4th European Buckwheat Symposium - Buckwheat: Innovations in Agriculture, Breeding, Nutrition and Sustainability - September 3rd - 5th, 2025

Maria D. Logacheva graduated from the Department of Biology at Lomonosov Moscow State University, where she initially specialized in botany before shifting her focus to molecular biology and genomics. She completed her PhD at the Department of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics at MSU (2005–2008), with a dissertation focused on plastid genomics. Since 2018, Dr. Logacheva has been working at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), Center for Life Sciences, where she currently holds the position of Associate Professor. She has long-standing expertise in buckwheat genetics and genomics. Her research includes the analysis of Fagopyrum esculentum mutants with altered flower and inflorescence development [1], sequencing and assembly of the plastid genome and transcriptome of F. esculentum ssp. ancestrale [2, 3], and characterization of plastid and mitochondrial genome diversity in cultivated buckwheat varieties [4]. She also participated in development of a comprehensive transcriptome atlas of buckwheat [5], available at https://travadb.org/browse/Species=Fesc/. 
Her current research focuses on the characterization of the buckwheat pangenome and the genetic mapping of traits associated with flower and inflorescence development that are important for crop improvement.

• 1. Logacheva MD, Fesenko IN, Fesenko AN, Penin AA. Genetic and morphological analysis of floral homeotic mutants tepal-like bract and fagopyrum apetala of Fagopyrum esculentum. Botany. 2008;86:367–75. 
• 2. Logacheva MD, Samigullin TH, Dhingra A, Penin AA. Comparative chloroplast genomics and phylogenetics of Fagopyrum esculentum ssp. ancestrale – A wild ancestor of cultivated buckwheat. BMC Plant Biology. 2008;8:59. 
• 3. Logacheva MD, Kasianov AS, Vinogradov DV, Samigullin TH, Gelfand MS, Makeev VJ, et al. De novo sequencing and characterization of floral transcriptome in two species of buckwheat (Fagopyrum). BMC Genomics. 2011;12:30. 
• 4. Logacheva MD, Schelkunov MI, Fesenko AN, Kasianov AS, Penin AA. Mitochondrial Genome of Fagopyrum esculentum and the Genetic Diversity of Extranuclear Genomes in Buckwheat. Plants. 2020;9:618. 
• 5. Penin AA, Kasianov AS, Klepikova AV, Kirov IV, Gerasimov ES, Fesenko AN, et al. High-Resolution Transcriptome Atlas and Improved Genome Assembly of Common Buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum. Front Plant Sci. 2021;12:612382. 

Mateja Germ had her PhD in 2000 in Biology at the University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty (UL BF), Ljubljana, Dep. of Biology; since 2020, she has been a Full Professor of Ecology at UL BF. M. Germ led many Slovenian and two international SRIA projects (Impact of selenium on the yield and quality of crop plants, and Physiological indicators of stress in cultivated plants). She has cooperated with international research institutions such as Sichuan Agricultural University, China, the University of Wrocław, Poland and Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, Slovakia. M. Germ was the mentor of several PhD students and many master's students, and the supervisor of young researchers. The main topic of her research is focused on the response of crops to different kinds of stress, the quality of crops, and the optimisation of buckwheat for sustainable use. M. Germ has a long time of experience in the research of the effects of environmental factors on buckwheat. She is the national expert and coordinator on aquatic plants' implementation of the European Union Water Framework Directive. 

Md. Rakib Hossain Raihan is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Hons.) and Master of Science in Agronomy from Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh. He joined the Ph.D. program in 2023, and his doctoral research focuses on the impact of silicon on the spectral and physiological traits of buckwheat under water-limited conditions. His research expertise lies in plant stress physiology, with a particular focus on mitigating abiotic stresses through the application of organic and inorganic elicitors.

Raihan has contributed to multiple national and international research projects and has published 13 Scopus-indexed articles. He received the Dean’s Merit Award for academic excellence during his undergraduate studies and was awarded the National Science and Technology Fellowship in recognition of his Master’s research. He has actively participated in numerous scientific conferences and has been recognized with Best Oral Presentation awards. He is also engaged in academic training, interdisciplinary collaborations, and scientific outreach. 

Milan Skalický has worked at the Department of Botany and Plant Physiology for over 20 years. He focuses on the structural characteristics of plants and their responses to various stimuli (abiotic and biotic), phytochemical reactions of crops, and the management of anthropogenically disturbed areas (former military sites, spoil heaps). He has published over 160 scientific articles, which have been cited 5,500 times, with an H-index of 47. 

Professor Dr. M. A. Mannan is a prominent agricultural scientist and Professor of Agronomy at Gazipur Agricultural University (formerly BSMRAU), Bangladesh. With over 27 years of academic and research experience, he has made significant contributions to the field of crop physiology, abiotic stress management, and sustainable agronomic practices. Dr. Mannan earned his B.Sc. Ag. and M.S. (Agronomy) degrees from Bangladesh Agricultural University and completed his Ph.D. in Crop Agronomy with specialization in salinity stress physiology and Post doc. from Shenyang Agricultural University, China.

Professor Mannan’s research primarily focuses on enhancing the resilience of field crops -particularly soybean, mustard, maize, and legumes - under challenging environments such as salinity, drought, and waterlogging. His work integrates physiological, biochemical, and molecular insights to develop stress-mitigating strategies including seed priming, foliar nutrition, and soil amendments like biochar and organic composts. His recent interests extend into the interface of sustainable agriculture and climate-smart practices, including biofuel feedstock development on marginal lands.

He has authored and co-authored over 74 research articles, including publications in high-impact international journals such as Waste Management, Paddy and Water Environment, Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology, the Australian Journal of Crop Science, PeerJ journal, Frontiers in Plant Science, Scientific Reports and Heliyon. He has also contributed to book chapters and monographs on stress physiology and sustainable agriculture.

As Principal Investigator and Research Lead, Dr. Mannan has successfully implemented numerous projects funded by the University Grants Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, USDA, Krishi Gobeshona Foundation, BAS-USDA and other national bodies. His leadership has helped develop location-specific agronomic packages and adaptation strategies for vulnerable agroecological zones of Bangladesh, contributing to policy dialogues on food security and resource-efficient farming.

Beyond research, Dr. Mannan is deeply committed to academic development. He has supervised more than 50 post graduate theses on salinity tolerance, drought mitigation, carbon management, and physiological performance of stress-tolerant crops. His mentorship and scientific rigor have produced a new generation of young researchers in crop science.

Professor Mannan is frequently invited to speak at national and international conferences, and he collaborates with interdisciplinary teams working on sustainable land use, biofertilizers, and renewable agricultural systems. His scientific insight, dedication to innovation, and commitment to farmer-centric solutions position him as a key voice in shaping resilient agronomic strategies for the Global South.

I earned my BSc degree in Agricultural Engineering and my MSc degree in Plant Protection Engineering. During my university years, I participated in an international summer internship at the University of Technology and Life Sciences in Bydgoszcz, Poland I was awarded both the National Higher Education Scholarship and the New National Excellence Programme Scholarship. I actively engaged in academic research, presenting at both institutional and national Scientific Student Conferences. Since September 2021, I have been a PhD student at the Kerpely Kálmán Doctoral School, where my research focuses on developing plant protection technologies for alternative crops, with a particular emphasis on herbicide-based weed control strategies for under-researched species. Several of our research papers have been published internationally and we have participated in international conferences.

I have been working at the Research Institute of Nyíregyháza since 2019, my primary research centers on integrating legumes and alternative plants into crop production to enhance biodiversity, protect soil health, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our experiments aim to evaluate the role of cover cropping and green manuring as regenerative practices in crop rotation, and investigate how various agrotechnical practices affect the seed production of these alternative species (lupine, vetches, oil radish, buckwheat, etc.). 

Ivan Kreft graduated at Ljubljana University in Biology and Agronomy, at the University of Lund, Sweden obtained M.Sc. in Genetics, in Ljubljana Ph. D., and at Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, Slovakia, received his Dr. h.c. From 1983 Professor teaching genetics, and evaluation of plant products, for the students of agronomy, biology, biotechnology, food science and nutritional studies at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 1992-1993 visiting professor at Kyoto University, Japan, in 2001 visiting professor at Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China, in 2010 visiting professor at Kobe Gakuin University, Japan. He performed many field experiments and scientific excursions in Europe, China, Korea, Japan, Bhutan, Philippines, and Australia (Tasmania). Former First Chairman of IBRA (1980-1983) and again IBRA Chairman in 2013-2016. Member of Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Editor of Fagopyrum journal, author or co-author of several books on buckwheat, published in Slovenian, English, German and Japanese language.

Dr. Krzysztof Dziedzic is employed as a lecturer at the Poznań University of Life Sciences, Department of Food Technology of Plant Origin, and as a part-time researcher at the Poznań University of Medical Sciences, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases, Poland. His research focuses on the design of bio-foods with health-promoting properties. He studies the bioavailability of food components through in vitro experiments that simulate the human gastrointestinal tract.

His primary scientific interest lies in the use of buckwheat grain to improve the nutritional quality of food products. He also investigates the effects of environmental changes on the nutritional value of buckwheat as a raw material. Additionally, he explores bioactive substances isolated from cereals and pseudocereals.

By combining expertise in environmental engineering, food science, and healthcare, Dr. Dziedzic analyzes the impact of climate change on the nutritional quality of food, aiming to contribute to the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases. 

I, Akanksha Dalal, am a final-year PhD scholar in the Grain Science and Technology Department at CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysuru, India. My research focuses on the characterization and modification of buckwheat and its starch for developing gluten-free, low glycemic index food products and in vivo validation. I recently published two papers on gluten-free noodles and protein-rich Indian snacks using processed buckwheat flour and received a Best Poster Award for my work on buckwheat starch residue valorization. I am passionate about creating culturally relevant, clean-label food solutions for managing metabolic health and gluten sensitivity. 

I am an agronomist in Horta srl with a PhD in assessing the sustainability of farming practices. I specialise in web-based Decision Support Systems (DSSs) for cereal crops. Horta srl is an Italian tech-company that provides digital solutions for the agricultural sector and the agri-food supply chain. Its mechanistic and AI-based forecasting models support sustainable agricultural production. Horta's digital products and services provide location-specific information and recommendations to help farmers make data-driven decisions. Aggregating this data contributes to the digitalisation of the agri-food sector and enables agri-food companies to quantify the sustainability of their raw materials. Nowaday my role involves managing sustainability and carbon farming projects, as well as coordinating Italian field trial sites.  

Andrea Anselmi is an agronomist at Horta Srl, a tech company within the BASF Group, where he holds the position of Food Value Chain Manager. He earned a PhD from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore with a dissertation on the use of Decision Support Systems (DSS) for sustainable crop protection. An expert in agricultural sustainability, supply chain digitalisation, he coordinates national and international projects that integrate precision agriculture technologies, web-based DSS tools, and environmental sustainability indicators. 

Dr Marta Hornyák is an Assistant Professor at the W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, in Kraków, Poland. She specializes in the reproductive biology of common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), focusing on embryo sac degeneration and its impact on seed yield. Her research explores the role of secondary metabolites in buckwheat flowers, particularly phototoxic fagopyrins, using advanced techniques such as high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI–MSI), stable isotope discrimination, and untargeted metabolomics with platforms including GNPS and MZmine.

She is a research assistant at the Research Institute of Nyíregyháza, IAREF University of Debrecen. She has been working at the Research Institute of Nyíregyháza since 2015. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the Kerpely Kálmány Doctoral School of Crop Production and Horticultural Sciences. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on the osmotic stress tolerance and drought resistance of potato genotypes. At the research institute, she has conducted experiments related to the osmotic stress tolerance of potatoes, cereals, and other field crops.

Dr. Nóra Mendler-Drienyovszki is senior researcher and leader of the Plant breeding and Technology development Department of Research Institute of Nyíregyháza, IAREF University of Debrecen. She has been working in the Research Institute since 2000. Her main profile is the plant breeding of different legume species. She is the breeder of one dry pea, two green pea variety, and two winter lentil varieties. Her research activity is also focused on plant physiology and seed production (pea, winter lentil and buckwheat). She is the leader of the conservation of plant genetic resources. She has experiences in preparation and implementation of national and international projects (such as Horizon 2020).