Keynote at the UK-ASEAN Symposium on Precision Breeding
Honoured to give a keynote at the UK-ASEAN Precision Breeding Symposium in Malaysia and to present at the UK-ASEAN Symposium on Precision Breeding in Hanoi.
I was honoured to give a keynote at the UK-ASEAN Precision Breeding Symposium in Malaysia and to present at the UK-ASEAN Symposium on Precision Breeding in Hanoi. Lots of new plans in the pipeline!
Precision breeding offers a faster and more targeted way to accelerate the improvement of crops, increasing productivity, nutritional content and boosting resilience whilst decreasing the need for chemical inputs.
But to have impact, precision-bred crops need an enabling regulatory environment to unlock societal benefits.
Great to represent Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development, UEA DEV and John Innes Centre and our research as part of the UK-CGIAR Centre.
Takeaways:
🤝 There is a need for dialogue to realise precision breeding impacts.
🧑🔬There are research opportunities which would catalyse food security and trade benefits.
🍌 There is a growing portfolio of precision-bred products of trade interest between UK and ASEAN countries.
📈 UK-ASEAN connections can inform the harmonisation of precision breeding regulation needed for exchange and trade of precision-bred products.
Both events enabled us to form new connections fundamental to leverage research, food security and trade opportunities around precision breeding technology. We’re taking steps now to build and unlock this community 🌱
An incredible chance to connect with groups such as:
- Vietnam: Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Vietnam
- Philippines: DOST-PCAARRD
- Singapore: Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory
- Malaysia: Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute
- Thailand: BIOTEC-NSTDA
- And many more.
These were great events for ASEAN connections and fantastic to have Kittisak Kaweekijmanee of The ASEAN Secretariat close the event with an eye to the next steps.
A treat to join such an excellent cohort of researchers from across UK science: Freddie Theodoulou of Rothamsted Research, Laurence Ducreux of The James Hutton Institute, simon lillico and Clémence Fraslin of Roslin Institute & The University of Edinburgh and Lynn Frewer of Newcastle University.
It was a proud day for Norwich Research Park, with all three UK precision breeding companies hailing from the campus: Andrew Dominy of Tropic, Rory Hornby of ALORA and Cian Duggan of Resurrect Bio.
Wonderful also to catch up with the always inspiring Yvonne Pinto and the fantastic research at the International Rice Research Institute.
Thank you to David Wallace UK in Malaysia, Lornie Enggong, of Department of Biosafety Malaysia, Iain Frew, British Ambassdaor to Vietnam. Aida Hamimi Ibrahim of Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute for the welcome and opening remarks.
An incredible achievement from Aaron Kual of UK in Malaysia and Huong Phan of UK in Viet Nam for an incredible effort in bringing all of this together.
Thank you to Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for making these new connections possible.