Felix Dapare Dakora
Felix Dapore Dakora currently holds a South African Research Chair in Agrochemurgy and Plant Symbioses at the Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa; and is Fellow and President of the African Academy of Sciences. In 2012, he won the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, and the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Science Excellence Continental Award in 2016. He is a Member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, a fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, and TWAS Fellow. He served two terms as the president of the African Academy of Sciences.
Dakora鈥檚 research has contributed to our current understanding of the signaling and protectant roles of legume molecules such as flavonoids, alkaloids, amino acids, terpenoids and isoflavonoid phytoalexins, as well as of rhizobial metabolites such as lumichrome, riboflavin and indole acetic acid, especially in plant functioning and the expression of bacterial nodulation genes. His research has i) identified legume species and their associated microsymbionts that can serve as biofertilizers for cropping systems in Africa, ii) selected legume varieties and super-smart soil microbes that are tolerant of drought, low pH, high salinity and high temperatures for use in a climate change scenario, and iii) isolated native soil rhizobia that promote increased trace element uptake and accumulation in food legumes for overcoming micronutrient deficiency in Africa.
He has published more than 400 papers - including peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and peer-reviewed conference papers/abstracts - and a book entitled Biological Nitrogen Fixation: Towards Poverty Alleviation through Sustainable Agriculture.
Dakora obtained his BSc (Hons) degree in Agriculture from the University of Ghana in 1977, an MSc degree from the University of Sydney, Australia, in 1981, and a PhD in Botany from the University of Western Australia, Perth, 1989.