Dr. Ren Wang
Dr. Ren Wang
Dr. Ren Wang obtained his Ph.D. in Entomology in 1985 from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, the USA. He was a researcher (Assistant Research Professor, Associate Professor and Professor) at the Institute of Biological Control of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in 1985-1993, and pioneered China’s program of managing invasive exotic plants using the classical biological control approach. He was the founding director of the joint Sino-American Biological Control Laboratory between the USDA and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture in 1987-1993. From 1993 to 1995, he was the Deputy Director of the Programme Development of the International Institute of Biological Control (IIBC), CAB International, the UK.
He served two terms as Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1995-2000 and 2010-2013, respectively. In 2000-2007, Dr. Ren Wang served as Deputy Director General for Research at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in the Philippines. In July 2007, he became Director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) based at the World Bank in Washington, DC, the USA. From February 2013 to March 2018, Dr. Ren Wang served as Assistant Director General of FAO’s Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, based in Rome, Italy. In March 2018, he retired from FAO, and joined BGI as the Special Advisor to the Chairman of BGI. In April 2019, he was appointed as Director General of the China National GeneBank, Shenzhen, China.
Dr. Ren Wang sat on many high-level international boards and committees for agriculture and agricultural research and was an invited speaker at numerous conferences and forums in China and abroad. He served as a member of the Science and Technology Committee of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, the Board of Trustees of the International Potato Center, Bioversity International, and the Global Crop Diversity Trust. He is currently a board member and chair of the Program Committee of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture; and Vice Chairman of the China Agricultural Green Development Research Society.
Dr. Ren Wang was the recipient of the international development and cooperation award of the Korean Rural Development Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, respectively, and the honorable doctorate from the Agriculture and Veterinary University of Romania. He is an honorable professor of the Huazhong Agriculture University, and Shanxi Agriculture University of China, respectively.