(Photo: private)
Past-position in IUBS: EC Member (2019-2023), Treasurer (2023-2026)
Field of research : Plant Biotechnology
Address: Plant Biotechnology Department, Biotechnology research Institute, National Research Centre (NRC), 12311 Cairo, Egypt
E-mail: ms.hanafy[at]nrc.sci.eg, mshanafy[at]yahoo.com
Websites: orcid.org/0000-0001-7340-8689
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z07PMEYAAAAJ&hl=en
Profile
Prof. Moemen S. Hanafy is Professor of Plant Biotechnology at the National Research Centre (NRC), Egypt. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Hannover University, Germany, in 2002 as a DAAD Fellow. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at the National Agricultural Research Center for the Hokkaido Region, Sapporo, Japan, as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow (2003–2005). He later joined Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, as an Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Experienced Research Fellow (2008–2010). He also served as Associate Professor of Plant Biotechnology at the Faculty of Science and Humanities, Salman bin Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from January 2012 to June 2013.
With more than 35 years of experience in plant biotechnology, Prof. Hanafy has made significant contributions to plant genetic engineering and crop improvement for abiotic stress tolerance. Over the past two decades, he has published approximately 40 peer-reviewed research articles, authored five book chapters, and delivered around 35 invited lectures at national and international scientific conferences. He serves on the editorial boards of several international scientific journals and is an active member of numerous professional scientific societies.
Prof. Hanafy has received several prestigious awards, including the Prize of the President of the National Research Centre for Best Applied Research (2008) and the National Research Centre Prize for Scientific Encouragement in Agricultural Sciences (2013). In recognition of his strong scientific collaborations with Europe, he was appointed Ambassador Scientist of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Egypt (2016–2021).
He served as Chairman of the Egyptian National Committee of Biological Sciences from 2018 to 2022 and was re-elected for the 2025-2028 term. He was also elected to the Executive Committee of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) for the 2019–2023 term, subsequently elected Treasurer of IUBS (2023–2026), and was recently elected Vice President for Finance of the Union.