Yigal Elad is a researcher in plant pathology at the Volcani Center of the Agricultural Research Organization, The Ministry of Agriculture, Israel (http://www.agri.gov.il/Depts/PthlgyWeed.html). The Volcani Center is tasks include agricultural research in general and plant protection in particular. Dr. Elad is currently the scientific director of Central and North Arava R&D, South of Israel.
His key qualifications are biological, low input and integrated management of plant diseases, physiology of diseased plants, diseases of covered crops with an emphasis on foliar diseases. He is involved in national and international research projects dealing with such subjects and a member in national registration of fungicides committee and steering committee of research. He teaches at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on ecology and epidemiology of plant diseases.
He joined the IOBC/WPRS activity in 1990 and since then mostly active in the Integrated Control of Plant Pathogens working group. He was elected to act as the convenor of the Phytopathogens Working Group in 1998 and re-elected in 2002.