IITA-CGIAR Banana Breeder Rony Swennen has emerged as the 411th best scientist in Plant Science and Agronomy. Rony has been recognized thrice in a row with the Research.com Belgium Leader Award in Plant Science and Agronomy since 2022. In 2024, he ranks seventh in Belgium and 411th in the world. Research.com is a leading academic platform that profiles the best researchers, scientists, schools, and papers to enhance research reach and smart decisions across the globe.
Rony is best known for his studies on genes, enzymes, and DNA in the botanic field. He has researched plantain, focusing on its physiology in support of agronomy and taxonomy. He has collected banana and plantain varieties worldwide, laying the basis for establishing the International Transit Center (ITC) of bananas in Leuven, Belgium. His Laboratory of Tropical Crop Improvement hosts the world banana collection, Bioversity International, with collaborations from 103 countries.
Rony joined IITA in 1979 as the first scientist at IITA’s Onne Station in Port Harcourt. He initiated and ran the plantain breeding program that resulted in black sigatoka-resistant plantain, a feat for which IITA was given the International King Baudouin Award.
The ranking is based on the D-index (Discipline-index) metric, which includes papers and citation values for Rony’s work in Plant Science and Agronomy. Rony exceeded the minimum D-index of at least 30 academic publications required to rank a leading Plant Science and Agronomy scientist. He made a 69 D-index with 15,523 citations of data collected in November 2023 and ranked at the top of the 10,700 scientists analyzed with 758 publications.
This 3rd edition of Research.com‘s ranking lauds the unwavering efforts of leading experts in various research fields and spotlights them. The rankings celebrate their tenacity and showcase their ratings so that other scholars, scientists, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers across the globe can easily spot them as resource persons and highlight research works best suited for specific needs.
Rony’s impeccable contribution to banana and plantain breeding has been recognized worldwide with numerous awards. In 2018, he received the Association for Cooperation in Research and Integral Development of Bananas and Plantains (ACORBAT) award in Miami, Florida, USA. He also boasts the Pisang Raja Award from all the national banana programs in Asia; the Flemish Primitives Research Award for banana liqueur of Leuven ‘Musa Lova’; the Association for the Improvement in Production and Utilization of Banana (AIPUB) Fellow Award in 2010, in India; and a Nigerian Chieftaincy title to acknowledge his contributions in South East Nigeria.
Contributed by Folake Oduntan
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