2021/04/20 - Professor Dr. Jóska Gerendás is the new managing director of IAPN

In February 2021, Adjunct Professor Dr. Jóska Gerendás was appointed as the new managing director of IAPN and thus as the director of K+S An-Institutsverwaltungs GmbH. The Chief Agronomist of K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH succeeds the previous managing director Dr. Rolf Härdter who turns to new tasks.

The IAPN operates as an administratively and legally independent unit, funded by the K+S An-Institutsverwaltungs GmbH. It has been set up as a Public-Private-Partnership between the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH with headquarters in Kassel. The institute is jointly led by Adjunct Professor Dr. Jóska Gerendás and Professor Dr. Klaus Dittert, head of the Division of Plant Nutrition and Crop Physiology at the University of Göttingen and scientific director of IAPN.

At K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH, Jóska Gerendás is responsible – among other tasks – for the area of applied research and related projects worldwide, field trial programs, knowledge management, and participation in selected industry associations. He also becomes a member of the scientific board of the International Magnesium Institute (IMI) at the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU), China. The research for which Jóska Gerendás is responsible focuses primarily on nutrients and their interactions in their effect on growth, yield and quality with optimal nutrient and resource efficiency under consideration of various stress situations. Target groups for the use of the results are in particular farmers, advisory persons, students and prospective scientists.

Before he joined K+S, Jóska Gerendás worked at Kiel University, most recently as a senior research assistant, and worked in particular on questions concerning nitrogen and sulfur nutrition, the essentiality of nickel for plants, and the quality of plant products. He always remained connected to German and international research in the field of plant nutrition and contributes to academic teaching through lectures at Kiel University.

The IAPN team warmly welcomes Jóska Gerendás and expresses its sincere thanks to Rolf Härdter, who accompanied the institute for many years and was committed to advancing it during his time as managing director.