Bhavneet Bajaj, Ph.D., PMP
Senior Manager, Scientific Programs
A personal take from Bhavneet Bajaj on her work with AFSI, what inspires her, and the challenges in the sector.
What inspires you? What drives your work?
Safe and nutritious food is the cornerstone of healthy living. To be able to work in a space that involves food safety and technologies that enable sustainable food production, touching people’s lives directly, is very inspirational as well as fulfilling. I am driven by impactful projects with quantifiable results. All our programs are for public benefit and are closely evaluated for their usefulness to the participants.
“I am driven by impactful projects with quantifiable results. All our programs are for public benefit and are closely evaluated for their usefulness to the participants.”
What do you hope to accomplish with your work? What impact will that have on people's lives?
I believe in safe, nutritious, and plentiful food for all, as it is a key driver of building healthy communities. Improved food systems create a socio-economic balance, and my projects at AFSI contribute to this. The work that we do informs policy around safety assessment of novel foods. Our capacity-building programs enable strengthening institutional governance in biotechnology and contribute to developing trained manpower in this area.
How are you using your expertise to advance AFSI’s mission?
My background in plant biotechnology provides me with the skills and knowledge to contribute to our projects on the food/feed safety and nutrition side. Knowledge of metabolic networks and biochemical pathways operating in plants, which produce modern day foods, has enabled me to lead operations of the Crop Composition Database, as well as develop and design scientific content for our international biosafety capacity building program.
What’s the best part about working at AFSI?
I am proud of the breadth as well as the depth of the work that we have done and continue to do despite being a lean organization. Collaboration with and efficient management of multi-sectoral international groups of stakeholders is a key part of us accomplishing work of the highest quality.