Eminent Plant Breeder Receives Continental and National Recognition

BY: .

Professor Hussein Shimelis, Director of UKZN’s African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) and Chair of Crop Science through the South African Sugarcane Research Institute Science, has been named a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and is a finalist for the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 Lifetime Award.

The AAS Fellowship is awarded through a rigorous evaluation process, including multiple reviews by Membership Advisory Committees, and recognises scientific excellence. It admits the continent’s most distinguished scholars. Fellows help govern the AAS and contribute to shaping African strategies and policies, while supporting key science, technology and innovation initiatives.

AAS Fellows lend their expertise to policymakers and governments, serve on expert panels, steering committees, and councils of the AAS and its partners and help empower Africa’s next generation of scientists.

The NSTF-South32 Awards, known as “the Science Oscars of South Africa”, celebrate outstanding contributions to science, engineering, technology and innovation. The Lifetime Award honours an individual with more than 15 years of excellence in their field.

The NSTF congratulated Shimelis on the extraordinary achievement of being named a finalist in this competitive category, lauding him for his ongoing and significant contributions to training agricultural scientists and designing new plant varieties to enhance food security.

A full professor of plant breeding with more than 30 years of experience in teaching and research across Africa, Shimelis joined UKZN after earning his PhD in 2003 from the University of the Free State. He completed his undergraduate degree at Haramaya University in Ethiopia, where he later served as a Senior Lecturer, and obtained his master’s from Wageningen University in The Netherlands.

In 2023, he became Director of the renowned ACCI, guiding it through funding model changes while continuing its mission to train plant breeders across Africa. He is also a founding member and leader of the Pan-Africa Demand-led Breeding initiative, which promotes demand-driven breeding practices to increase adoption of improved crop varieties - including underutilised orphan crops - and enhance food and nutrition security.

Shimelis has ranked among UKZN’s Top 30 published researchers for the past seven years. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences, and a National Research Foundation C-rated researcher. His citation metrics include a Google Scholar H-index of 56, a Scopus H-index of 38 and a Web of Science H-index of 34. He has supervised 63 doctoral, 38 master’s and 11 honours students in plant breeding from eastern, southern and western Africa.

Shimelis maintains excellent partnerships with the National Agricultural Research and Extension Services in 20 African countries in both the public and private sectors, as well as with international research centres and various universities. He was recognised as one of Africa’s 20 most influential plant breeders of 2020 by the Southern Africa Plant Breeders’ Association.

Words: Christine Cuénod

Photograph: Supplied