Dr Mamta Sharma is an accomplished, result oriented plant pathologist having more than 20 years of experience in this field. Dr Sharma is currently Principal Scientist-II and leading Legumes Pathology program under Global Research Program on Accelerated Crop Improvement at ICRISAT Headquarters based in Hyderabad, India. She is also leading a Cluster on “Precision Phenotyping for Biotic, Abiotic Stresses and Nutrition” and coordinator for “Center of Excellence on climate change research for plant production and protection (CoE-CCRPP)” Govt of India initiative under the National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC).
Dr Sharma has a PhD from Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India in Mycology and Plant Pathology. Dr Sharma leads the research team in several key areas at ICRISAT such as precision Phenotyping, legumes pathology (chickpea and pigeonpea diseases), climate change and plant protection. Her key areas of research include host plant resistance & phenotyping, host -pathogen interaction, population dynamics, pathogen characterization, disease detection & monitoring using next-generation tools, patho-genomics, disease epidemiology, climate change vis-à-vis pest/disease dynamics, disease forecasting models as well as transfer of technology through integrated disease/pest management technologies. She is extensively involved in capacity building of various stakeholders in the domain of crop protection and climate change. Dr Sharma is instrumental in establishing state-of-art climate change research facility at ICRISAT with a focus to develop modern crop production and protection tools that can make agriculture more sustainable and climate resilient.
Dr Sharma has been recognized with several awards for her outstanding contributions to agriculture including Women Scientist of India (2018), Doreen Margarret Mashler Award (2017), Promising Young Scientist Award (2012), Outstanding Partnership Award-Climate change and Asia (2023 and 2018), Outstanding Research Articles and Exceptional Scientific Articles Awards (2014, 2016, 2017). Dr Sharma is a Senior Editor and editorial board member of several scientific journals. Dr Sharma has led more than 20 R&D projects and collaborated with various international and national donors. Dr Sharma has published more than 240 research articles, book chapters, Information Bulletins and Conference papers in high impact journals as well as mentored over 50 Post-docs, young scientists, PhD and MSc Students. Dr Sharma is Fellow of Indian Phytopathological Society as well as Senior Editor for CABI Agriculture & Biosciences as well as Advisory member of several societies including American Phytopathological Society.