Mr. Le Thanh Phong is a Vice director of Climate Change Institute (CCI) – An Giang University (AGU) – Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM). His background includes crop science, rice conservation, rice breeding, and cropping systems adaptation to flooding conditions. After graduating from university (2002), he participated in over 47 research topics/projects related to agriculture, the environment, rural development, conservation, and the development of traditional rice for adaptation to climate change. He also has authored or co-authored over 41 scientific articles/journals/chapters in my field of study.

As the role of a rice breeder, He has a plan to build the rice GenBank. He has spent 09 years (from 2013 to the present) researching traditional and floating rice varieties. Up to now, he is the owner of a big collection of biogenetic rice varieties. He is also the author and released a floating rice variety named “Nang Tay Dum” in 2018. This rice variety has been applied for flood storage models to adapt to climate change, and it has been supported by the World Bank project (WB project) in the An Giang, Long An, and Dong Thap provinces.

Now and in the future, he is continuously researching more new rice. It will provide strong rice genetic tools to support alternative models, help store flooding water, and adapt to climate change, ecology, and environmental protection for the Mekong Delta.