S Abbo: Have studied dryland grain crops agronomy with emphasis on crop adaptation to water limitation. Using evolutionary and genetic principles to identify grain yield limiting factors. Involved in chickpea genetics & breeding aimed at: development of early flowering and blight-resistant cultivars. Study of legume crop-pathogen co-evolution in wild and agro-eco-systems as a tool for developing effective and environmentally sound management packages. Study of species relations in Pisum recently led to the identification of the likely progenitor of P. abyssinicum. The origin of Near Eastern agriculture is considered as the cradle of Western civilizations. We study the wild progenitors of the Near Eastern legumes (wild pea, chickpea, lentil and bitter-vetch), their pathogens, and their adaptation profile, aiming at better understanding of their evolution under domestication. This helps in devising new approaches for modern crop improvement.

Cheng-Ruei Lee is a population geneticist working on the process of crop domestication.

Dr. Ying-Hui Li is a professor at the Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Her research is primarily focused on identifying and utilizing beneficial alleles associated with agronomy traits in soybean germplasms. Dr. Li led the team that pioneered the first plant pan-genome, a significant achievement recognized as a Nature Milestone in Genomic Sequencing. Additionally, she has developed a time-series phenotyping platform using unmanned aircraft vehicle. Her team has employed multi-omics strategies to identify favored alleles and elite germplasms and successfully cloned several soybean imporatant agronomy trait or domestication genes, including GmPRR3b, GmSPA3c, PH13, and L1. In her continuous efforts to advance soybean breeding, Dr. Li and her team have designed a series of soybean arrays aimed at accelerating breeding progress and supporting genetic studies in soybean. Furthermore, she has deciphered the genetic basis of resistance to soybean cyst nematode, a pivotal finding that facilitates the breeding of resistant soybean cultivars. Based on those findings, she has published more than 60 research papers as either the first or corresponding author in top journals, including Nature Biotechnology, Nature Communications, Molecular Plant, Science Bulletin, New Phytologist, Plant Biotechnology Journal, etc.

Wojtek Bielski is an assistant professor at the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding at the Poznan University of Life Sciences. He is a molecular biologist who is interested in understanding the genetic diversity of wild Old World Lupins. Although he worked on the bioinformatics analysis of retrogenes in the platypus during his studies, the OWLs became his main research focus since he began his doctoral studies at IPG PAS. Currently, he is conducting a study to comprehend the mechanisms of flowering induction and vernalization regulation in wild lupin species.

Chantelle is a PhD student at the University of Tasmania and an associate with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture. Her research examines the genetic changes that have accompanied plant domestication and crop evolution. Chantelle is particularly interested in comparative approaches to better understand domestication history, trait interaction, and conservation of adaptative mechanisms across crop legumes. She is currently exploring these questions in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and pea (Pisum spp) through bi-parental QTL analyses.