Professor Yadav's research focusses on capturing naturally occurring genetic variations present in crops germplasm for 'public good' outcomes. To realise such interests, he has developed unique genetic resources (genetic maps, markers, mapping populations, germplasm populations) and pioneered their uses in complex traits dissections and breeding using marker assisted selection. He collaborates extensively, across the globe, with academics, industry partners and ‘not for profit’ inter-governmental organisations and has developed genetic technologies, and crops varieties in their collaborations, that are successfully grown across south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Professor Yadav's latest research focusses on capturing naturally occurring genetic variations of nutritional traits in global millets germplasm and towards develop ways of breeding them in to staple crops varieties for contorting diet related illnesses such as type-2 diabetes and obesity.  

Professor Yadav's expertise has won him places onto several prestigious panels within the UK and abroad. Presently he is a member of grant awarding panels of UKRI, British Council, Innovate UK, European Commission, Swedish Council for Sustainable Development (known as Formas). Previously, He was a panel member of UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) sub panel 6: Agriculture, Food and Veterinary sciences concluded in 2022. In 2020, he also completed his 3 years tenure as a member of BBSRC’s Follow-on-Fund Committee.  

Professor Yadav is an Academic editor of PLOS ONE since 2014 and has guest edited special issues for Agronomy and Frontiers in Plant Sciences in the past. 

Prof. Rattan Yadav, an elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW), is a professor of plant genetics and holds a personal chair at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) of the Aberystwyth University. He received his DPhil degree from the University of Sussex and subsequently undertook post-doctoral research at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Philippines before coming to Aberystwyth in 1996.