Pr Magda Bou Dagher Kharrat is a plant geneticist who has been involved in the field of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration for more than a decade. She has been managing at Saint Joseph University of Beirut a large team of investigators focusing on endemic species conservation and establishing protected areas that harbor endangered species. She co-founded the NGO Jouzour Loubnan, which is responsible for rehabilitating degraded Mediterranean forest ecosystems.
With a PhD degree from La Sorbonne University-Paris and an accreditation to supervise research (HDR) from Paris Sacaly University, Magda is a professor at Saint Joseph University of Beirut, she was the chair of the Department of Life and Earth Science, and directed the Laboratory of Biodiversity and Functional Genomics at the Faculty of Science (USJ) and has a wide network of international collaborators. She was awarded the UNESCO-L’Oréal for “Women in Science” in 2008, the “Outstanding Woman scientist” by the US program of embassies and consulates in the Middle East region in 2012, and received the Knight’s title in the Order of the Academic Palms from the French Republic in 2021.
Magda joined lately the Mediterranean Facility of the European Forest Institute in Barcelona as Principal scientist. She is working on defining conservation policies and forest ecosystem restoration strategies to optimizing their survival in the context of climate change.