Primary Job Title Chief Science Officer Primary Organization 
CGIAR Consortium
Gender Male
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Professor Wayne Powell has more than 25 years experience working in the field of contemporary plant genetics, and was previously Director of the Institute of Biological, Environmental & Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University, Wales. Prior to this, Professor Powell was Director and CEO of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany
(NIAB) in Cambridge, following his post as Professor and Foundation Head of the School of Agriculture and Wine, University Adelaide, Australia.
He also held the position of Deputy Director of the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI), Dundee, UK, from 2000-2004, and was responsible for leading and facilitating the development of the Institute’s scientific vision, with overall responsibility for the Institute’s research programs. Between 1998 and 2000 Professor Powell worked at the Du Pont Company in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, where he gained experience operating within a global private sector organization.
Professor Powell has extensive experience leading organizational and cultural change programmes and serves on the Scientific Advisory and Governing Boards of several International Research organisations. His personal research interests are at the interface of plant genetics, genome science, plant breeding and conservation of genetic resources, with a strong emphasis on the delivery of ‘public good’ outcomes.
He has published over 265-refereed scientific papers, that have attracted 18,267 citations, with an H index of 70, a further 120 book chapters and conference proceedings and presented numerous invited papers at international meetings and successfully supervised 25 PhD students and numerous visiting workers. He maintains an active research group, continues to write grants to support his research from a diverse range of funding sources and has an extensive international network of collaborators and contacts.
Wayne Powell is a native of Abercraf, Wales, UK and is a passionate follower of rugby.
