معرفی
Ian Dawson is a Senior Lecturer at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), where he holds roles in the Principal’s Research Group Agriculture & Business Management and the Biorefining And Advanced Materials Research Centre. His research focuses on crop domestication, agroforestry, and tree genetic resources, with a particular emphasis on orphan crops and climate adaptation. He has extensive international experience, collaborating in over 20 tropical/sub-tropical countries and contributing to global initiatives like the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agriculture.
Education: PhD (Molecular Ecology and Population Genetics of Gliricidia) from University of Dundee (1995), MSc (Plant Genetic Resources) from University of Birmingham (1991), and BSc (Biochemistry) from University of Oxford (1989).
Research Interests: Crop domestication processes, integrating genetics with food systems, tree genetic resources for forest restoration, and policy development for sustainable agriculture. Notable contributions include developing guidelines for seed systems and leading the Tree Genetic Resources flagship program under the CGIAR initiative.
Recent work emphasizes mainstreaming nutritious crops into African diets and addressing global forest restoration challenges through better seed sourcing strategies. He has co-authored over 80 publications and supervised multiple PhD/MSc students, including Jon Bančič (SRUC/Roslin Institute) and researchers in Nairobi.
Funding: Co-investigator in projects like the £2.2M RESAS 22-27 project on novel crops and the BBSRC-funded study on orphan crop value chains. His work bridges academic research with practical applications in international development.
Labs/Teams: Active in SRUC’s globally-oriented research teams and CIFOR-ICRAF collaborations, promoting interdisciplinary approaches to agroecology and biodiversity management.
