YOSEF GEBREHAWARYAT KIDANE
Plant Geneticist, Breeding And Agrobiodiversity
Nairobi
Summary
A Senior Plant Scientist specializing in Breeding, Genomics, and participatory research aimed at advancing Agrobiodiversity. Proven expertise in leading multinational and multicultural teams, fostering collaboration, and driving impactful research initiatives. Adept at implementing innovative strategies to enhance agricultural sustainability and genetic diversity.
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
10
10
years of post-secondary education
1
1
Language
Work History
Senior Scientist, Team Leader, Country Representative for Ethiopia (until December 2022)
Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
01.2018 - Current
- Company Overview: Public research Organization
- Lead and managing research activities on different commodities and topics in Eastern and Southern Africa countries and southeast Asia
- Global team leader of Agrobiodiversity in Production System
- Increasing the significance of the Bioversity international in Ethiopia
- Leading scientific activities in Africa and Asia
- Fund raising for different research activities
- Providing guidance and training to national partners of Alliance of Bioversity international and CIAT
- Project and grant manager of 6 projects
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Bioversity International
10.2016 - 10.2018
- Company Overview: Public research Organization
- Managing activities on durum wheat and barley genetic diversity to adapt to climate change in Ethiopia
- Lead breeding activities of Barley and Durum wheat
- Lead the phenotyping of large experiments
- Identification of QTL for different traits
- Providing guidance and training to national partners of Bioversity international
Research Fellow, WLE Project Manager, Seeds for Needs Project (CCAFS CRP) Coordinator in Ethiopia
Bioversity International
03.2015 - 10.2016
- Company Overview: Public research Organization
- Managing WLE project activities in three regions of Ethiopia (Tigray, Amhara and Oromia)
- Coordinating Seeds for needs activities in Ethiopia (Tigray, Amhara and Oromia regions). Working on Durum wheat and Barley and Teff diversity for climate change adaptation in participatory plant breeding approach and genomic study.
- Linking Bioversity international to Ethiopian institutes
Consultant for Bioversity International
Bioversity International
01.2012 - 03.2015
- Company Overview: Public research Organization
- Characterizing Ethiopian durum wheat accessions (Phenotypically, genotypically and farmer scoring)
- Conducting Mother and baby trial experiments.
- Conducting crowd-sourcing experiments at different climate with farmers for climate change adaptation (run over 600 experiment with 600 farmers).
- Establishing/Constructing community managed gene bank as climate smart strategy.
- Provide training on biodiversity management to farmers and agricultural experts.
- Developing recombinant inbreed lines (Nested association mapping populations) for gene mapping and breeding purpose. I have developed more than 6000 RILs.
- Contributed to durum wheat and barley diversity study of GIZ grant proposal.
- Public research Organization
PHD in Agro-biodiversity/Plant Genetics and Genomics
Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy
01.2012 - 10.2016
- Company Overview: University
- Characterizing Ethiopian durum wheat using 90K SNP markers and phenotypically.
- Developing Nested association mapping population of Durum wheat for gene mapping and breeding.
- Mapping farmers’ knowledge for variety selection in durum wheat: combining genomics, metric data and farmers’ preference score.
- Studying Heterosis in durum wheat.
- GWAS for disease resistance in Ethiopian durum wheat: Septoria tritici blotch, Yellow rust and Leaf rust.
- Participatory durum wheat breeding for climate change adaptation.
- University
Director (senior governmental official position), Sirinka Agricultural Research Center
Sirinka Agricultural Research center, Amhara Agricultural Research Institute
05.2011 - 05.2012
- Company Overview: Public research Organization
- Administering and directing all center research activities on Crop, Livestock, Soil and water, Forestry and extension and gender.
- Fund raising for center research activities.
- Leading 200 staff members and various research activities.
- Promoting and linking the center to other domestic and international research institutions and donors.
- Competing grants for different research activities.
- Managing annual center budget, developing strategic plan of the center and run accordingly.
- Supervising and giving support to process coordinators.
- Coordinating sorghum research at region level.
- Identifying agricultural problems at local community; writing proposals; evaluating field, greenhouse and laboratory experiments; analyzing data; writing progress report and providing training for researchers and agricultural experts of Government and NGO's.
- Developing varieties.
- Public research Organization
Head of Crop research directorate at Sirinka Agricultural Research Center
Sirinka Agricultural Research center, Amhara Agricultural Research Institute
06.2009 - 05.2011
- Company Overview: Public research Organization
- Coordinating and directing all crop research activities of the center, competing funds for projects, supervising activities and case team coordinators, communicating with other domestic and international institutions.
- Identifying agricultural problems; writing proposals; evaluating field, greenhouse and laboratory experiments; analyzing data; writing progress report and providing training for researchers and agricultural experts of Government and NGO's.
- Public research Organization
Junior researcher I - Assistant researcher I, Barley and Rice Breeder; SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency) crop breeding program coordinator
Sirinka Agricultural Research center
12.2002 - 10.2007
- Company Overview: Public research Organization
- Identifying agricultural problems; writing proposals; evaluating field, greenhouse and laboratory experiments; analyzing data; writing progress report and providing training for researchers and agricultural experts of Government and NGO's.
- Planning, evaluating, and coordinating Trials under the SIDA breeding program (all crop commodities).
- Public research Organization
Education
PhD - Agrobiodiversity/Plant genetic resources/Plant Genomics
Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
Italy 01.2012 - 10.2016
MSc. - Plant Breeding
Haremaya University
08.2007 - 06.2009
BSc - Plant Production and Dry land Farming
Hawassa University
Hawassa, Ethiopia 09.1998 - 07.2002
Skills
statistical software
undefinedAffiliations
- Ethiopian Breeders association steering committee member
- Active member, The Crop Science Society of Ethiopian
- Active member, The Ethiopian Society of Plant Protection
Short Term Trainings
- 08/05/24, 08/09/24, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines, Genomic prediction and genomic data analysis on R software, Certificate, Fundamentals of Genomics Predictions and Data-Driven Crop Breeding
- 03/11/12, 03/14/12, Bioversity International and Amhara Agricultural Research Institute, Bioversity International and Amhara Agricultural Research Institute, Bahirdar, Amhara, Ethiopia, Modeling crop suitability using GIS tool, Certificate, GIS training workshop: Using climate modeling to predict crop suitability
- 07/04/11, 07/08/11, International Crops Research Institute for The Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), International Crops Research Institute for The Semi-Arid Tropics, Nairobi, Nairobi, KENYA, Bio-safety laboratories requirements and policy regulations for GMO materials worldwide, Certificate, Seed policies and international seed regulations
- 11/29/10, 12/03/10, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Nairobi, Nairobi, KENYA, The importance of markers in crop improvement, its practical application, Gene mapping, QTL mapping and Analysis of DarWin, Power marker and GenMapper, Certificate, Training on Molecular markers for crop improvement
- 08/16/10, 08/31/10, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe, Breeding for Biotic and Abiotic stress, Hybrid maize breeding, multi-location data analysis, Certificate, Second maize breeders training course 2010
- 05/17/10, 05/22/10, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Executing participatory plant breeding experiments and its analysis, Certificate, training on Participatory plant breeding
- 04/22/07, 05/03/07, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Allepo, Aleppo, Syria, Breeding for Biotic and Abiotic stress and Molecular breeding, Certificate, Training on Cereal Crop Improvement
- 03/07/05, 03/18/05, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), International Rice Research Institute, Los-bagnos, Laguna, Philippines, Production of paddy rice; improvement of rice for disease, pest and abiotic stresses, Certificate, Two-Week Rice Production Course
- 07/25/05, 08/26/05, Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI), Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute, Bahirdar, Amhara, Ethiopia, Scientific paper writing, Statistical Analysis, Research methods, Surveying techniques, Certificate, training on Inductive training on Agricultural research
- 02/14/03, 02/21/03, Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI), Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute, Bahirdar, Amhara, Ethiopia, Planning of projects for short and long term, Certificate, Training on Strategic Planning and Management
Social Skills - Description
Involved in and served as a team leader and member of various social activities. Working tight with other people; staff get-together founder in Sirinka and leading coordinator (annual socialization program). Best in teamwork and in most cases have a coordination role.
Organizational Skills - Description
I have an excellent facilitation skill and been involved in different responsibilities and projects as coordinator, team leader and member like: President of graduate students of Haramaya university while I was an MSc student at Haramaya university. GIZ project manager, WLE project manager, Seeds for need project manager, Institute director of SARC with more than 200 professional staffs, Crop research director, proofed skill of fund raising, Regional cereal project development team, as team leader, Amhara region Sorghum research coordinator, East African Agricultural productivity program (EAAPP) center level coordinator, Project leader, Harnessing opportunities for productivity Enhancement project (HOPE, ICRISAT), region level, Sweden International Development Agency breeding program coordinator, National Tef case team member.
Additional Information - Selected Publications
- Participatory research at scale: A comparative analysis of four approaches to large-scale agricultural technology testing with farmers, Oberson, N., Moussa, H. O., Aminou, A. M., Kidane, Y. G., Luo, J. N., Giuliani, A., Weltzien, E., & Haussmann, B. I., Outlook on Agriculture, 01/01/24, https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270241295763
- The tricot approach: an agile framework for decentralized on-farm testing supported by citizen science. A retrospective., De Sousa, K., van Etten, J., Manners, R. et al., Agron. Sustain. Dev., 01/01/24, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-023-00937-1
- Genomics-driven breeding for local adaptation of durum wheat is enhanced by farmers’ traditional knowledge., Cherinet A. G.; Bogale N.; Kauê de Sousa; Luca Gianfranceschi; Guido Roberto Gallo; Jesse Poland; Yosef Gebrehawaryat Kidane; Ermias Abate Desta; Carlo Fadda; Mario Enrico Pè; Mateo Del’Aqua., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 04/04/23, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2205774119
- Multivariate analysis in the dissection of phenotypic variation of Ethiopian cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp Vulgare L.) genotypes., Basazen Fantahun; Tesfaye woldesemayate; Carlo Fadda; Yosef Gebrehawaryat Kidane; Mario Enrico PE'; Matteo Dell'Acqua., Cogent Food & Agriculture, 12/31/23, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2022.2157104
- The genomic and bioclimatic characterization of Ethiopian barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) unveils challenges and opportunities to adapt to a changing climate., Leonardo Caproni; Basazen Fantahun; Seyoum Asefie; Mara Miculan; Jemal Seid Ahmed; Simona Grazioli; Yosef Gebrehawaryat Kidane; Carlo Fadda; Mario Enrico PE'; Matteo Dell’Acqua., Global Change Biology, 01/08/23, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16560
Current Research Activities
- Sorghum Been intercropping genomic trait identification
- Striga resistant accessions identification and gene mapping
- Finger millet local varieties genomic characterization and breeding
- Nature positive farms establishment in Kenya and India
- Evaluating 1200 RILs of Durum wheat for Yield, Septoria, Leaf rust, Stem rust and Stripe rust and 7 other agronomic traits in different agro-ecologies
- Participatory crop varieties evaluation for climate change adaptation in East and South African countries and Southeast Asia using crowdsourcing (Tricot) methodology
- Agro-biodiversity for ecosystem service restoration
- Characterization (Phenotypic and Genotypic) of Barley farmer varieties and development of RILs
- Characterization (Phenotypic and Genotypic) of 4000 Teff accessions
- Development of NAM-MAGIC populations of Barley
- Characterization of East African Sorghum, beans and Millet landraces in Kenya and Uganda
Research Interests
- Molecular breeding: genomic-assisted breeding
- Participatory plant breeding focusing on field work with farmers
- Breeding for marginal environments, abiotic stresses, increased disease resistance, focus on quantitative resistance, breeding for agroecology
- Agrobiodiversity research
- Climate change
Personal Information
- Date of Birth: 01/01/81
- Gender: Male
- Nationality: Ethiopian
- Driving License: Automobile driving license acquired
Awards
- Picchi Award, 2020, Scuola Superiore SantÁnna, Pisa, Italy
- Bologna award, 2017, Bologna, Italy
- Best researcher of Sirinka Agricultural Research Center, 2012, Sirinka Agricultural Research Center
Desired Employment
Research in agrobiodiversity/Plant Genetic Resources/Plant Genomics, PhD in agrobiodiversity, MSc in plant breeding, BSc in Plant production and dryland farming, More than 22 years of research experience
Timeline
Senior Scientist, Team Leader, Country Representative for Ethiopia (until December 2022)
Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
01.2018 - Current
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Bioversity International
10.2016 - 10.2018
Research Fellow, WLE Project Manager, Seeds for Needs Project (CCAFS CRP) Coordinator in Ethiopia
Bioversity International
03.2015 - 10.2016
PhD - Agrobiodiversity/Plant genetic resources/Plant Genomics
Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
01.2012 - 10.2016
Consultant for Bioversity International
Bioversity International
01.2012 - 03.2015
PHD in Agro-biodiversity/Plant Genetics and Genomics
Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy
01.2012 - 10.2016
Director (senior governmental official position), Sirinka Agricultural Research Center
Sirinka Agricultural Research center, Amhara Agricultural Research Institute
05.2011 - 05.2012
Head of Crop research directorate at Sirinka Agricultural Research Center
Sirinka Agricultural Research center, Amhara Agricultural Research Institute
06.2009 - 05.2011
MSc. - Plant Breeding
Haremaya University
08.2007 - 06.2009
Junior researcher I - Assistant researcher I, Barley and Rice Breeder; SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency) crop breeding program coordinator
Sirinka Agricultural Research center
12.2002 - 10.2007
BSc - Plant Production and Dry land Farming
Hawassa University
09.1998 - 07.2002
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