Oana Dima is Science Policy Manager at VIB-Ghent University Center for Plant Systems Biology. In her daily work, she follows up on European and international policies related to crop improvement using new plant breeding techniques including genome editing. In addition, she coordinates the activities of the European Sustainable Agriculture through Genome Editing (EU-SAGE) network, which consists of 133 research institutes and associations across Europe.
Oana Dima is passionate to facilitate open dialogues on the latest technological advancements in plant sciences and to contribute to the policy environment through consultation, education and discussion. During her PhD in Belgium in the frame of the Stanford’s University Global Climate and Energy Project, she researched the lignification process in the context of biofuel production. Subsequently, she entered the world of diplomacy in the Romanian Embassy to the Republic of Poland and started in 2019 as Science Policy Manager at VIB-UGent to facilitate shaping policies to enable genome editing in plants for the transition to sustainable agriculture in Europe.