​ Professor Rida Shibli is a Faculty member of Plant Biotechnology and Biodiversity at the University of Jordan and the Director of Hamdi Mango Center for Scientific Research at the University of Jordan. Dr. Shibli holds a Ph.D. in plant biotechnology from the University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign, USA. Additionally, he serves as the Executive Secretary of the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA), Jordan. Dr. Shibli is a distinguished researcher in Plant Biotechnology and Biodiversity, with over 200 scientific publications in top-tier Scopus Q1 and Q2, WoS-JCR, and Google Scholar-indexed journals. His research impact is reflected in an h-index of 26 on Scopus. As an academic expert and a leading scholar where his research and advocacy have led to advances in Jordan and around the Middle East region in influencing agricultural R&D and contributing to increasing the resilience of the livelihoods of rural people. For the past 30 years, as an academic expert in plant genetic resources, biodiversity, plant biotechnology and farming models and technologies, Dr. Shibli led innovative agricultural research programs that influenced and shaped R&D in the field of sustainable agriculture. As a result, Dr. Shibli was asked to advise on science and technology policy issues related to food security, transforming agrifood system and climate change mitigation and adaptation in the NENA region for institutions such as FAO, ICARDA, UNESCWA and UNDP. His research focuses on molecular characterization of plant genetic resources, plant cell culture, secondary metabolites production, plant physiology and responses to salinity and stress utilizing tissue culture, cryopreservation and molecular physiology.