r. Olaniyi Oyatomi, a Nigerian, is a Post-doctoral Fellow in Genetic Resources at the Genetic Resources Center (GRC) of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria. He joined IITA in 2001 as a research supervisor. He later became the Seed Bank Manager at the Genetic Resources Center in 2010, a position he held until 2022, when he became a Post-doctoral Fellow in Genetic Resources.

He obtained his B.Sc. in Plant Science in 1998 from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife, Nigeria, and his MSc. and Ph.D. in Plant Genetics in 2005 and 2018, respectively, from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

His work has focused on the core elements of Seed Quality Management, germplasm conservation, and pre-breeding of legumes, including cowpea, soybean, Bambara groundnut, African yam bean, and other underutilized legumes. Also, his research activities include screening wild Vigna species and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walpers) landraces for sources of resistance to Striga gesnerioides. (Wild.) Vatke. His current research focuses on the discovery and deployment of climate-adaptive alleles from the world’s cowpea germplasm collection under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded project on allele mining in cowpea. He has collaborated severally with local and international partners on seed quality management and conservation research projects.