A History of the Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship

Bioversity established the Fellowship Fund, in 1989, to commemorate the unique and pioneering contributions to plant science made by Academician Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov of Russia and Sir Otto Frankel of Australia.

The first two fellowships in 1993  examined the historical background of the plant genetic resources movement and resulted in two books:

•  Vavilov and his Institute: Igor Loskutov of Russia (8.3 MB)

•  Scientists, Plants and Politics: Robin Pistorius of The Netherlands (7.2 MB)

Vavilov was one of the first scientists to recognize the value of genetic diversity in domesticated crop plants and their wild relatives to crop improvement. Perhaps his most lasting contribution was the identification of eight geographic areas, known as 'centres of diversity', that contain a large proportion of this diversity. Frankel was an early advocate of the importance of landraces for plant breeding. He also played a major role in raising international awareness of the urgency of conserving plant genetic resources.

The aim of the Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship Fund is to encourage the conservation and use of plant genetic resources by enabling outstanding young scientists from developing countries to carry out relevant, innovative research outside their own countries for a period of between three months and one year. In this way, the Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship Fund helps countries build the scientific capacity they need to address urgent issues relating to the management of plant genetic resources.

To date, fellowships have been awarded to 35 scientists from 23 countries from all regions of the world. Research covers a wide range of topics related to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources, such as:

• new conservation technologies and strategies
• socioeconomic, human and policy aspects of conservation and use
• germplasm management
• forest genetic resources conservation and use strategies
• genetic erosion assessment and mitigation
• conservation and use of specific crops.

Many studies have focused on crops and species of significant economic, nutritional and cultural importance to the Fellows' home countries; examples include wild and domesticated populations of cactus, ebony, pistachio, cacao, common vetch, peach, oat, wild potato, Grewia optiva, sorghum, fluted pumpkin, oriental beech, emmer wheat and barley.