Prof. Santiago F. Elena

CSIC Professor and head of the Evolutionary and Systems Virology group at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology. In addition, he is an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute (NM, USA) and member of the European Virus Bioinformatics Center (University of Jena, Germany). He graduated in Biochemistry and did a PhD thesis on Evolutionary Genetics of RNA viruses at the University of Valencia. His work has focused on the study of the mechanisms by which RNA viruses adapt to their hosts and how this adaptation results in the manipulation of cellular resources. He combines experimental evolution, molecular biology and omics, molecular epidemiology, and mathematical modeling. Among other merits, he is an elected member of the European Organization for Molecular Biology (EMBO), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Academia Europaea. He has published more than 320 papers, with ~23,000 citations and an h index of 76.

Safaa G. Kumari

Head of Seed Health Laboratory & Plant Virologist at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Lebanon. Working on (i)  legume and cereal viruses (monitoring, detection, host range, crop losses, screening, transmission, control, production of antisera and preparation of diagnostic kits for the detection of specific cereal and legume viruses), and (ii) identification and management of seed-borne insect pests and diseases in legumes and cereals (phytosanitary safety and prevention of transboundary spread of seed-borne pests). She was selected for the BBC’s list of the 100 most influential women of 2020 in recognition of her outstanding achievements in Plant Virology Research and was chosen as one of 11 women for the MEDNIGHT 2023 Mediterranean Science Team. She was elected President of the Arab Society for Plant Protection (2022-2025). She has been an Associate Editor of the Arab Journal of Plant Protection since 2003. She has published 133 papers in Refereed Journals and presented around 150 abstracts at scientific conferences.

Kingsley Dixon

Kingsley Dixon  is a botanist and conservation biologist who specialises in Australian plants, their biology, ecology and ultimately their conservation.  He is widely known for his discovery of smoke from bushfires as the key agent responsible for native seed germination and established the research team at Kings Park and Botanic Garden and now at The University of Western Australia.  The presentation will overview why meeting in southwest Western Australia puts you at the heart of one of the most extraordinary floras on earth.