Research

Research Priorities: Genetic engineering, functional genomics, applied genomics, pre-breeding, genomics, trait discovery

Rajeev Kumar Varshney is a geneticist who researches in the area of international agriculture. He served as Global Research Program Director at Genetic Gains at the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), that encompasses different disciplines including gene banks, pre-breeding, genomics & trait discovery, cell & molecular biology, and genetic engineering, forward and integrated breeding, and seed systems.

Rajeev Varshney has a background in molecular genetics and possesses more than 15 years research experience in international agriculture. His research is focused on structural, functional, comparative, and translational genomics for improving the crop productivity of legume crops in marginal environments in Africa and Asia.

He is internationally recognized for his contribution in genome sequencing of pigeon pea, chickpea, peanut, pearl millet, sesame, mung bean, and adzuki bean as well as development of molecular breeding products in chickpea, pigeon pea, and peanut.

Career

• since 2022 Director, Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Center, University of Western Australia (UWA), Perth, Australia
• 2016-2022 Global Research Program Director – Genetic Gains, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
• 2014 Winthrop Research Professor, The School of Plant Biology, UWA, Perth, Australia
• 2013-2016 Research Program Director, ICRISAT
• 2012-2022 Adjunct Professor, Institute of Agriculture, UWA, Perth, Australia
• 2012-2022 Director, Centre of Excellence in Genomics (CEG), ICRISAT
• 2008-2022 Principal Scientist, ICRISAT
• 2005-2008 Senior Scientist, ICRISAT
• 2001 Ph.D., Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU), Meerut, India
• 2001-2005 Research Scientist, Institute of Plant Genetics & Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany
• 1995-2000 Research Fellow, CCSU, Meerut, India
• 1995 Master of Science, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh, India

Functions

• since 2022 International Chair, Agriculture & Food Security, Food Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
• since 2016 Elect Chair, Genomics, Molecular Genetics & Biotechnology Division, Crop Science Society of America, USA
• 2015 Elected Member, Steering Committee, DivSeek International Network
• 2014 Member, Research Advisory Committee, Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India
• since 2013 Member, Research Committee, Farm Research Committee, Emergency Management Team, ICRISAT and Chair, Plant Material Identification Committee, ICRISAT
• 2013 Member, Editorial Board, Molecular Genetics and Genomics
• 2013 Member, Editorial Board, Plant Biotechnology Journal
• 2012 Member, Advisory Board, International School of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India
• 2012 Member, Editorial Board, The Plant Genome
• 2011 Member, Research Advisory Council, Tea Board of India, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, India
• 2011 Member, Research Advisory Committee, Central Sericultural Research & Training Institute, Silk Board of India, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, India
• 2010-2013 Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Food Legumes, India
• 2010 Member, Editorial Board, Frontiers in Plant Science
• 2010 Member, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB), Ministry of Agriculture, External Subject Matter Specialist, Recruiting, Senior Scientists, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutes, India
• 2009-2011 Member, Editorial Board, BMC Genetics
• 2009-2011 Member, Editorial Board, BMC Plant Biology
• 2008-2013 Member, Editorial Board, Molecular Breeding
• 2008-2012 Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology
• 2008 Member, Editorial Board, Plant Breeding
• 2008 Member, Editorial Board, Theoretical and Applied Genetics
• 2005-2011 Member, Editorial Board, Euphytica
• 2005 Member, Editorial Board, Plant Genetic Resources, CABI Press

Projects

• 2007-2013 Leader, SubProgramme 2, Generation Challenge Programme (GCP), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
• 2004-2007 Coordinator, Recombinational Analysis, International Triticeae Mapping Initiative (ITMI)
• 2003-2008 Coordinator, International Triticeae EST-SSR Coordination, ITMI

Honours and Memberships

• 2023 Fellow, Royal Society, UK
• 2023 Guangdong Friendship Award, Guangdong Province, China
• 2022 International Partnership and Technological Co-operation Award, Shandong Province, China
• since 2022 Elected Fellow, African Academy of Sciences (AAS)
• 2020 Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award, Government of India, India
• 2020 Scientific and Technological Co-operation Award, Government of Guangdong Province, China
• 2019 Prof Jayashankar Lifetime Achievement Award, Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India
• since 2019 Elected Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, India
• since 2018 Elected Fellow, American Society of Agronomy (ASA), USA
• 2017 Award for Leadership & Contribution to Peanut Research, Peanut Genome Consortium and International Peanut Genome Initiative (IPGI)
• since 2016 Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), USA
• since 2016 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• since 2016 Elected Fellow, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)
• 2016 Elected Fellow, Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding, India
• 2015 Highly Cited Researcher, Thomson Reuters, Toronto, Canada
• 2015 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (Biological Sciences), New Delhi, India
• 2015 Research Excellence India Citation Award, India
• 2015 Senior Scientist Award of Association of Biotechnology & Pharmacy (ABAP), India
• 2015 Listed in World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds, Thomson Reuters, Toronto, Canada
• 2015 Elected Fellow, Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), USA
• 2015 Elected Fellow, National Academy of Sciences India (NASI), India
• 2015 Elected Fellow, Association of Biotechnology & Pharmacy (ABAP), India
• 2014 Highly Cited Researcher, Thomson Reuters, Toronto, Canada
• 2014 Elected Fellow, Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences (APAS), Andhra Pradesh, India
• 2014 Elected Fellow, Telangana State Akademi of Sciences (TSAS), Hyderabad, India
• 2013 Agricultural Greater Good Sequencing Award, Illumina, San Diego, USA
• 2013 Young Crop Scientist Award, Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), USA
• 2013 Elected Fellow, Indian National Science Academy (INSA), India
• 2012 Honorary Professor, BGI-Hongkong Research Institute, Hongkong, China
• 2010 NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Award, NASI, India
• 2010 Elected Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), India
• 2008-2012 Associateship (Associate Fellow), NAAS, India
• 2008 INSA-Young Scientist Medal, INSA, India
• 2007 NASI-Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award, NASI, India