Global Agricultural R&D & International Cooperation Specialist, Dr. TaekRyoun Kwon

As a plant scientist, he has been carrying out agricultural science and technology and international agricultural development cooperation projects at the Rural Development Administration and international institutions for 30 years.

As a major activity and achievement, he led agricultural science and technology cooperation with more than 60 countries around the world while serving as the director and manager of the technical cooperation bureau of the Rural Development Administration. Representative achievements contributed to the selection of Korea Partnership for Innovation of Agriculture (KOPIA) as an OECD innovative international cooperation case, and contributed to recording the agricultural science project of AFACI (Asia Food and Agricultural Cooperation Initiative) as an exemplary case in the UNFCCC expert report.

In addition, as a KAFACI project in Africa, he led the establishment of an African rice variety development partnership and the drought-resistant variety development project of  Frijoles(Kidney beans), a major grain in Latin America, and registered a number of excellent products in the development cooperation partner countries. As a scientist, he registered 30 scientific journal titles and 10 patents for international cooperation in plant research such as climate change response and drought resistance. 

He prepared a draft international conference response and national norms related to biodiversity, such as the Agricultural Biotechnology Regulation (GMO), which are currently used for GMO regulation, and led the preparation of the OECD Standard Science and Technology Book (Pepper) for related international regulatory harmonization. 

[Major career]
- Manager/Director of Technical Cooperation, Rural Development Administration
- Researcher and Research Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences
- President of the Korea International Agricultural Development Association
- Global Crop Diversity Trust Donor's Council Chairman(3 years)
- G20 Chief Scientist in Agriculture (5 years) 
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Invitational Scientist (2 years)
- Senior Researcher at the International Institute for Biological Diversity (2 years)
- Korea Overseas Youth Volunteer Corps (Indonesia, 2 years)

[Education]
- Ph.D. in Biology, Coventry University (UK)
- BA and MA in Agriculture/Academic affairs at Gyeongbuk National University