Genesys Advisory Committee Welcomes New Members and Chairperson
June 18, 2026
The Genesys Advisory Committee held its first meeting of 2026 on 18 May, welcoming new members, electing a new chairperson, and discussing priorities for the years ahead.
Genesys has grown substantially since its launch in 2011, when it first brought together accession-level data from three major genebank databases: SINGER, EURISCO and NPGS GRIN. Today, the platform provides access to information on millions of crop genebank accessions from data providers around the world, supporting genebanks, but also providing a wide array of tools to breeders, researchers, and policymakers.
The development of Genesys has always been guided by a group of international experts in plant genetic resources documentation, data management and conservation. Initially established in 2012 as the Genesys Oversight Committee, the current Advisory Committee was formalized in 2016 through the adoption of its Terms of Reference.
The Committee provides high-level strategic advice and recommendations to the Genesys Team at the Crop Trust. Its role includes advising on the organization, operations and activities of Genesys, representing stakeholder interests, supporting the governance and sustainability of the platform, and helping to bring new data providers and stakeholders into the Genesys community.
The Committee is composed of experts representing data providers, donors, and user groupsThe Committee selects a Chairperson from among its members every two years.
Current Genesys Advisory Committee members
The current members of the Genesys Advisory Committee are:
Aluana Gonçalves de Abreu, Researcher at Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brazil. Aluana has expertise in genetics, population genetics, biotechnology applied to breeding, and plant genetic resources.
Anne-Marie Frankland, Operations Director at Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). Anne-Marie brings extensive experience in organizational strategy, conservation operations, technical and data initiatives, and global membership services.
Paul Shaw, Senior Scientist at the James Hutton Institute, United Kingdom. Paul works at the intersection of software development and plant sciences, with a focus on the management, visualization and communication of genetic resources data.
Stephan Weise, Head of the Genebank Documentation Working Group at IPK Gatersleben and Coordinator of EURISCO. Stephan is a computer scientist with long-standing experience in life sciences data integration, analysis and genebank documentation.
Zakaria Kehel, Genetic Resources Scientist and Senior Biometrician at ICARDA/CGIAR. Zakaria leads work on genebank accession mining and ICARDA’s Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy, with expertise in biometrics, statistical genetics and breeding data management. He was nominated by the CGIAR genebanks to represent them on the Committee and was elected Chairperson during the May 2026 meeting.
The Committee also includes ex-officio representation of the ITPGRFA Secretariat through Francisco Lopez, and of the Crop Trust through Sarada Krishnan.
First meeting of 2026
The Genesys Advisory Committee held its first meeting of the year on 18 May 2026. The meeting welcomed new members, marked the election of Zakaria Kehel as the new Chairperson, and provided an opportunity for the Genesys Team to share recent progress and plans for the year ahead. The Crop Trust warmly thanks the outgoing Chairperson, Chris Richards, for his many years of leadership, guidance and support.
During the meeting, the Genesys Team presented highlights from 2025, including the addition of new data providers, growth in registered users, and continued use of Genesys to relay requests for plant material to genebanks. The Committee also reviewed the 2026 workplan, which focuses on onboarding additional partners, expanding trait data, redesigning the Genesys website, creating a documentation hub, improving multilingual support, and further developing tools such as the Subsetting Tool.
Members also discussed how the Committee can continue to support Genesys by encouraging genebanks to share data, promoting the platform among users and partners, and contributing to discussions on the next three-year strategy.
The Crop Trust extends its sincere thanks to all outgoing Committee members for their valuable contributions and continued commitment to strengthening Genesys.