Rajeev Kumar Varshney

Rajeev Kumar Varshney  (born 13 July 1973) is an Indian agricultural scientist, specializing in genomics, genetics, molecular breeding and capacity building in developing countries. Varshney is currently serving as Director, Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Center; Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute at Murdoch University, Australia since Feb 2022. Before joining Murdoch University, Australia he served International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a global agriculture R&D institute, for more than 16 years in different scientific and research leadership roles including Research Program Director for three global research programs– Grain Legumes, Genetic Gains and Accelerated Crop Improvement Program. He has the onus of establishing and nurturing the Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology (CEGSB), a globally recognized center for genomics research at ICRISAT  that made impacts on improving agriculture and development of human resources in several countries including India, China, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, etc. Varshney holds Adjunct/Honorary/Visiting Professor positions at 10 academic institutions in Australia, China, Ghana, Hong Kong and India, including The University of Western Australia, University of Queensland, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (University of Ghana), University of Hyderabad, Chaudhary Charan Singh University and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.

Varshney is a globally recognized leader for his work on genome sequencing, cataloguing and utilizing genetic diversity, genomics-assisted breeding, seed system and capacity building in developing countries. He has made centrally important contributions towards improving food and nutrition security in India and several countries in Africa and Asia by assembling genomes, developing genomic resources and integrating genomic technologies in crop improvement programs in many tropical crops, and delivering several superior crop varieties to some of the world’s poorest farmers. His research group at present at Murdoch University is working on improving wheat, legume and horticultural crops for a range of agronomic, and abiotic stress tolerance traits by developing and deploying novel genomics and pre-breeding approaches such as pangenomics, haplotype cataloguing and functional genomics approaches.

He is a highly prolific author and Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher for 9 consecutive years in a row since 2014. He is the only agricultural/plant scientist in India, and the only translational plant biologist in Australia to achieve an h-index of >100 as per Google Scholar. He is an elected fellow/Academician to about 10 science and agriculture academies/ societies in India, Germany, USA, Africa, that is a rare feat for any scientist. His research work has been recognized with >30 prestigious awards from USA, Germany, China, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Philippines, UAE, and many countries in Africa including the most coveted science award, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, and the most prestigious agricultural science award, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award, from Government of India, International Crop Science Award  from USA, Qilu Friendship Award, and Guangdong Friendship Award from China. Varshney has been named as the Top Scientist in Agronomy & Crop Science category in the list of 250 Top Scientists in Australia by The Australian newspaper’s Research Magazine in 2022, among the Top 100 scientists from Asia by The Asian Scientist magazine in 2022, among 25 global researchers in biotechnology by Nature Biotechnology in 2021, and one of 10 most influential Indian scientists by The Times of India, a leading Indian daily newspaper in 2019.   

Varshney, a TEDx speaker is frequently invited in international conferences as Plenary/ Keynote/ Inspirational speaker or Session Chair. He has presented research and novel concepts related to food and nutrition security in several high-level fora such as: G8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture on Open Data in Genomics and Modern Breeding for Crop Improvement, organized by US and UK Governments in the World Bank (2013); Brainstorming session on Digital Revolution for Agriculture at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in (2012); Brainstorming session on DNA Fingerprinting for Impact Assessment, BMGF, USA (2018); FAO's international conference on Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries in Mexico (2010); FAO's Regional Conference on Agricultural Bio technologies in Sustainable Foods Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017) etc. Varshney’s research and interviews have been published in many Indian/ International print and electronic media including TV channels and radio programs. Varshney’s research and interviews have been published in many reputed media houses including TV channels and radio programs e.g. The New York Times, The Economist, BBC, Forbes, SciDevNet, ISAAA, Food Technology, Cosmos Down to Earth, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu Business Line, Financial Express, Mongabay, Australian Broadcasting Corp, Doordarshan, E-TV, AP24X7, FM Radio, etc.

Education and Professional career
Varshney received his bachelor's degree (B.Sc. Honours) in Botany and master's degree in Botany (Genetics, Plant Breeding and Molecular Biology) from the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh in 1993 and 1995, respectively. He then joined the laboratory of Professor P K Gupta at Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut and earned doctoral degree (PhD) in 2001 in Agriculture (Molecular Biology) based on work done on a Wheat Biotechnology Project sponsored by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. In addition, Varshney has undertaken several high-performance leadership and management courses from the leading business and management schools in Singapore, Malaysia and The Philippines.
 
After receiving his PhD degree, Varshney took up an assignment of Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Research Scientist) in 2001 at Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics & Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany. He worked there for five years in the area of structural and functional genomics of barley and comparative genomics of cereals. He then accepted the assignment of Senior Scientist for Applied Genomics at ICRISAT in late 2005. With an objective to accelerate genomics research in dryland crops, he as a Founding Director established Center of Excellence in Genomics in 2007, with support from Department of Biotechnology Government of India. Later in 2017, this center transformed into Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology. He was promoted to the position of Principal Scientist (Applied Genomics) at ICRISAT in 2007. He had a dual appointment with ICRISAT as Principal Scientist and GCP as SubProgramme Leader from 2007- 2013. He served as Research Program Director– Grain Legumes for a period of three years (2013-2016) and as Global Research Program Director– Genetic Gains and later for the Accelerated Crop Improvement Program, ICRISAT during 2016 to 2021. While working at ICRISAT, he contributed to transform so called orphan legume crops in genomic resources rich crops and made it possible to undertake genomics-assisted breeding in these tropical crops.

To take up new challenges in agriculture, Varshney joined Murdoch University in February 2022 as Director, Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Center; Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute.

Fellowships
 Elected Fellow of The Royal Society of London, 2023
 Elected Fellow of The African Academy of Sciences, 2022    
 Elected Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore in 2019
 Elected Fellow of American Society of Agronomy (ASA) in 2018
 Elected Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) in 2016
 Elected Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in 2016
 Elected Fellow of German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2016
 Elected Fellow of Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) in 2015.
 Elected Fellow of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in 2013.
 Elected Fellow of The National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) in 2015.
 Elected Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India (NAAS) in 2010.
Honorary Fellow of Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development in 2019
 Honorary Fellow of Arid Zone Research Association of India in 2019  
 Elected Fellow of AP Akademi of Sciences (APAS) and Telangana Academy of Sciences (TAS), India in 2014.
 Elected Fellow of Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2015.
 Elected Fellow of Association of Biotechnology & Pharmacy (ABAP), India in 2015

Notable awards
Based on his research contribution, he has received several awards/ fellowships such as:
 Guangdong Friendship Award by People’s Government of Guangdong Province, China in 2023
 International Partnership and Technological Co-operation Award by People’s Government of Shandong Province China in 2022
 Scientific and Technological Co-operation Award by People’s Government of Guangdong Province China, 2020
 Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for Outstanding Research in Agricultural Science 2019
 Honorary Fellow of Indian Society of Pulses Research & Development 2019
 Professor Jayashankar (PJTSAU) Life Time Achievement Award 2019
 G. D. Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2018
Prof. Lalji Singh Achievement Award by ADNAT/ CSIR- CCMB, 2019
 JC Bose Fellowship from Science and Engineering Research Board, 2018
 Honorary Professorship of Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ZAAS) in 2018
 Certificate and Honor for Outstanding Science Contribution by Uttar Pradesh Government, 2018 
 One of the “40 Most Influential Foreign Experts” by The Association for International Exchange of Talents in Shandong, China, 2018 
 Faculty research Awards 2018: Outstanding Authors 2018 for 2018.
 Doreen Margaret Mashler Award by ICRISAT for 2016.
 IPGI Award for leadership & contribution to peanut research by the International Peanut Genome Initiative for 2017.
 Qilu Friendship Award by the People’s Republic of China for 2016. 
 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize - Biological Sciences, the most coveted award from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) on behalf of the Government of India in 2015. 
 Research Excellence India Citation Award 2015 by Thomson Reuters
 The Illumina Agricultural Greater Good Initiative Award, 2013
 Young Crop Scientist Award by Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), 2013
 Young Scientist Award in Agriculture in 2010 by National Academy of Sciences, India and Elsevier South Asia
 INSA-Young Scientist Medal by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), 2008
 NASI-Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award by the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), 2007

Significant contribution to crop genetics and breeding
Varshney has made significant scientific contributions including the following:

Reference genome sequence assemblies for 13 plant species: namely pigeonpea, chickpea, diploid progenitors and cultivated groundnut, pearl millet, sesame, mungbean, adzuki bean, longan, Jatropha, Soybean and Celery
Integration of genomic innovations in breeding for development of improved varieties: Drought tolerance and Fusarium Wilt resistance in Chickpea in India and Ethiopia, High Oleic groundnut variety
Genomic resources for genetics and plant breeding: catalogues of genome variations, gene expression atlases, high density and low density genotyping platforms, >50 genetic maps, QTLs/molecular markers for >20 traits in legumes crops
Novel concepts and approaches: Genomics-assisted breeding, Genic micro-satellites, Translational Genomics for crop improvement, Super-Pangenome, 5Gs for crop genetic improvement and haplotype-based breeding 
Decision support tools and pipelines for genomics research and breeding applications: ISMU, CicArVarDB, CicArMiSatDB
Improved seed delivery system: Contributed to seed system by providing strategic guidance and support to replace old varieties in farmers’ fields and strengthening seed system in developing countries in Africa and Asia

Service to the scientific community
Varshney has served/ serving Editorial Board of several journals of more than a dozen international journals such as like Plant Biotechnology Journal, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Molecular Genetics & Genomics, Plant Breeding, The Plant Genome, Frontiers in Plant Science, Crop and Pasture Science, BMC Plant Biology, BMC Genetics, Molecular Breeding, Euphytica, Plant Genetic Resources, Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, etc. He has been a Guest Editor for Special Issue for several journals like Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Molecular Breeding, Plant Breeding, Briefing in Functional Genomics, Frontiers in Plant Science, Plant Genetic Resources, etc.

Varshney has served/serving Steering Committee/ Organizing Committee/ Programme Committee for several international conferences including FAO Conference on Application of Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10), Plant & Animal Genome Conference Asia. As a Chair, Varshney organized several conferences including ICLGG, five editions of NGGIBCI and InterDrought-V. At present he is Chair for 3rd  International Wheat Congress (IWC), Chair for Genomics of Plant Genetic Resources (GPGR-V), and also co-chair for Plant & Animal Genome Conference (PAG), Australia.

Varshney has delivered invited presentations in several high-level meetings related to international agricultural research including: (i) Plenary Talk in 30th PAG USA (the world’s largest genomics conference) in Jan 2023, (ii) G8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture on Open Data in Genomics and Modern Breeding for Crop Improvement, organized by US and UK Governments in the World Bank 29–30 April 2013], (iii) brainstorming session on Digital Revolution for Agriculture at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in July 2012, (iv) brainstorming session on DNA Fingerprinting for Impact Assessment, BMGF, USA (2018), (v) FAO's international conference on Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries in Mexico (2010), (vi) FAO's Regional Conference on Agricultural Bio technologies in Sustainable Foods Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017), (vii) Scientific Advisory Committee Meeting on Article 17 (Global Information System) of International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food & Agriculture of United Nations' FAO (2016), (viii) Quality of Research Workshop organized by CGIAR (2017), (ix) Science Forum of CGIAR in Wageningen, The Netherlands (2009). While serving international agriculture in developing countries, Varshney had privilege to meet several high profile and influential personalities from science, society and politics that includes Noble Laureate (Late) Dr Norman Borlaug, Mr Bill Gates, Co-Chair of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Mr Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India.

Research projects and grants
Varshney's research has been funded by research grants from several international funding agencies like Grains Research & Development Corporation, Hort Innovation Australia Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, Generation Challenge Programme, US National Science Foundation,  Indo-German Science and Technology Centre and leading Indian funding organizations like Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Department of Biotechnology, and Department of Science and Technology (India).

Research publications
Rajeev a prolific author and world renowned researcher have published more than 450 research papers/articles in high impact research journals. Some of these journals include Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Genetics, PNAS-USA, Genome Biology, Trends in Plant Science, Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Trends in Biotechnology, The Plant Journal, DNA Research, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Molecular Plant, Functional & Integrative Genomics, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Plant Breeding, etc. For more info visit his Google Scholar profile.

List of Books
Varshney has edited/ co-edited several books that makes significant contribution to agricultural science, plant genomics, molecular breeding etc. field and serves as good resource for Early Career Researchers. Select list of Varshney’s books are available at Amazon

References
96. ^Elected Fellow of The Royal Society of London, 2023

Indian geneticists
1973 births
Living people
Fellows of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences
People from Moradabad district
Scientists from Uttar Pradesh
Indian scientific authors
Aligarh Muslim University alumni
Chaudhary Charan Singh University alumni
Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy
Fellows of the Royal Society
Academic staff of the University of Western Australia
Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science
Associate Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences