Prof. Dr. Pedro W. Crous

PERSONAL AND CONTACT DETAILS

Married to Karina L. Crous. Two children: a son, Max, and daughter, Mia. Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands; phone: +31(0)30-2122643; fax: +31(0)30-2122601; Cell: 31(0)624238733; e-mail: p.crous@cbs.knaw.nl

EDUCATION

B.Sc. Forestry (1985); University of Stellenbosch (Stellenbosch, South Africa)
M.Sc.Agric. (cum laude) (1988); University of Stellenbosch (Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Ph.D.(Agric.) (1992); University of the Orange Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa)
DSc (2009); University of Pretoria (Pretoria, South Africa)

PRESENT POSITION

Director of the CBS Fungal Biodiversity Centre, an Institute of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, Utrecht, Netherlands, and Professor at the Universities of Stellenbosch and Pretoria (South Africa), Utrecht and Wageningen (Netherlands)

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1994 President’s award from the SA Foundation of Research Development
1997 Fulbright Fellowship
1999 Alexopolous Award from the Mycological Society of America
2000 Award for outstanding research from the Rector of Stellenbosch University
2001 Havenga Award for Biological Sciences from the SA Academy for Arts and Science
2002 A-rating from the National Research Foundation in South Africa
2005 Hendrik Persoon Award from the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology
2006 President of International Mycological Association
2007 Fellow of Linnaean Society

PUBLICATIONS

20 Books; 5 Chapters in books
380+ Full-length articles in ISI rated journals

PRESENTATIONS

300+ papers at symposia
Invited lectures in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands, Tunisia, USA, Zimbabwe.
Organised symposia in the USA, Australia, Italy, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and hosted workshops in the USA, Australia and Canada.

SUPERVISION OF POST-GRADUATE STUDENTS

Supervisor or co-supervisor of 26 completed master’s theses and promoter or co-promoter of 20 doctoral dissertations.
Research laboratories also include 6 post-doctoral students (NL & SA).

FIELD OF RESFIELD OF RESEARCH

Teaching
Biosystematics and plant pathology
Research
Systematics and phylogeny of plant pathogenic fungi. phytomycoAs phytomycologist I focus on the systematic characterisation and phylogeny of plant pathogenic fungi, especially the Dothideomycetes (Mycosphaerella, Botryosphaeria and aggregate genera). The aim of my research is to understand speciation, host specificity, and the effects of sexual recombination on these aspects. The main thrust of this research is to characterise plant pathogenic fungi on economically important crops, to determine the various phases of their life cycles, to harness DNA, ecological, cultural and morphological data sets to characterise the genetic variation in populations, and to use this information to elucidate their epidemiology. Phytomycologists provide the correct names for plant pathogens, which in turn has severe quarantine implications for import and export of agricultural and forestry produce.
MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICESerican Phytopathological Society; British Mycological Society; British Society for Plant Pathology; International Union of Microbiological Societies (Mycology Division); Mycological Society of America; Netherlands Microbiological Society; Royal Netherlands Society for Plant Pathology; Southern African Society for Plant Pathology.
Reviewer of scientific papers for 35 different international journals on a routinely basis, and associate editor of 7 international journals, editor-in-chief of two international journals.

RESEARCH GRARESEARCH GRANTS

2004 CETAF-SYNTHESYS grant, 6th EU Programme NWO-Groot grant, Building the databases of Life
2004 KNAW strategic grant : DNA Barcoding and DNA Bank
2005 CETAF-EDIT grant, 6th EU Programme
2006 FES-programma ‘Versterking infrastructuur plantgezondheid’
2008 EU 7th Framework – Quarantine Barcode of Life
2008 ICI proposal, International Barcode of Life (Canada)
2008 EU 7th Framework, Synthesys II
2009 FES-programma ‘Making the Tree of Life Work’