Prof. Beckley Ikhajiagbe is a Faculty member at the Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, where as a Professor of Plant Ecophysiology and Environmental Biotechnology, with more than two decades of experience in research and teaching, he serves to ultimately propel solutions in the areas of Plant Ecophysiology, Remediation Biotechnology, Plant Stress Coping Biology, Bioeconomy, Sustainable Agriculture, natural products resource development, Gene-Environment Interactions, and Plant-Microbe Interactions. Prof. Ikhajiagbe is also researching ways to promote rice and legume development in Southern Nigeria by strengthening plant-microbial interactions for improved nutrient availability, stress tolerance, and yield improvement. I am listed in the top 500 scholars in Africa by SciVal Scopus in 2023.
In the previous 10 years, he has supervised over 25 Ph.Ds., 6 M.Phil., and over 30 M.Sc. candidates. With the support of the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience, he has also successfully hosted over 10 international exchange students from several European universities on internship programmes in his Lab. He has won numerous scientific awards and grants from major grant organizations, as well as serving as an external examiner on a number of postgraduate examination panels around the country in the fields of Bioeconomy, Plant Ecology, Microbiology, and Sustainable Agriculture. Prof. Ikhajiagbe serves as a resource person on several accreditation panels throughout Nigeria for the Nigerian National University Commission. He also acts as a resource person for some African Centres of Excellence on Environment Standards and Biosafety. He serves on the Appointment and Promotion Boards of a number of tertiary academic and research institutes as an External Assessor. He is a member of the Technical Working Group of the Africa Biogenome Project (AfricaBP). He also has over 250 journal and book publications to his credit. He serves as an editor for numerous international publications, including Frontiers in Plant Science, African Journal of Health, and Environment Safety, and as a reviewer for many double-blind peer review journals hosted by Elsevier, Academicjournal (open access), Springer, Francis & Taylor, MDPI, Science Domain, Tropical Journal of Natural Products Research, and Science Alert. He is a member of numerous scientific and professional organizations, including the Nigerian Bioinformatics and Genomics Network, the Biotechnology Society of Nigeria, and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. Prof. Ikhajiagbe enjoys charitable work and volunteering in the community in addition to academics and research. He is also a youth development coach of more than 15 years.