Phytohormones and Stress Responsive Secondary Metabolites

Dr Munir Ozturk is the Founder Director for the Centre for Environmental Studies, as well as previous Chairman of the Botany Department, both Ede University, Turkey. He is Vice President of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences, Jordan. Dr Öztürk has received fellowships from Alexander von Humboldt, and the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science. He has worked at the University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, via a grant from National Science Foundation, USA. He also worked as a consultant fellow at the Faculty of Forestry, University Putra Malaysia and as a “Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the ICCBS, Karachi University, Pakistan. His fields of scientific interest are; Biomonitoring, Plant Eco-Physiology, Conservation of Plant Diversity, Biosaline Agriculture, Pollution and Medicinal/Aromatic Plants. He has acted as guest editor for several international journals like; The Malaysian Forester, Environmental Geology – Springer, Science and Business Media, Journal of Environmental Biology (4 volumes), Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier (2 Volumes).

Dr. Rouf Ahmad Bhat pursued his doctorate at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Kashmir (Division of Environmental Sciences) and is presently working in the Department of School Education, Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Dr. Bhat has been teaching for the past 09 years and is an author of more than 55 research articles (h-index 32; i-index 52; total citation 4000) and 50 chapters and has published more than 50 books with international publishers. Besides, he has worked as an associate environmental expert in World Bank-funded Flood Recovery Project and the environmental support staff in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded development projects.

Dr Muhammad Ashraf is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. In 2018 and 2020, he was declared Highly Cited Researcher by the Clarivate Analytics (Thomson Reuters USA). In 2020, Stanford University UAS ranked the world scientists using Scopus citation data - Prof. Ashraf is listed among the top 2% scientists of the world. In 2013, Dr Ashraf earned a medal from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for excellent research on stress biology. He was also appointed at Honorary Professor in Lanzhou University, China, and has edited 10 books.

Dr. Fernanda Maria Policarpo Tonelli (Ph.D) is specialized in biotechnology/molecular biology and has been studying nanomaterials applications such as delivery and remediation. She has worked with engineered viral particles and nanomaterials functionalized by different protocols (gold nanorods, carbon nanotubes, carbon-dots, nanoparticles, nanographene oxide) that resulted in 10 patent applications. She teaches topics related to biochemistry and biotechnology/molecular biology to graduate students as an associate professor at Federal University of São João del Rei. Dr. Tonelli has edited and/or authored 3 books, has reviewed various articles/book proposals, has authored 12 scientific articles and more than 20 book chapters from international publishers. The main topics addressed in the publications are: nanomaterials, gene delivery strategies, remediation strategies and cell signaling. She has presented and participated in numerous national and international conferences and has also had the opportunity to contribute to the organization of various scientific events. Dr. Tonelli has also dedicated herself to promote Science and Technology co-funding an ONG with this purpose and also joining a scientific divulgation group composed only by women. She has had her efforts as a researcher recognized by various awards (including For Women in Science Brazil-L’Oreal/UNESCO/ABC and Under30 Brazil – Forbes) and certificates of merit.

Dr Unal received her PhD from Ege University, Turkey and is currently Associate Professor at Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Turkey. Her scientific interests include; Plant Biotechnology, Plant Stress Physiology, Plant Molecular Biology, Plant Ecology-Physiology and Organic Agriculture. She has more than 65 publications, including 1 book (Cambridge Scholars Press-UK, In press), 6 book chapters and nearly 25 journal articles. She teaches agricultural biotechnology.

Dr. Gowhar Hamid Dar currently works as an Assistant Professor in the Higher Education Department Govt. of J&K and is presently posted in Government Degree College Kulgam where he serves as Head, Department of Environmental Science and Coordinator, Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC). He has a Ph. D in Environmental Science with a specialization in Environmental Microbiology. He has been teaching postgraduate and graduate students for the past many years in the Higher Education Department of UT of Jammu and Kashmir. He has more than 80 research articles in international and national journals of repute and more than 25 books with international publishers to his credit. Further, Dr. Dar is Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator for different R&D projects sanctioned by Government of India and Government of Jammu and Kashmir.