Dr. M. Iqbal R. Khan currently holds the position of Assistant Professor at the Department of Botany, and Deputy Director of The Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD), Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. Also, an Adjunct Professor at the Korea University, Seoul, South Korea and Adjunct Associate Professor at The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. Exposure of agricultural crops to environmental stress–induced adversities pose a serious threat to global food and nutritional security. Dr. Khan research has primarily focused on major staple crops, particularly wheat, with the objective of reducing their susceptibility to environmental stress under projected future climatic pressures and contributing toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr. Khan has published more than 100 articles, edited 11 Books, and authored 14 Book Chapters in reputed Publishers. He has an h-index of 57 and i10-index of 98, with more than 14600 citations to his credit as per Google Scholar as per bibliometric data in Jan 2026. He has been recognized as Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in Animal and Plant Science category and is in the list of Top 2% Scientists (Elsevier) of the World (2021-2025). Dr. Khan has been awarded with The National Academy of Sciences (NASI) - Membership in Plant and Agricultural Sciences (2024), and recipient of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Young Associates (2024). Further, his work has attracted prestigious awards, including R.H. Dastur Gold Medal Award-ISPP (2023), Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award-NASI (2021), and Young Scientist Award-ISPP (2018). He is on the Editorial Board of many renowned journals as the Section Editor in Plant and Soil, Associate Editor in Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, 3-Biotech, and Plant Physiology Reports. Also served as Guest Editor in the Agriculture, Frontiers in Plant Science, Sustainability and Plant Physiology and Biochemistry.Dr. Sudhakar Reddy Palakolanu has over 14 years of expertise in plant molecular biology, functional genomics, and gene editing. His research focuses on identifying and analyzing genes linked to complex traits using advanced molecular and biotechnological techniques. His main goal is to use cutting-edge methods to study and enhance key agronomic traits in dryland crops, especially millets. By integrating the latest biotechnological tools, his work aims to validate candidate genes discovered through trait dissection, supporting sustainable crop development.Dr. Reddy’s accomplishments have been recognized with several prestigious national awards, including the Young Scientist Award and the INSPIRE Faculty Award from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (DST-GoI). He also received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which enabled him to conduct advanced research in Germany. In addition, Dr. Reddy served as a Guest Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, where he worked on CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing to improve rice grain quality. His extensive research portfolio includes 76 research articles, 8 book chapters, 2 books, and 2 patents. In addition to his research, he serves as a reviewer for leading international journals, including Trends in Plant Science, Genome Biology, Frontiers in Plant Science, Physiologia Plantarum, Plant Cell Reports, Plant Biotechnology Journal, and BMC Plant Biology, among others.Antonio Ferrante holds a PhD in advanced technologies in horticultural science from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa Italy. He was a visiting researcher at the University California, Davis, and a visiting teaching professor with ERASMUS program in Cardiff University (2015) and Almeria University (2017) and has been a member of the scientific committee of several international conferences. He has authored more than 200 international publications in peer-reviewed journals. Prof. Nafees A. Khan is a distinguished Professor of Plant Physiology in the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Holding both a PhD and a DSc from AMU, he is internationally renowned for his pioneering research on abiotic stress tolerance in plants, phytohormone signaling, and sustainable agricultural practices. A Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate Analytics, 2019–23), he has received prestigious awards, including the UGC-Research and Mid-Career Awards, the Teaching Excellence Award, and the Research Excellence Citation Award 2023 (Clarivate Analytics). He is also a fellow of several esteemed academies, including the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Linnean Society of London, the Indian Botanical Society, and the Indian Society for Plant Physiology. His groundbreaking research integrates nutrient-use efficiency with stress resistance mechanisms, making substantial contributions to the advancement of global agricultural sustainability.
