Agroecology, Ecosystems, and Sustainability

Dr. Noureddine Benkeblia is a Professor of Crop Science involved in food science focusing on food-plants biochemistry and physiology. His work is mainly devoted to the pre- and postharvest metabolism in crops. Few years ago, he introduced the new concept of systems biology -Metabolomics- to investigate the mechanisms of biosynthesis and accumulation of fructans in Liliaceous plants. Prof. Benkeblia, first received his BSc, MPhil and Doctor in Food Sciences from the Institut National Agronomique (Algeria), and Doctor in Agriculture (PhD) from Kagoshima University (Japan). After few years teaching in Algeria, He joined INRA, Avignon (France) as Postdoctoral Scientist from 2000. From 2002 to 2007, he worked as a Visiting Professor at the University of Rakuno Gakuen, Ebetsu (Japan), and Research Associate at Hokaido University. Prof. Benkeblia joined the Department of Life Sciences, the University of the West Indies (Jamaica) in 2008, continuing his work on the physiology, the biochemistry and metabolomics of fructan-containing plants in Jamaica. He also works on the postharvest physiology and biochemistry of local fruits. Prof. N. Benkeblia published over 150 papers, over 37 books and book chapters, and was recipient of many awards among them the UWI-Award of the "Most Outstanding Research" in 2011 and 2013.