Prof. Subhi Qasem is a former Minister of Agriculture in the government of Jordan (1991).

An IAS Fellow since 1988, Prof. Qasem was previously a professor of agriculture at the University of Jordan.

Prof. Qasem studied at Kansas State University and graduated from the University of Minnesota, St Paul-Minneapolis, with a PhD in Plant Pathology and Plant Breeding in August 1959. He worked with the Ministry of Agriculture for 5 years before joining the University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.

Prof. Qasem has occupied various academic and administrative posts at the University of Jordan, the last of which was the Deanship of Faculty of Graduate Studies in 1986. He is accredited with being the founding dean of the Faculties of Sciences, Agriculture and Graduate Studies.

In 1992, Prof. Qasem established himself as a full-time consultant working in the area of S&T education and R&D as well as agricultural policy and the environment. He has numerous publications to his credit covering the above aspects including a number of mission reports commissioned by UNESCO, FAO, UNDP, the World Bank, UNEP, ALESCO, IDRC, USAID as well as the IAS.

Prof. Qasem’s outstanding services to science in the Third World and Jordan, have been recognised culminating in the Medal of the Kawkab (Star) Award and the Istiklal (Independence) Medal, both of Jordan, which were bestowed upon Prof. Qasem by the late His Majesty King Hussein Ibn Talal of Jordan.