HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-01 | Seeking Partners for Digital Agriculture and Climate-Resilient Crop Improvement

Prof. Dr. Faheem Shehzad Baloch, Professor of Plant Genetics and Breeding at Mersin University, Türkiye, is seeking international research partners and Horizon Europe consortia interested in developing innovative solutions for sustainable agricultural production under water- and nutrient-limited environments.

Our research focuses on integrating advanced plant genomics, molecular breeding, quantitative genetics, high-throughput phenotyping, and genomic prediction to improve crop adaptation, resource-use efficiency, and agricultural resilience under climate change.

Proposed Research and Collaboration Areas

• Genomics-assisted development of drought-tolerant and nutrient-efficient crop varieties.

• Identification of genomic regions and molecular markers associated with water-use efficiency, nutrient-use efficiency, and abiotic stress tolerance.

• Integration of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), QTL mapping, genomic prediction, and marker-assisted selection.

• Application of high-throughput phenotyping, remote sensing, and digital phenotyping technologies for crop stress assessment.

• Development of predictive models integrating genomic, phenotypic, environmental, and agricultural management data.

• Investigation of genotype-by-environment interactions under water and nutrient limitations.

• Genetic characterization and utilization of cereals, legumes, and underutilized crops for climate-resilient agriculture.

• Collaboration on data-driven decision-support tools and precision agricultural approaches to optimize crop performance and resource-use efficiency.

Our Expertise and Potential Contributions

Our research team can contribute expertise in next-generation sequencing (NGS), molecular marker development, GWAS, genomic prediction, quantitative genetics, germplasm characterization, and phenotypic data analysis.

We are particularly interested in contributing genomic and phenomic expertise to interdisciplinary work packages that connect crop improvement with digital agriculture, precision farming, environmental monitoring, and sustainable resource management.

Prof. Baloch has more than 13 years of academic research experience, over 200 SCI-indexed publications, an h-index of 44, and an extensive international collaboration network covering more than 40 countries.

Partners Sought

We seek collaboration with universities, agricultural research institutes, digital agriculture companies, precision farming technology providers, AI and data science specialists, plant breeding companies, SMEs, and European Horizon Europe consortia.

We welcome opportunities to join existing consortia, co-develop competitive research proposals, contribute to multidisciplinary work packages, and establish long-term partnerships addressing climate-resilient and resource-efficient agriculture.