In the 2026 Dr. Vehbi ESER Most Successful Thesis Awards competition, organized by the Plant Breeders Sub-Association (BİSAB), established to support state and private sector investments in plant breeding in our country, Research Assistant Dr. Orkun GENCER, from the Department of Agricultural Genetic Engineering at our University's Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies, was awarded the 2nd best doctoral thesis prize among doctoral theses participating from across the country for his doctoral thesis entitled “MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF APPLE CLONES SAMPLED FROM NIĞDE AND DETERMINATION OF THEIR SELFINCOMPATIBILITY, APPLE SCAB AND FIRE BLIGHT RESISTANCE BY MOLECULAR MARKERS”.