Roland Schafleitner

Dr. Roland Schafleitner is a plant scientist with experience in plant genetics and crop improvement in international research-for-development contexts. He currently serves as Country Director for Mexico at the World Vegetable Center, where he leads the Center’s activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. He also leads the Flagship Program “Vegetable Diversity and Improvement,” coordinating collaborative research focused on developing improved vegetable varieties and supporting their uptake by farmers through partnerships with public institutions and the private seed sector.

Dr. Schafleitner holds an MSc in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Vienna and a PhD in Biochemical Technology from the Technical University of Vienna, with a research focus on plant–pathogen interactions. His career includes research and project management roles at the World Vegetable Center in Taiwan and the International Potato Center in Peru, as well as earlier positions as a postdoctoral researcher at INRA in France and as a research scientist at the Austrian Research Centers. From October 2018 to February 2025, he also served as an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture, National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan.