Meet the SAAB President

Meet the SAAB President (2023-2025):

Prof Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu

Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu is a professor at the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) Centre, North-West University (NWU), and holds a Research position at the School of Life Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. Adeyemi is the current SAAB president (from January 2023 to January 2025) and have been involved with SAAB since 2009. He is a C1-Rated Researcher based on the National Research Foundation (NRF) Rating System.

He holds a BSc (Hons, 2006) Botany degree from Obafemi Awolowo University (Nigeria), while his MSc (Ethnobotany cum lauda, 2010) and PhD (Botany, 2013) degrees were obtained from UKZN.

Adeyemi’s multi-disciplinary research group that focuses on holistic value-chain on African indigenous floras. This entails the documentation of the indigenous knowledge, bioactivity testing, phytochemical characterization, safety evaluation, conservation and economic potential of African floras. Particularly, his work among the Batswana of South Africa has actively contributed to the documentation of plant resources with the goal of ensuring their sustainable utilisation and conservation. Adeyemi’s research which is aimed at achieving the UN SDGs [e.g. no poverty (no 1), zero hunger (no 2), good health and well-being (no 3) and life on land (no 15)]. His research also aligns with two of the seven priorities for strategic action (Shenzhen’s proclamation of 2017) for plant scientists.

His research outputs include more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, 10 book chapters, 1 Patent (a new plant growth regulator, 6-aryl-9-glycosylpurines, US 10,550,144 B2) and more than 100 national and international (oral/poster and invited plenary) conference presentations. He has graduated more than 20 post graduate students and mentored 5 post-doctoral researchers. Adeyemi is a regular contributor to “The Conversation” where his research is adapted as popular articles targeted at wider society and policymakers. This has generated keen interest and impact nationally and internationally.

Adeyemi is currently serving as an Associate Editor for the South African Journal of Botany and other international journals such as BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, Plants, Cosmetics and Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry. He is a member of the standing Committee on Biosafety and Biosecurity for the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). Other engagement includes serving as part of the Royal Society’s Future Leaders – African Independent Research (FLAIR) Fellowship Selection Panel (UK), Reviewer for the African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE) research grant and Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia (Europe).