I am leading the pigeonpea breeding program at ICRISAT, Patancheru. My research focuses on developing early maturing, climate-resilient, disease-resistant, pest-tolerant & nutritionally rich pigeonpea varieties and hybrids for Asia and Africa. We have developed the worlds first speed breeding protocol in pigeonpea and are currently deploying with molecular marker-assisted selection to accelerate product delivery and enhance genetic gain. Speed breeding enhance the cultivar delivery process in 5 years compare to 15 years through the traditional method of developing new varieties and hybrids for drylands worldwide.

Dr. Lingling Gao heads the Legume Genetics and Genomics team at CSIRO Agriculture and Food. This team is dedicated to creating genetic and multi-omics resources for lupins and gaining insights into lupin grain development and composition. Dr. Gao is deeply passionate about transitioning lupins from feed to food. She is dedicated to enhancing lupin grain quality and nutritional value to increase their appeal in the food market.

Albert Tsindi is a Plant breeder with more than 15 years combined working experience in developing crop varieties adapted to the subtropics. He has worked extensively with soybean, maize and other crops such as sorghum, wheat, millet, groundnuts, beans and Pigeon Peas. He has worked for Private and government institutions and has collaborated with Senior Scientists from East, South and West Africa.

Anna Surma is a PhD student of the Poznan Doctoral School of the Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, performing research work at the Department of Gene Structure and Function at the Institute of Plant Genetics Polish Academy of Sciences within the framework of the National Science Centre grant OPUS21 entitled “Functional divergence of Flowering Locus T gene duplicates in photoperiod and vernalization control of flowering induction in yellow lupin (Lupinus luteus L.)”. Besides lupin research, Anna Surma is also involved in studies on the molecular control of early flowering and maturity in soybean.

Michał Książkiewicz is the Head of the Department of Gene Structure and Function at the Institute of Plant Genetics Polish Academy of Sciences. PhD degree was obtained in 2010, whereas habilitation in 2019. The research includes, among others, structural and functional analysis of genes participating in flowering induction in response to photoperiod and vernalization, differential gene expression profiling in plant-pathogen interaction, analysis of genetic variation associated with agronomic traits including linkage mapping, quantitative trait loci mapping, and genome-wide association studies. Studied plants are mostly Old World lupin crop species (narrow-leafed, white and yellow lupins, including both wild and domesticated accessions) and soybean. Michał Książkiewicz is a principal investigator in Polish research projects granted by the National Science Centre (OPUS 21, OPUS 23) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Biological Progress in Plant Production) and a lupin crop leader in a Horizon Europe funded project BELIS.

Ms.Bangaru Kiranmayee is a PhD. Research Scholar from ICRISAT. She has worked on the identification of potential sources and genomic regions for stem rot disease resistance in groundnut. As a part of her masters, she has worked on genetic diversity studies in the maintainer lines of hybrid rice. She has pursued her Ph D. and masters from PJTSAU, Hyderabad. She is a passionate young researcher who has a never ending quest for learning and a great zeal to contribute in the area of plant breeding.

Dr. Shahin Yazdifar Received his PhD in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in 2019 from La Trobe University where he investigated the regulatory gene network controlling pollen development and the effects of heat stress on pollen development in model plant species. He followed a postdoctoral position at Agriculture Victoria Research (AVR), where he focused on pulse breeding and pre-breeding programmes using cutting edge molecular genetics technologies. Dr. Yazdifar is currently leading the speed breeding activities at AVR.