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May 2026 Meeting Summary

We gathered on May 18, 2026, for the first Genesys Advisory Committee meeting of the year. It was an opportunity to welcome new members, reflect on recent progress, and set priorities for the year ahead.

A new chapter in leadership​

One of the highlights of the meeting was the election of a new Chairperson. We are pleased to announce that Zakaria Kehel has stepped into this role.

We also thank Chris Richards for his dedicated leadership and for steering the Committee effectively over the past several years. We are grateful for the foundation he built and the guidance he provided.

Looking back and ahead​

Looking back at 2025, we have several wins to celebrate:

  • We welcomed three new data providers to the community.
  • Our user base grew by 1,000 new members.
  • We helped relay 500 requests to genebanks, continuing our mission of making plant genetic resources more accessible.

Our goals for 2026 include:

  • Onboarding 10 more partners to expand our global reach.
  • Collecting additional trait data from 10 genebanks.
  • Refreshing the website, including a dedicated documentation hub to help users find their way.
  • Enhancing the Subsetting tool in collaboration with CGIAR.
  • Creating a new course for our data providers.
  • Improving multilingual support to make Genesys more inclusive.

Key conversations​

Our discussions covered several critical areas:

Expanding knowledge

We talked about the upcoming publication of courses through the FAO Academy and the Genebank Academy of the Crop Trust (including GGCE and Genesys modules). These courses will help users and providers build skills in managing and sharing plant genetic resources data.

Digitizing genebanks

We are making progress with the Digitize Genebanks project, funded by Google.org. We have already signed project agreements with genebanks in West Africa (Togo, Benin, Mali, Ivory Coast, and Niger) and Latin America (Colombia and Uruguay), with three more agreements expected soon.

Measuring impact

Following a suggestion from Aluana, we explored adding reporting capabilities for SDG 2.5.1a. Highlighting this metric should help show how contributions to Genesys support global sustainable development goals and may encourage more data providers to join.

Innovation and integration

We also discussed the potential of AI implementation and the possibility of integrating food plant data from BGCI's Global Conservation Consortium to make the database more comprehensive.

Our community​

Thank you to everyone who joined the meeting:

  • Aluana Abreu (Embrapa)
  • Anne-Marie Frankland (BGCI)
  • Chris Richards (USDA)
  • Paul Shaw (JHI)
  • Stephan Weise (IPK/EURISCO)
  • Zakaria Kehel (CGIAR)
  • Francisco Lopez (ITPGRFA, FAO)
  • Sarada Krishnan (Crop Trust)
  • Matija Obreza & Christelle Rabil (Genesys team)

Where we go from here​

We committed to several actions to keep the momentum going:

  • Strategy sharing: We will share the 2023-2025 Genesys strategy document with the Committee.
  • Planning for the future: We are exploring the possibility of an in-person meeting to draft our next three-year strategy, potentially alongside a GOAL workshop on data management.
  • Resources: As soon as they are published, we will share the links to the FAO Academy courses.
  • Transparency: We will add a governance page to the Genesys portal to explain our structure and introduce our committee members.
  • Outreach: Committee members offered to promote Genesys within their own networks and at upcoming meetings to encourage new partnerships.

We look forward to a productive year ahead.