‘legacy award’ bestowed on jean hanson, ilri’s forage genebank gatekeeper for the last three decades

Artwork from Australian visual artist Sophie Munns.

For the last 31 years, Jean Hanson, a British genetic resources specialist by training, has managed and helped others to manage forage genetic resources research at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Nairobi, Kenya. The career of Hanson, known with enduring respect and affection by her colleagues and collaborators as ‘Jean of the Genebank’, has included managing the world’s only genebank dedicated wholly to forages, overseeing ILRI’s forage seed production and conservation work, and running the institute’s Forage Diversity Project.

Photos of the seven personalized awards created by artist Sophie Munns, by Luis Salazar/Crop Trust.

Along with six other distinguished scientists, Hanson today, 25 Feb 2018,  received an inaugural ‘Legacy Award’ from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which bestowed this award on Hanson for dedicating her career to forage conservation. Hanson and the other recipients received personalized awards featuring specially commissioned artwork by Sophie Munns. The individual recognition of all seven of these crop and forage diversity ‘gatekeepers’ came as part of the 10th anniversary of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Read the whole article on the ILRI News blog.