Scientific
Committee
Discover the scientists and researchers who provide the GPI with world-class expertise in sustainable phosphorus management. Their scientific rigor, field knowledge, and multidisciplinary insights strengthen the Institute’s mission to advance responsible and resilient phosphorus use worldwide.
Terry Roberts
Terry L. Roberts was President of IPNI until it ceased operations in 2019. He is a former President of the Potash & Phosphate Institute and Foundation for Agronomic Research (FAR).
Tom Bruulsema
Tom Bruulsema is Chief Scientist with Plant Nutrition Canada, providing support for the nutrient stewardship programs of Fertilizer Canada, The Fertilizer Institute, and the International Fertilizer Association. He has 28 years of experience working with the fertilizer industry. Prior to the dissolution of the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) in 2019, he was vice-president for the Institute’s programs in the Americas, and research globally. From 2015 to 2017 he led the Institute’s Phosphorus Program. Before that he was regional director for the Institute’s programs in Eastern Canada and the Northeast USA. Dr. Bruulsema has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, and the Canadian Society of Agronomy. He was previously a research associate at the University of Minnesota (1994), and an agronomist with the Mennonite Central Committee in Bangladesh (1986-1990). Education: B.S. 1983 University of Guelph (Agriculture); M.S. 1985 University of Guelph (Crop Science); Ph.D. 1994 Cornell University (Soil Science).
Cynthia Grant
Dr. Cynthia Grant was a research scientist in soil fertility management with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada from 1986 until her retirement in 2015. Her research and extension involved the development of soil and nutrient management practices that maximize the agronomic efficiency of resources, produce safe and healthy food, provide economic returns for farmers, and minimize negative impacts on the environment. A special focus through her career has been on management practices to reduce cadmium concentration in crops and soils. Much of her work has contributed to the formulation and adoption of locally adapted 4R Nutrient Stewardship for sustainable fertility management. Since her retirement, she has been involved in numerous projects, including reviews of 4R phosphorus management on the Northern Great Plains and management of cadmium in cropping systems, as well as serving on several agricultural research committees.
Dr. Grant has produced over 200 peer reviewed papers and book chapters and given more than 500 scientific and technology transfer presentations. She has been recognized with numerous local, national and international awards and honours, from producer associations, the fertilizer industry, and university, scientific and public groups, most recently including the IPNI Research Award and the Fertilizer Institute Round Table Award. She served as president of both the Canadian Society of Agronomy and the Canadian Society of Soil Science and was selected as a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Agronomy, the American Society of Agronomy, and the Canadian Society of Soil Science. She was invited to present the 2018 Leo M. Walsh Soil Fertility Distinguished Lectureship. Dr. Grant was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2019. She continues to live on the family farm, near Minnedosa, MB, Canada.
Rebbie Harawa
Rebbie Harawa is an agricultural research and development expert and her areas of specialization include soil fertility, agronomy; farm and food systems, climate resilient technologies and agricultural value chains. Rebbie has over 15 years of strategic leadership R4D in international organizations and currently she works for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) as Regional Director for Eastern & Southern Africa. Before joining ICRISAT, she worked for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) as a Head of Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Systems Program based in Nairobi, Kenya. Previous positions include Country Team Leader and Science Coordinator for UNDP, Millennium Villages Project in Malawi & Adjunct Associate Research Scholar (part-time) for Global Health and Economic Development Columbia University. Rebbie holds a PhD in Soil Science from Cornell University, New York, USA and a MSc in Agronomy from University of Malawi.
Shen Jianbo
Professor Jianbo Shen, an expert in plant nutrition and rhizosphere science under the scope of agricultural resources and environmental science, with a PhD in Plant Nutrition from China Agricultural University in 1998. He is a Chair Professor of Department of Plant Nutrition, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences; Vice Dean of National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University. He is the Director of the Soil and Plant Nutrition Committee of Soil Science Society of China. He did Postdoc or exchanged as visiting scholar in University of Western Australia, University of Minnesota, Wageningen University, Lancaster University, Hohenheim University, University of Saskatchewan etc. He has been engaged in studies on plant-soil interactions and rhizosphere interventions that are aimed at enhancing nutrient use efficiency and food security with reducing environmental risk, particularly focusing on sustainable phosphorus use. He is interested in innovating Green Intelligent Fertilizer, production and use of phosphate rock and chemical phosphorus fertilizers with environmental resilience. He is involved in the Phosphorus Sustainability Research Coordination Network as a core participant, organized by Arizona State University. He is a recipient of the National Outstanding Youth Fund of China. He won the State Natural Science Award and State Science and Technology Progress Award in China. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers in international journals, and was selected by Clarivate Analytics as a Global Highly Cited Researcher in 2019-2021. He serves as a member of Scientific Advisory Committee to the Our Phosphorus Future report, and he is currently a member of Editorial Board of Food and Energy Security.
Kazuyo Matsubae
Professor Matsubae is a professor of Environmental and Energy Economics in the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Tohoku University in Japan. She was trained as an econometrician and earned her PhD in economics at Waseda University in Japan. Her current interest is the identification of supply chain risks through resource consumption from a life cycle perspective.
She started her professional career at the Department of Metallurgy, Tohoku University, and spent a year as a visiting associate professor at the Sustainable Minerals Institute, at the University of Queensland, Australia. She is a board member of the Socio Economic Metabolism section in the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE-SEM), and is an Expert Adviser of the Waste and Recycling Subcommittee under the Industrial Structure Council for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan.
Mike McLaughlin
Mike McLaughlin is a Professor in the School of Agriculture Food and Wine and Director of the University of Adelaide Fertiliser Technology Research Centre (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/fertiliser/). Mike gained his B.Sc. from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, a M.Agr.Sc from the University of Reading (UK) and his Ph.D. from the University of Adelaide (Australia).
Mike’s research interests are in soil/fertilizer chemistry and crop nutrition. He has published over 400 research papers dealing with fertilizer chemistry, soil fertility, crop nutrition and fertilizer contaminants and holds several patents covering novel fertilizer formulations.
Kaushik Majumdar
Dr.Kaushik Majumdar, Interim Executive Director of the Global Phosphorus Institute (GPI), is a recognized leader in agricultural development, Dr. Kaushik Majumdar brings over two decades of experience in building sustainable agricultural systems through his focus on crop nutrition research, extension and capacity building. Most recently in 2019, Dr. Majumdar led the establishment of African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI) as its Director General, a position he will continue to hold. Before APNI, Dr. Majumdar was the Vice President of Asia and Africa Programs with the International Plant Nutrition Institute, where he coordinated plant nutrition research and outreach activities in China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa. Dr. Majumdar’s work in Africa and Asia has fostered effective teams, partnering and resource mobilization for improved sustainability within the most vulnerable of food production systems in the world. Dr. Majumdar is also an active influencer of policy through his contributions to the scientific literature and speaking forums.
Robert Norton
Dr Robert Norton has agriculture and education qualifications and a PhD in crop agronomy. He managed and delivered agricultural research, extension and education programs at The University of Melbourne (1981-2009) in agronomy, soils and plant nutrition and climate change, and retains an Associate Professor appointment. He was the Australia and New Zealand Director for the International Plant Nutrition Institute (2009-2018), and as a consultant now undertakes national and international consultancies in soil science and plant nutrition, including presentations and keynote addresses at national and international scientific conferences and industry events.
Most recently he spoke at international meetings in Jordan, Canada and Morocco. He is the author of over 150 refereed book chapters, journal and conference papers as well as another 350 conference and extension articles. Following his retirement from IPNI, his work was recognised with awards from the Australian Grains Research and Development Corporation and Fertilizer Australia.
Leonardus Vergutz
Terry Roberts
Dr. Leonardus Vergütz is a professor and soil scientist currently developing the Chair of Soil Science at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University – UM6P. He is an agronomist with MSc and DSc in Soil Science and Plant Nutrition and has great experience with the highly weathered and acidic soils commonly found in the tropics. Before arriving in Morocco, he was a professor for 7 years at Universidade Federal de Viçosa – Brazil.
He has more than 50 peer reviewed publications and is interested in understanding the mechanisms controlling the fate and behavior of elements in the soil-plant-human continuum aiming to build more sustainable and productive agricultural systems. He was part of the advisory group commissioned by the European Commission that wrote the policy paper that should guide the R&I cooperation between Africa and Europe for the Green Transition in Africa. This paper was released early 2022 during the AU-EU Summit and brings soil security to the core of the Green Transition in Africa.
Dr. Milkha Aulakh
Dr. Milkha Aulakh received a B.Sc. in Agriculture (1972), a M.Sc. in Soil Science (1974) from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), India, and a Ph.D. in Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition (1983) from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He was a Professor and Researcher at PAU from 1974 to 2010. His research led to the development of various reliable methodologies, establishment of critical limits of essential plant nutrients, and formulation and adoption of sustainable soil and nutrient management technologies that conserve natural resources, maximize agronomic efficiency of organic sources and fertilizers, optimize crop production, produce healthy food, provide economic returns for farmers, and minimize negative impacts on the environment. Major thrust areas of his work were balanced and integrated nutrient management (INM), conservation agriculture, carbon sequestration, sulphur deficiencies in subtropical soils, developing diagnostic tools, optimizing phosphorus fertilizer-use and its recovery, nutrient transformations in soils and their losses, greenhouse gas flux and leaching of nutrients. His path-breaking work on the role of rice plants in production and emission of methane demonstrated promising approaches to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases from rice fields. From 2011 to 2015, he established and developed Banda University of Agriculture & Technology as its Founder Vice Chancellor.
Outside India, he has worked in various international institutions such as IAEA Austria, FAO Italy, IRRI Philippines, and several universities and institutes in Canada, the USA, and Germany. He co-edited a book with Cindy Grant, published by Taylor and Francis, which addresses global INM challenges. He has authored over 220 publications, and delivered more than 130 presentations in 30 countries in five continents. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the TSI-FAI Plant Nutrient Sulphur Research Award, the IFA Norman Borlaug Award, IPNI Science Award, Canadian Commonwealth Fellowship, and U.S. Fulbright Fellowship. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Indian Society of Soil Science; Punjab Academy of Sciences, Hi-Tech Horticultural Society, and U.P. Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Now Retired, he volunteers his services in NGOs, and Farmers’ Organizations advocating INM to develop sustainable agriculture systems, conservation of natural resources, protection of environment, education for rural and deprived youth, etc., which foster understanding and harmony among communities.
Dr. Luis Prochnow
Dr. Luis Prochnow is an esteemed agronomist specialized in plant nutrition, particularly phosphorus and phosphate fertilizers. He completed his Master’s and Ph.D. at the University of São Paulo (USP).
Dr. Prochnow served as a professor at USP and was a visiting scientist at the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) in the USA. He was the General Program Director for Brazil at the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) for twelve years and coordinated the Nutrients for Life (NFL) Initiative in Brazil . Currently, he is the CEO of Plant Nutrition Science & Technology (NPCT) and has consulted for the Global Phosphorus Institute (GPI) for two years.
Dr. Prochnow has published over 100 scientific papers and remains a leading figure in plant nutrition research.
Dr. Nathan Nelson
Dr. Nathan Nelson is a professor in the Kansas State University Department of Agronomy, specializing in soil fertility and nutrient management. He teaches courses in soil fertility, fertilizer chemistry, nutrient cycling, and international studies. His research projects primarily explore nutrient management, cycling, and distribution within soil profiles and across landscapes. Part of this research is investigating ways to increase the efficiency of phosphorus applications in agriculture, with a main goal of increasing food production while reducing phosphorus runoff to surface waters. He leads research at the Kansas Agricultural Watershed Field Laboratory, a large in-field water quality laboratory established in 2014 to investigate effects of agricultural systems on surface water quality and develop best management practices to reduce non-point source pollution from agricultural lands.
A native of Manhattan, KS, Dr. Nelson graduated from K-State with a B.S. in Agronomy before moving to North Carolina State University where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Soil Science. He worked with the USDA-ARS as a Soil Scientist at the Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Lab prior to joining the K-State faculty in 2005.