Dr Vadakattu V.S.R. Gupta is a Senior Principal Research Scientist at the CSIRO Agriculture & Food unit at the Waite campus in Adelaide, South Australia. He has more than 20 years of experience in fundamental and applied, field-based functional microbial ecology research in soil and water ecosystems in Australia, Canada and India. His research interests include unravelling the complexities of microbial diversity, functional capability and resilience of microbe-soil-plant interactions for disease suppression and plant nutrition as a key for developing sustainable agricultural systems. His research has identified changes in soil biology in genetically modified crop systems and the impacts of herbicides on soil biological functions. He has published over 100 refereed articles in scientific journals and books and developed soil biology research investment priorities for government and industry funding bodies in Australia. He was awarded the 2015 Prescott Medal by the Soil Science Society of Australia for his outstanding contribution to Soil Science.

Dr. Anil K. Sharma is a Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, CBSH G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar. He was a Visiting Scientist at the University of Basel, Switzerland from July 2003 – November, 2003, and at the University of Helsinki, Finland in 2013. He completed his post-doctoral studies at GSU, Louisiana, USA, and he has extensive research and teaching experience. He is a reviewer for DBT, DST, and MOEF projects, and for journal such as the Biocontrol Journal, International Journal of Agriculture, and Microbiology. He holds three patents in the field of plant biology and microbiology and has received a number of prestigious grants. His laboratory is involved in various international collaborations, and he has published more than 84 research articles, 32 review articles and two books with renowned publishers. He has presented his research on several internationally acclaimed platforms.
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