We are delighted to announce that Food and Energy Security has recently appointed an international editorial board to compliment and support the activities of the existing senior editor team. Each new editor is an expert in their field, providing unique insight into a specific area of food and energy security, and its associated disciplines.
The editorial board now includes 8 Chinese editors, 4 of which are based at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The strength of representation from China is in keeping with the journals ambition to attract the best research from this key region and with interests as varied as Weiming Shi’s study into Root Biology and Rhizosphere Processes for Sustainable Agriculture and Yihua Zhou’s focus upon the production of biofuel and new energy we feel confident the journal is now well positioned to achieve this goal.
Sally Wilkinson, one of five editors from the UK, is focused on developing and improving perennial non-food biomass and bioproduct crops. Her research is directly involved in several large international projects funded by the European Commission. Li Laigeng, at the same time, is committed to exploring plant biomass as an important renewable source for energy, fiber material and biochemicals. Gail Taylor at the University of Southampton has a long standing interest in the use of woody plants as sources of renewable energy for heat, power and more recently for liquid biofuels such as bioethanol. To further the possibility of biomass becoming a real fuel source, Ashutosh Mittal, based at the National Renewable Energy Centre at the US, is currently leading research to develop the conversion of biomass into fuel in a cost-effective manner.
Several of the new editorial board have a particular interest in drought, and research into the drought tolerance of plants. Andrew Leakey is currently investigating the genetic basis of drought tolerance in C4 grasses at the University of Illinois, while Chun-Peng Song’s research at Henan University in China centres on plant response to abiotic stress such as drought stress. Ruilian Jing is leading several national projects at the Institute of Crop Germplasm, CAS, aiming to improve crop drought tolerance and water use efficiency. Zhizhong Gong’s research into plant defence at the China Agricultural University s also focused on three aspects of the salt, drought and cold hardiness of the plant.
A select number of the editorial board specialise in nutrition improvement in crops. Chun-Ming Liu at the renowned Institute of Botany at CAS uses rice and Arabidopsis as models for research on seed development and Adam Price at the University of Aberdeenis involved in the release of a better-rooted rice cultivar in India produced via marker assisted selection. Gustavo A. Slafer (University of Lleida, Spain) is focused on the mechanisms, at the crop level of organization, underlying the responses of grain crops to environmental and genetic factors.
Our two South American editors – Paulo Mazzafera of the University of Campinas in Brazil and María Patricia Benavides of the University of Buenos Aries, Argentina – are both interested in secondary metabolism . María Patricia Benavides is currently involved in a study of nitrogen metabolism under heavy metal stress. Meanwhile Nigel Halford’s work at Rothamsted Research UK concerns the genetics of metabolic regulation in crop plants, particularly how environmental stresses affect plant metabolism.
Both Leon Terry (University of Cranfield, UK) and Umezuruike Linus Opara (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) are concerned with the processes surrounding the harvest. Opara, the first board member from Africa, is currently leading research projects on design of the ‘Packaging of the Future’ supported by the South African Postharvest Innovation Programme. Terry’s research is similarly committed to reducing waste and increasing food security around the world.
For a full list of the editorial board members please visit the Food and Energy Security website. To submit your paper to Food and Energy Security visit our online submission site.
