Dr. Amin Mohammed is an Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology at Oda Bultum University. He earned his Ph.D. from Çukurova University, Turkey, and has held prominent academic and administrative roles, including Vice President for Academic Affairs at Oda Bultum University, Plant Protection Coordinator for the Postgraduate Program at Ambo University, and Member of the Plant Science and Horticulture Department Council. Dr. Amin is actively engaged in teaching, research, and community service. He has collaborated on international projects such as BAP-8510 (Çukurova University, Turkey),  BREEDTECH (European Commission), and My Control-ET (APPEAR, Austria). With 20+ publications in international peer-reviewed journals, he has presented his work at national and international conferences. His expertise spans agricultural research, pest management, seed health, mycotoxins, food safety, and global collaboration in higher education. He has supervised and continues to mentor MSc students in Plant Pathology, Agronomy, and Weed Science. Since 2024, he has served as a Representative for Africanuninet, fostering academic partnerships.

Mr. Sultan Usman is Senior Socioeconomics Researcher and Dean for College of Agriculture at Oda Bultum University. He earned his MSc degree from Haramaya University, Ethiopia, and has held prominent academic and research leadership roles, Coordinator of Research and Extension activities at Oda Bultum University, Served as socioeconomics researcher and M&E expert of BENEFIT REALISE Ethio-Netherlands Bilateral Program at OBU, focal person for Lowland Livelihood Resilience Project of World Bank at the University, Socioeconomics and Agricultural Extension Research process Director and team leader at Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Coordinator for Development of Agricultural Value chains Ethio-Italian Project at Oromia Agricultural Research Institute. Additionally, Mr. Sultan was coordinating and working with various research projects with international research institutes like ILRI, ICARDA, CIMMYT, IWMI and CIP at Oromia Agricultural Research Institute. Mr.Sultan is coordinating research, extension and community service activities, University farm enterprise and also implementing various research projects currently at the Oda Bultum University.

Ms. Leyila Nasir is a dedicated and passionate PhD student in Plant Biotechnology at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. She holds a BSc in Plant Science and an MSc in Plant Biotechnology, from Addis Ababa University. Her MSc thesis was conducted as part of the Legume Diversity Project, a collaborative research initiative between Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) and Cornell University (USA), where she gained valuable experience in international research collaboration and advanced molecular techniques. Leyila has a strong foundation in computational analysis, including bioinformatics tools for genomics, as well as hands-on expertise in basic and advanced molecular biology techniques such as DNA/RNA extraction, PCR, cloning, and gene expression analysis. She has a keen interest in cutting-edge biotechnological tools, particularly CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing, Transcriptomics, and Epigenomics. She has 2 published papers in peer-reviewed journals and 3 ongoing papers under preparation, Leyila has demonstrated her commitment to advancing research in plant biotechnology. Currently, she is working on her PhD dissertation, which focuses on morphological screening and Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) analysis of maize for Striga resistance, aiming to contribute to the development of resilient crop varieties. Leyila is deeply passionate about using innovative biotechnological approaches to address global challenges in agriculture, particularly food security and climate resilience. Her work reflects her dedication to bridging the gap between advanced science and practical agricultural solutions.