Islam Sobhy

I have always been passionate about insects and their behaviour. In 2009, I joined Neuchâtel University (Switzerland) as a PhD Student to undertake my doctoral work on enhancing corn attractiveness to three braconid parasitoids using two plant elicitors. In 2012, I was appointed to a lectureship of entomology at Suez Canal University. Afterwards, I joined Rothamsted Research (UK) as a postdoctoral fellow, where I investigated the basis of natural stress-related induction of defence in potato against aphid using the plant activator cis-Jasmone.

In 2013, I awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) where I joined the Institute of Plant Science and Resources (IPSR) at Okayama University working on the inducible defences of rice and sorghum against chewing lepidopteran herbivores. And in 2016, I was appointed as a postdoctoral fellow at KU Leuven (Belgium) to undertake studies on the potential role of nectar yeast in enhancing the aphid parasitoid (i.e.: Aphidius ervi) foraging to localize natural sugar sources.

More recently, I joined Toby Bruce’s group (Insect Chemical Ecology Lab) at Keele University on BBSRC/SASSA project (BB/R020795/1) in which we aim to enhance crop diversity and ecosystem services to promote biological control of fall armyworm, one of the most devastating invasive pests in Africa, in smallholder cropping systems.