rt vol. 6, no. 3 letting a hundred flowers bloom

7/31/2019 RT Vol. 6, No. 3 Letting a hundred flowers bloom

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22 Rice TodayJuly-September 2007

T

he challenge for anyresearch manager isto nd that delicatebalance between too

many ideas and too few,while making sure the best ideas havethe resources they need to blossom.

Its a tough job that requires allthe skills of an experienced parentsupportive and enabling most of thetime, but willing to take the leadwhen there are hard decisions to bemade. Its a role that Ren Wang, thedeputy director general for research(DDG-R) at the International RiceResearch Institute (IRRI), has played

since January 2000. Now, though,it is time to move on. In July, Dr.Wang was due to step down aftermore than 7 years as the head of the

worlds largest and most importantinternational rice research program.

Its a long way from the northern,coal-dominated Chinese province ofShanxi to IRRIs advanced scienticlaboratories in the Philippines.But when asked how he wouldlike to be remembered as IRRIsDDG-R, Dr. Wang says, I hopepeople will remember me as agreat facilitator; as someone whoworked hard to enable and support

the work of the many dedicatedand brilliant scientists at IRRI.

Dr. Wang was the rstChinese national to be appointed

as IRRIs DDG-R and one of hismost importantand lastinglegacies will no doubt be theInstitutes very strong collaborativeresearch relations with China.

On his very rst trip overseasafter starting at IRRI, Dr. Wangattended a workshop on functionalgenomics (the discovery of whichbiological functions belong to specicDNA sequences, such as genes, andhow these work together to produce

Letting a hundredflowers bloom

As deputy director general for research

at the International Rice Research

Institute, Ren Wang was instrumental

in elevating both international

partnerships and research capacity

by Duncan Macintosh


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23Rice TodayJuly-September 2007

and inuence traits) at the ChineseAcademy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS) in Beijing. One of the mostexciting aspects of my work at IRRI,he says, was guiding new workin areas like functional genomicsto ensure it made a difference inthe lives of poor rice farmers.

On his next trip overseasthistime to KoreaDr. Wang was toestablish yet another consistenttheme to his work at IRRI: thistime, his commitment to helpingIRRIs partners in the nationalagricultural research and extensionsystems (NARES) of rice-producingnations. While in Korea, hesigned a new collaborative 2-year work plan that focused on 15individual research projects.

IRRIs many partnerships

and relationships with the NARESare vital not only to its researchbut also to its continuing ability toachieve impact and really make adifference in the lives of poor ricefarmers and consumers, Dr. Wangsays. My job was to identify thoseareas where IRRI could play a usefulrole, and those where it could not.

In addition to building ondecades of successful researchrelationships in Asia, Dr. Wang ledefforts to build new relationshipsin regions such as CentralAsia and Africa. However, hisbiggest challenges remained inSouth and Southeast Asia.

The rapid development ofmany NARES in Asia, especiallyin nations such as Korea, India,Thailand, and China, meant IRRIhad to change also, or be leftbehind, Dr. Wang says. Duringmy time at IRRI, several of thesenations have moved from being

simple research partners to actualdonors, so the whole relationshiphas fundamentally changed.

Fortunately for IRRI, Dr. Wanghad the experience to deal withsuch major changes. For most ofhis career, he has been surroundedby change and opportunity. Bornin 1955 in Taiyuan, the capital ofShanxi, Dr. Wang saw little ricewhile growing up and, it appeared,was never destined to enter the

world of agricultural research.

Shanxi is known as the coalcapital of China, containing aboutone-third of the nations coaldeposits. Because of its high altitudeand dry climate, little rice is grownthere, with the main crops beingwheat, maize, millet, sorghum,and potatoes. Dr. Wangs fatherwas a well-known and respectedvice governor of the province.

At 18, Dr. Wang started his rstjob, as a farm worker at the Linfen

Agricultural Research Institute inShanxi, where he worked for 3 years.Originally, he expected to go from thefarm into the construction industry,but was so taken by agriculturethat, fatefully, he went on to get hisrst degree, in plant protection,in 1978 from the Department

of Agronomy at the ShanxiAgricultural University in Taigu,60 kilometers south of Taiyuan.

From there, he launched hiscareer in agricultural research bytaking a job in 1979 as an assistantlecturer in agricultural entomologyat the same university. He then wenton to his masters degree in biologicalcontrol, which he completed in1982 from CAASs Institute ofBiological Control in Beijing.

Launching his international

career on a Rockefeller scholarship,Dr. Wang was one of the rstChinese students allowed to studyoverseas when he left to get hisPh.D. in entomology in 1985 fromthe Department of Entomology atthe Virginia Polytechnic Instituteand State University in Blacksburg,Virginia, in the United States.

Next, he returned to China towork at CAAS, eventually rising toassistant director of the Institute of

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DR. Wang wt iRRiDrector geerRobert Zeer d(above) t s rewesemr Jue 200.


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24 Rice TodayJuly-September 2007

Biological Control in 1993, when heleft to become deputy director of theInternational Institute of BiologicalControl at CAB International inthe United Kingdom until 1995.

He was then tempted backto China to become CAAS vicepresident, the post he was holding

when he was appointed head ofresearch at IRRI. Dr. Wang saysexperience has taught him that,as a manager of research, it ismore important have a broadunderstanding of many differentscientic areas rather than be anexpert in only one. If you have goodpeople, its important you let themtake the lead, he says. The difculttime comes when you are presentedwith many good ideas, and you as themanager have the resources to choose

only just a few and not everything.Dr. Wang says that while at IRRI

he tried to focus on two broad areasfor scientic advancement. The rstwas in the general area of germplasm

improvement and the second wasnatural resource management. Atthe same time, he was intent oncontinuing the Institutes efforts tostrengthen socioeconomic researchand provide policy support todeveloping countries. During mytime at IRRI, he says, we saw the

development of new facilities suchas the gene array and molecular

marker applications labwhichallows researchers to rapidly

analyze a large number of genes todetermine their functionand thecreation of the new crop researchinformation laba bioinformaticsunit, which allows the powerfulcapture, analysis, storage,integration, and dissemination ofbiological informationas a jointventure between IRRI and theInternational Maize and WheatImprovement Center in Mexico.

In the area of natural resourcemanagement, Dr. Wang oversawthe establishment of IRRIs rstever environmental council, whichprovides environmental policiesand ideas for not only the Institutes

research, but also its operations.In response to requests fromits NARES partners, IRRI alsostrengthened its focus on fragileupland areas, recognizing that

this was where many of Asiaspoorest rice farmers lived.

Typifying his commitment to the

Institutes goals in these areas, inJanuary 2001, Dr. Wang traveled

to Nepal to sign a memorandumof understanding between

IRRI and the NepalAgricultural Research

Council that led tothe development ofa detailed researchprogram for riceproduction in themountain kingdom.

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DR. Wang d s st(from left) Do Robes,lucy gme, d Vedherdez.


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2Rice TodayJuly-September 2007

Later that same year, Dr. Wangled an IRRI team to China toestablish what has become the worldrice industrys premiere event, theInternational Rice Congress. Heldevery 4 years, the rst Congresswas held in 2002 in Beijing after agrand opening attended by the then

president of China, Jiang Zemin.Dr. Wang says one of the keys

to any success he had in China orelsewhere in Asia was the strongsupport he received from the rest ofthe IRRI management team. I wasvery fortunate to be hired by RonCantrell when he was IRRIs directorgeneral. He taught me much that Iwas able to use later on, he explains.

I rmly believe that oneof the secrets to success for anymanagement team, especially at a

research institute, is to be able toargue about issues on a professionalbasis, while still maintainingstrong personal relationships.Sometimes, this can be difcultin an Asian context, so it was veryhelpful to work at an internationalorganization like IRRI, which isbased in AsiaI have a lot to thankmy management colleagues for.

Dr. Wang says he also triedto place special emphasis on hisrelations with locally hired staff atIRRI. I was very proud to be invitedto become an honorary memberof the IRRI Filipino ScientistsAssociation. Its something thatI will always value, he says.

During Dr. Wangs term as DDG-R, the Institute faced a decline insupport from some key donors thatrequired a reduction in staff. It wasa difcult time, especially for thoseworking on the research side of IRRI.

Most of Dr. Wangs memories,

however, are positive. He wasalso at IRRI when one of the mostsignicant breakthroughs in thelong history of rice research wasannounced. The release of the rstdraft sequences of the rice genome,by the Beijing Genomics Instituteand Syngenta simultaneously in2002, and the nal sequencing ofthe rice genome by a Japanese-ledinternational consortium in 2004,made headlines around the world.

It also triggered a revolution intraditional rice research, the impactof which will be felt for years to come.

Theres been incredible progressin rice research, not just at IRRI, butall over the world, Dr. Wang says.That we can take all of this newknowledge and use it to improve thelives of the poor has made my time atIRRI a very rewarding experience andsomething that I will never forget.

Dr. Wang is leaving IRRI instrong research shape. Not only doesit have a new strategic plan for 2007-

15 calledBringing hope, improvinglives, but the Institute has alreadybegun to implement a new medium-term plan for its research to meet thegoals of the overall strategic plan.

Although he is departing IRRI,Dr. Wang is not leaving agriculturalresearch. In fact, his next adventureextends his opportunity to inuencenot only IRRI but also its 14 partnerinstitutes of the Consultative Groupon International Agricultural

Research (CGIAR). As the CGIARsnew director, Dr. Wang functionsas the chief executive ofcer ofthe CGIAR system and heads theWashington, D.C.-based CGIARSecretariat. He also becomesa member of the World Bankssenior management under itsVice Presidency for Agricultureand Sustainable Development.

Dr. Wang says that he is excitedby the challenge posed by his newrole, and that his time at IRRI willnever be forgotten. I have a lot to

learn in my new job and need all ofIRRIs support and counsel, he says.

Let a hundred fowers bloom,let a hundred schools of thoughtcontend.This is perhaps one of thebest-known phrases to come out ofmodern China, but it also sums upnicely the success and managementphilosophy of a young man who setout from Shanxi more than threedecades ago to help make the worlda better placeand that he has.

DR. Wang exmes rce oeo iRRi's demostrto feds.

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