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Born in Tapiala, Amritsar, India on 25 August 1944. Educated at Govt. High School, Lopoke (Amritsar) 1955-60; B.Sc. 1964, Khalsa College, Amritsar; M.Sc. 1966, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (PAU) 1964-66; Ph.D. 1976, University of Birmingham, Birmingham; D.Sc. 1991. ISGPB Fellow Directory International Coordinator (DFID PSP Projects) and Senior Research

Fellow, Centre for Advanced Research in Agricultural Development (CARIAD), Bangor University, Bangor, Wales, UK, 1995 to date; Adjunct Professor Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India, 2013 to date. Lecturer in Agricultural Botany, Khalsa College, Amritsar, 1966-70; Assistant Professor, Plant Breeding, PAU, 1970-78; Research Fellow in Genetics, University of Birmingham, UK, 1976-78; Associate Professor, Genetics, 1978-80 PAU; Millet Breeder & Head of Millet Section, 1980- 88; Professor, Plant Breeding (Senior Millet Breeder and Head of Millet Section), 1988-00.

Awards/Honours: National Merit Scholarship, Govt. of India 1964-66; Commonwealth Scholarship for UK 1973-76 at Birmingham University; Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 at Birmingham University; Prof. M.J. Narasimahan Academic Merit Award, 1982; Best Paper Award 1993; Appreciation Certificate by the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, Chandigarh 1994; Editor Crop Improvement 1987-93; On Editorial Board of J. Crop Improvement Haworth Press 2004 to date; On Editorial Board of ISRN Agronomy J. 2011 to date.

Fellow: National Academy of Sciences, India; Indian National Science Academy; Crop Improvement Society of India; Chartered Biologist and Fellow Society of Biology, London; Indian Society of Genetics & Plant
Breeding.

Research Areas: Plant breeding & genetics, crop breeding for drought tolerance, biometrical genetics, marker-assisited selection, clientoreinted plant breeding

Address: Senior Research Fellow, CARIAD (Centre for Advanced Research in, International Agricultural Development), Bangor University, Bangor (Gwynedd) LL57 2 UW , UK; 18 South Brae Close, Littleover, Derby DE 23 1WD , England; [Tel: Res. (+44) 1332-766629; Cell: (+44) 7799 057846; Fax: (+44) 7799 057846; Email:dsvirk2012@gmail.com]