Clara Gambart

Dr. Ir. Clara Gambart is an enthusiastic young researcher with great passion for plant physiology and phenotyping. In 2019, she obtained her master degree in agricultural sciences at the faculty of Bioscience Engineering (KU Leuven, Belgium). During her master thesis she investigated the potential agroecological intensification strategies on the profitability, productivity and sustainability of banana-based systems in Uganda. This project gave her the opportunity to examine local banana farms in-depth and analyze key obstacles smallholder farmers are facing. Triggered by this experience she started a PhD at the laboratory of Tropical Crop Improvement at KU Leuven to thoroughly understand the physiological mechanisms behind plant stress/tolerance/quality and map the phenotypic banana diversity in relation to the environment by combining genomics with phenotyping at the plant and cellular level. In May 2024, she joined the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. As a postdoctoral fellow, she is screening the performance of the ITC banana germplasm collection under current and future climates. This work is done in close collaboration with the teams in Palmira (Colombia) to bridge the gap between lab and field work.