PRESS RELEASE
Fast-growing Cheshire-based International Pheromone Systems (IPS) has strengthened its technical team with the promotion of Payman Shafighi to the new role of Technical Business Development Manager.
The new appointment coincides with a recent move to new premises in Neston, Cheshire, and the opening of IPS’s Pest Hub - a purpose-built laboratory space to enable IPS and others such as biotech companies, biocide or pesticide manufacturers to research all things related to pests which threaten our health or food security.
Payman said: “This new role will give me a vast opportunity to connect with lots of people, learn from them and promote our services and capabilities to potential markets along with educating the end-users about the new technologies we deploy in our current and future products and solutions.
“The future is bright, for me and for IPS. The users of our products and services will benefit from what we are doing which is helping to move towards a more organic and healthier world that is less reliant on pesticides.”
About Payman Shafighi
Before joining IPS as an Entomological Scientist in 2017, Payman gained an MS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology following on from a BSc in Plant protection from The University of Zanjan in Iran. He then went on to achieve Professorship in Entomology, an expert level diploma in Agricultural Toxicology and a diploma in Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Payman started his career in Iran in 2013 working as a technical expert in the field of BioControl for Golsam (Raha Andish Kavan) company, one of the leading companies in the Middle East and in the agriculture industry.
In this role Payman organised more than 100 educational programs and meetings with farmers in Iran trying to improve their knowledge about new methods of monitoring and controlling pest species. The programme also covered pesticide reduction and appropriate usage.
Alongside this work Payman was involved in more than 25 technical trials including the official trials needed for registering Mating Disruption Pheromones for controlling Cydia pomonella, Lobesia botrana and Zeuzera pyrina. He is also a published author, in Iran, on mating disruption product research.
He moved into the role of Technical Sales Expert for Raha Andish Kavan and then launched his own company - Persian Safe Nature in 2015. The focus of Persian Safe Nature was exporting pest monitoring equipment from Iran to the European market.
Payman said: “I started as an Entomological Scientist for IPS and, thanks to my technical background and education, I also managed the IPS lab doing day-to-day quality control checks on chemicals and end products.
“It has been a great opportunity to work along with a high-level team and learn something new every single day. Thanks to this opportunity, I now can develop and run GC and LC methods, develop and run particle analysis methods, conduct active and shelf-life studies and release rate studies on under-development pest attractants.
“I have always tried to create something new which is how I was involved in developing new products like our fly attractant bait, Silverfish attractant tablets, a wasp trap, an Almond Fruit Wasp pheromone lure and many more.
"I have also done lots of insect behavioural studies and insect breeding at IPS. Species like Tineola bisseliella, Cydia pomonella, Adoxophyes orana, Grapholita molesta and Plodia interpunctella were some of the species I bred and studied along with flies and wasps."
It has been a great opportunity to work along with a high-level team and learn something new every single day.
Payman Shafighi, IPS
Payman has always been passionate about insects and, as a child, he used to take care of insects including a collection on stick insects.
Recently Payman was responsible for a successful Innovate UK funding application in conjunction with Agsenze for a new product called MothNet which uses IoT.
He explains: “In this project we are working on developing a novel, smart trapping system for monitoring a strategic pest of apple trees, the Codling Moth. The system can identify the pest with reliable and high accuracy and send a report to producer recommending any actions they will need to make to control the pest at the right time.”
International Pheromone Systems offers a nature-based approach and specialist knowledge for natural and safe solutions to monitor and manage pests in agricultural and domestic environments.
The company’s highly skilled entomologists find solutions from nature itself. Together with universities, scientific partners and growers, the IPS team works to find natural solutions to help reduce pesticide use and support Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in agriculture, horticulture and forestry businesses.
A healthier, safer and more productive environment is achieved by using the natural behaviour of pests and finding the right pheromone combination and trapping solution specific to a particular species.
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Source: IPS press release