DEPARTMENTS AND LABORATORIES

Dr. Božana Purar was born in Osijek on February, 25 1962. After completing primary and secondary education in Osijek, she graduated from the Department of Crop Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Osijek, in 1986, and defended her Master’s thesis in phytopathology in 1989. In 1998, Dr. Purar defended her PhD thesis in phytopathology and plant genetics at the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad. In 1986-1993, she was employed as an Assistant Lecturer in Phytopathology and Phytopharmacy at the Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek. Since 1993, she has been working as a researcher in phytopathology at the Maize Department of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad. Dr. Purar was appointed Research Assistant in 1999, Research Associate in 2002, and Principal Research Fellow in 2008. She was a member of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in two membership periods. Dr. Purar completed her specialization course in phytopathology in 2001, at the Plant Breeding Institute, Cobbitty, NSW, Australia. She joined the study tour team for bilateral cooperation between the ministries of Agriculture of America and Serbia, US – Serbia and Montenegro cooperation for research of corn rootworm (Diabrotica spp) in 2003, as well as completing the course Double haploids in maize breeding and research, Institute of Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, Universität Hohenheim, Germany in 2013. Dr. Purar participated in six national projects for technological development. She authored or coauthored more than 130 research and technical papers. She coauthored 109 maize hybrids registered in Serbia and 50 maize hybrids released abroad. In October 2022, Dr. Purar was appointed Head of Maize Department. She speaks English language. She is married and has two children.

Dr. Vuk Đorđević was born in Novi Sad on January 6, 1979. He graduated from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Novi Sad in 2002. In 2007, he obtained his Master’s degree at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, majoring in genetics and plant breeding. In 2010, he defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Biochemical characterization of high-protein soybean genotypes” at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Belgrade, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding.
In 2008, Dr. Vuk Đorđević completed his six-month postdoctoral training in soybean genetics, breeding and physiology at Iowa State University, IA, USA. He was appointed Research Assistant in 2011, Research Associate in 2017, and Principal Research Fellow in 2022. He has been employed at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia since 2003. Dr. Vuk Đorđević focuses his research on soybean genetics and breeding. In the period 2018-2020, he managed the team of breeders at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops. From 2020 to 2022, he was the Head of the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding. Since 2022, he has been the Head of the Department of Legumes. He was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad in 2023.
Dr. Vuk Đorđević has published over 250 scientific results – research papers, chapters in monographs, announcements at international and national conferences. Most of the published research papers are focused on genetics and plant breeding. He has authored and co-authored 75 soybean cultivars, which have been registered and realized in Serbia and abroad. The Hirsch index is 15 (Scopus, 2023). He was a member of the dissertation committee and/or mentor in several doctoral dissertations. He organized two international conferences dedicated to legumes. He is one of the founders of the International Legume Society ILS, and a member of numerous scientific and technical associations. So far, he participated as a member of the project team, leader of the work package or project coordinator in over 20 projects supported by the Republic of Serbia (Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Provincial Secretariat for Science, Fund for Science), by the European Union (Seventh Framework program, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe), and by other international institutions.
Dr. Vuk Đorđević is a member of The Serbian Genetic Society (vice-president of the Breeding Section), Serbian Association of Plant Breeders and Seed Producers, and Center of Excellence for Legumes. He is a reviewer of numerous international journals.

Dr. Vladimir Sikora was born on March 7, 1967. in Bački Petrovac. He graduated in 1990 at the Higher Agricultural School in Njitra (Slovakia). He received his master’s degree in 2000 and his doctorate in 2005 in genetics and plant breeding at the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad. He completed specialist training in the field of sorghum breeding in 2006 at TAM (College Station, Texas, USA). So far, he has published over 200 scientific results in the form of scientific papers, chapters in monographs, announcements at domestic and international meetings, registered and realized varieties. He is the author of 20 varieties and hybrids of alternative plant species (sorghum, millet, oil gourd, oil flax, phacelia, tobacco, industrial hemp, buckwheat) registered and realized in the country and abroad. He is a member of the EUCARPIA corn and sorghum section, the Society of Geneticists of Serbia, the National Association of Hemp Growers of Serbia, the Global Hemp Innovation Center (Corvalis, Oregon, USA). Member of the editorial board of the journal: Alternative Crops and Cultural Practices. He participated in the realization of 7 national projects financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the Provincial Secretariat for Science and 4 international projects. Since 1992, he has been employed at the Institute for Crop and Vegetable Production in Novi Sad, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia. In 2017, he was elected to the position of scientific adviser for the field of plant breeding.

Dr. Vladimir Miklič, Principal Research Fellow, started working at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad in the Department for Oil Crops in 1990 on hybrid sunflower seed production and processing. In the period 1996-2000, he was on a several professional visits in India, more than 2 years in total, working on seed production control and winter breeding generation, as well as educating Indian experts on breeding and seed production of sunflower seed. Additionally, he spent over a year on professional visits to Argentina working on similar activities in the period 2001-2007. He was the Head of the Department for Oil Crops in the period 2006-2015, when he was appointed Assistant Director for International Commerce. In 2016 he was Assistant Director for Organizing Production and Product Placement, in 2017 the Head of the Department for Industrial Crops, and in 2018 the Head of the Department for Sunflower. From 2021 to 2023 he served as the Assistant Director for International Commerce, followed by Advisor for Seed Production and the head of Department for Sunflower in 2023. Furthermore, he was a member of Board of Directors of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad in the period 2005-2014 and was again appointed in 2023, and a member of the Assembly of National Seed Testing Laboratory in 2007 and 2008. He has served as a member of the Board of the International Sunflower Association (ISA) since 2012, and as the ISA Board President from 2016 to 2022. In that capacity he was the President of the Organizing Committee of the 20th international Sunflower Conference held in Novi Sad in 2022. He is a member of the Board of the Group for Production, Processing and Trade of Oilseeds and Edible Oil of the Business Community for Industrial Crops of Serbia. He was the Secretary General of the Association of Breeders and Seeders of the Republic of Serbia, a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, and a member of the Presidency of the Association of Institutes of Serbia. He has also served as the President of the Supervisory Board of Pionir AD Srbobran. Moreover, as a representative of the Institute, he visited institutes in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia, Argentina, China, Uzbekistan, India, and Iran. On three occasions in 2004, 2009, and 2017 he visited Chinese institutes in Luoung, Baichenng, and Bayannur where he held invited lectures. As a representative of the Republic of Serbia, he participated in F.A.O. Regional Consultation and Workshop on Seed Production in Budapest, Hungary in 2009. He has published over 400 research papers and three book chapters. He has co-authored over 100 sunflower hybrids released abroad and in Serbia. He has participated in many national and international conferences, moderating several of them, as well as a large number of national and international research projects, managing a bilateral project between Serbia and China in the period 2013-2015. Since 2015 he has been an invited lecturer at doctoral studies at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Novi Sad.