, Mrs. Borron emphasizes civic engagement and responsibility and how that translates to students' applied and emerging areas of scientific expertise. She has had collaborative projects in Romania since 2014, ranging from leading study abroad programs with U.S. students in rural Romanian farming communities, to now serving as program director for the Romanian Extension Education Development Program funded by the Romanian-American Foundation and supported by the Romania Fulbright Program.

Presentation title: The University’s Role in Building Sustainable Agriculture and Resilient Communities

  Raphael Mrode

Dr. Raphael Mrode holds a dual position as Professor of Quantitative Genetics and Genomics at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), United Kingdom, and as Principal Scientist in Quantitative Dairy Cattle Genetics at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya. As a Commonwealth Scholar, he obtained his PhD in Animal Genetics and Breeding at the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Mrode has been involved for over 30 years in the development and research underpinning genetic and genomic evaluations in dairy and beef cattle, goats, and sheeps in the UK, as well as in developing innovative genomic approaches for livestock genetic improvement in low-input environments at ILRI.

Since 2004, he has been a member of the technical committee of INTERBULL, the organization responsible for international evaluations of dairy cattle. He was also an auditor for the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) and a research consultant supporting the FAO/IAEA coordinated research project on the Application of Nuclear and Genomic Tools.

Dr. Raphael Mrode has been teaching on the Quantitative Genetics and Genomics (QGG) MSc course at the University of Edinburgh since 2005. He has also co-taught an international course in Quantitative genetics and Genomics at ILRI-BeCA and has provided training for similar courses in South Korea, Romania, Turkey, Nigeria and Kenya.

He is the author of the book „Linear Models for the Prediction of Breeding Values ”, now in its fourth edition, and co-author of two other textbooks and two book chapters. Additionally, he has published over 90 peer-reviewed papers and more than 300 conference papers. Dr. Mrode has served on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Animal Science and is deputy editor-in-chief of the Animal Genetics for the journal Animal.

Presentation title: Genomic approaches for sustainable conservations and maintenance of biodiversity in livestock

 Begüm Yurdakök Dikmen

Begüm Yurdakök Dikmen works as a full-time professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine), Ankara University.

During her undergraduate education at Ankara University, she participated in the Erasmus exchange program and studied at Bologna University, Italy, as one of the first Erasmus students from Turkey.

In 2009, she worked as a visiting researcher in the Pharmacogenetics Department at Karolinska Institute, Sweden, for a year.

In 2012, she was selected as Turkey's Erasmus Ambassador by the European Commission and represented Turkey in various activities organized by the Commission.

In addition, she completed another master’s degree in Forensic Chemistry and Forensic Toxicology under the Institute of Forensic Sciences in 2022.

Begüm Yurdakök Dikmen is an executive committee member and expert in VEDEK (Association for the Evaluation and Accreditation of Veterinary Education Institutions and Programs in Turkey). She is also an expert in YOKAK (Higher Education Quality Board of Turkey) and EAEVE (The European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education).

She works as an advisory board member of TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye) and as an executive board member of the Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology Association in Turkiye.

She has been actively involved in numerous national and international research projects, contributing both as a researcher and principal investigator.

Presentation title: Endocrine Disruptors: Implications for Human, Animal and Environmental Health

 Sreeramanan Subramaniam

Professor Dr. Sreeramanan Subramaniam graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 2000 and a Ph.D. in Plant Biotechnology from the same university in 2005. He worked as a lecturer at AIMST University Malaysia from July 2004 until joining the School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in March 2008. He was awarded the title of Fellow of Royal Biology Society UK (FRSB) in 2019, Top Research Scientist Malaysia (TRSM) in 2020, and Fellow of Malaysian Scientific Association (FMSA) in 2021. His current research interests are in plant tissue culture for various ornamental plants and horticultural crops, the establishment of cryopreservation technology, the production of secondary metabolites using a cell culture system, genetic engineering of selected plants for fungal disease resistance, induction of hairy roots in selected medicinal plants, LED technology in plant tissue culture, somaclonal variation for crop improvement, an automatically-controlled vertical farming system for soilless strawberries and vegetable cultivation using LED lighting system with the synergistic integration of IoT, AI, and computer vision technologies. He has published more than 291 manuscripts in journals listed under Scopus/ISI, 12 book chapters, research reports, magazines, and 3 academic books. A total of 29 PhD and 45 MSc students (both as main and co-supervisor) have graduated under his supervision. He was appointed as a Visiting Professor for Andalas Universitas, Indonesia, a Senior Academic Fellow for Airlangga Universitas, Indonesia, a Research Fellow for the Institute of Nano Electronic Engineering (INEE), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP), and an Adjunct Professor for Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), India. He is the founder of a USM startup company known as BioLED Technology Sdn Bhd [https://bioledtech.com/].

Presentation title: Will be available soon.

 Nazim Gruda

Nazim S. Gruda, a professor at the University of Bonn, Germany, is a renowned authority in agriculture and horticulture. He is Vice-President of the Union of European Academies for Science Applied to Agriculture, Food, and Nature. Within the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), he serves as the Vice-Chair of the Division of Vegetables, Roots, and Tubers and Chair of the Working Group for Southeastern and Eastern Europe Vegetable and Potato Production. He obtained his Doctorate at the Technical University of Munich and Habilitation at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

His research focused on the scientific understanding and application of innovative and sustainable horticultural food production, climate change, and produce quality. He has achieved an impressive track record of over 400 publications, with nearly 200 listed in Scopus. According to the evaluation carried out by Stanford University over the last four years, Prof. Gruda belongs to the most influential scientists in the world (“World’s Top 2% Scientists”).

In recognition of his excellent research, Professor Gruda was awarded the “Dr. Heinrich-Baur-Prize” 2003 by the Technical University of Munich, Germany, the “National Scientific Prize” 2018 by the Academy of Science of Albania, ‘Investigador Distinguido’ – María Zambrano 2024, by the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, Spain, and was elected as ‘Distinguished Scientist’ 2020 and 2025 by the Chinese Academy of Science. He is a member of the Academy of Science of Albania, an honorary member of the Romanian Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences “Gheorghe Ionescu-Şişeşti,” and a corresponding foreign member of the Accademia dei Georgofili, the world’s oldest agricultural academy, founded in 1753 in Florence, Italy.

In addition to his academic roles, Professor Gruda actively participates as a consultant for organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and as an expert evaluator for several entities, including the European Commission. He is editor-in-chief of a journal published by Taylor & Francis, associate editor of Elsevier and CABI, and member of the editorial-scientific boards of the most critical journals in the field of horticulture.

Presentation title: Ecosystems in Balance: Horticulture, Climate Change, and Peat Reduction

 Ye Chu

Dr. Ye Chu is assistant professor and blueberry breeder at the Horticulture Department of the University of Georgia. Dr. Chu obtained her Ph D degree in sciences in 2002 from the University of Georgia and assumed the blueberry breeder position in 2022. Before she became the blueberry breeder, she led a successful peanut molecular breeding program and became an expert in all areas of molecular genetics, genomics, and breeding. She published over one hundred peer reviewed journal articles and invited book chapters. She developed and applied genetic markers for host resistance to nematode, leafspots, white mold, and oil profile in the breeding program resulting in the release of five cultivars through marker-assisted breeding. Since she moves onto blueberry breeding, she established micropropagation through tissue culture, integrated wild true blueberries genetic through interspecific hybridization and established an efficient protocol to screen Phytophthora root rot resistance in blueberry germplasm. Her breeding goal is to expand the genetic base of blueberry breeding and provide Georgia growers with locally adapted and climate-resilient blueberry varieties. To reach this goal, she is engaging in developing advanced genetic and genomic tools to accelerate blueberry breeding and cultivar development.

Presentation title: History and advancement of the blueberry breeding program at the University of Georgia

 Changbo Tang

Prof. Dr. Changbo Tang is an Associate research fellow of the College of Food Science and Technology of Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU), China. Mr. Tang holds the position of Secretary general and convener of Youth Committee of the Chinese Association of Animal Products Processing (CAAPP).

He is an accomplished researcher specializing in green meat processing, cultured meat, food quality and safety control. He currently supervises over 20 PhD and Master’s students on those areas and has led more than 10 national and international research projects in meat processing and cultured meat technologies.

Mr. Tang has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals such as Food Hydrocolloids, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, and Food Chemistry. His international academic experiences include working as a visiting scholar at The Ohio State University and participating in the "DiTECT" project ("Intergovernmental International Scientific and Technological Innovation Cooperation") in partnership with Prof. Nychas from the Agricultural University of Athens.

Presentation title: Rapid Detection of Microorganisms in Meat

 Mohamed Khan

Professor Mohamed Khan is the Assistant Director for Extension and the Program Leader for Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) at North Dakota State University. In this role, he provides statewide leadership in coordinating high-impact Extension ANR programs, including subject matter training, needs assessment, program planning, development, delivery, evaluation and reporting, all aimed at continuously improving the total economic impact of North Dakota’s agricultural economy, which is valued at over $30 billion. North Dakota is the number one producer of canola, spring wheat, durum, rye, oats, dry edible bean, flaxseed, sunflower and honey, and a top producer of sugarbeet, barley, lentil, soybean and beef cattle in the USA.

Professor Khan received his B.Sc. from The University of Guyana, South America; his M.Sc. from The University of Bath, United Kingdom; and his Ph.D. from Clemson University, USA.

Prior to his current role, Professor Khan was a leading researcher and Extension Sugarbeet Specialist, where he helped producers worldwide in managing the most damaging pathogens such as Cercospora beticola and Rhizoctonia solani. He has been recognized for his contributions to sugarbeet research by many organizations, including the American Society for Sugarbeet Research, American Phytopathological Society, the Italian Institute of Research and Development in Agriculture, and the British Beet Research Organization.

Presentation title: Agroecology and biodiversity lead to successful agricultural sector in North Dakota, USA.