NEWS
Stay updated on the latest developments in plant science policy and EPSO activities!
The fascinating world of plants will be once more in the spotlight thanks to the celebration of the seventh Fascination of Plants Day on and around May 18th 2024 with interactive events being organised until November 2024.
This coordinated activity aims to plant virtual and constantly germinating seeds in the collective mind of people, recalling that plant science is of critical significance to social, environmental and economic issues on our Earth today and in the future.
Scientific institutions, universities, botanical gardens and museums, together with schools, farmers and companies will offer a variety of plant-based interactive events and activities for all interested people from toddlers to grandparents.
Check the FoPD website www.plantday18may.org to know more, find your event and follow us on our social media:
- X Twitter #PlantDay @PlantDay18May
- Instagram @fascinationofplantsday
- Facebook Fascination of Plants Day
To read the full press release click here.
Contact Global Coordinators:
John Fitzgibbon, EPSO, BE; Trine Hvoslef-Eide, NMBU Norway; Przemysław Wojtaszek, AMU, Poland; Karin Metzlaff, EPSO, BE.
EPSO is pleased to announce the publication of its 59th newsletter. The shorter public version of the Newsletter is available here. EPSO members can log in and read the full version available in the Members’ Only section. The next edition of the EPSO newsletter will be published in autumn 2024. Please send us your articles by early November. Happy reading!
Content of the full version
Editorial
- Contributions from plant biology, crop improvement & adaptation to implement the European Commission’s Strategic Plan 2025-27
EPSO activities
- EPSO Young Plant Scientist Award 2024 – congratulations to the awardees
- EPSO General Assembly in Oeiras/ PT, 10-12.06.2024
- EPSO’s strategic work is recognised by inclusion in high level groups & boards
- Third Anniversary of the EPSO Plant Science Seminar
- Outreach Working Group meets quarterly
- Initiative for Science in Europe: Horizon Europe Working Group
- Fascination of Plants Day 2024: 7th edition in 63 countries!
- Agricultural Technologies Working Group
- Plant Health Working Group invites presentations for its online meeting on 15.10.2024
Members’ news
- InnCoCells—innovative cosmetic ingredients from plants —into the final year
- Cousin – new 5 year Horizon Europe project on Crop Wild Relatives
- New long term research consortium CropXR in the Netherlands
- Hutton eyes up barley’s past to revolutionise the future
- CRAG new website on gene editing potential
- Modelling the phosphorous cycle in European agricultural soils
- Plants, pathogens, people & politics – farewell symposium Beat Keller
- miCROPe 2024 conference in Vienna
- StrigoSense – A versatile biosensor of strigolactone responses in plants
- EMBO Workshop on Cell Death: friend or foe in animal & plant immunity
- 5th Int. conference “Scientific Actualities & Innovations in Horticulture“
- The new Jan IngenHousz Institute for photosynthesis in Wageningen
- The National Graduate School Photosyntech in Norway
- Green horizons: navigating the future of plant phenotyping
- GenoDrawing revolutionary AI tool predicts complex traits in plants
- Michaela Jung awarded 15th Professor Albert Soenen Prize for apple breeding
National, European and global funding
- National Research Funding Opportunities in Serbia & Switzerland
- Horizon Europe briefing updated & Life programme call
Career opportunities and upcoming events
- find the latest career opportunities & events in plant science
About EPSO
Contacts:
Karin Metzlaff, EPSO
John Fitzgibbon, EPSO
The 33rd Europe-wide seminar of the series supported by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and aimed at the Plant Science community and its stakeholders.
TTT: The seminar will be held online each third Thursday of the month at three (CET).
On 16th May 2024 at 15:00 (CET) we will present three talks exploring “Future directions in plant pathogen resistance”.
Beat Keller, University of Zurich, Switzerland:
“Molecular characterization of wheat – fungal pathogen interactions and applications in breeding”
Armin Djamei, University of Bonn, Germany:
“Insights from a gall-inducing fungus”
Yordan Dolaptchiev, The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK:
“Efficient targeted gene insertions in potato, targeting disease resistance”
The seminars will be hosted on Zoom and last approximately 1.5 hours. Numbers will be limited to 300 attendees and therefore please register early if you would like to join. There will be ample opportunities to ask questions and join the debate. So please join us to support this new and exciting initiative for European Plant Science by following this link just prior to the start of the seminar.
EPSO members register in advance for this meeting via this Zoom link.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
In the coming months we will be on the lookout for talented plant scientists among the EPSO membership to present their findings and perspectives to the EPSO seminar series. If we approach you to talk, we hope you will be happy to support the initiative. This is a fantastic opportunity for both eminent world leaders and talented up-and-coming early career researchers to present their research to an international audience and to network with potential collaborators. If you wish to suggest a theme for one of the upcoming seminars and / or nominate yourself or one of your colleagues to give a seminar, we most welcome your suggestions. Please contact Tim George ([email protected]) to provide your name and potential talk title.
We look forward to seeing you all for the 33rd EPSO seminar on the 16th May 2024
Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser
EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee
Click here to read: Full EPSO news item
Contacts:
Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board
Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & Adviser EPSO Board
Marie-Theres Hauser BOKU / AT & EPSO Board
EPSO appreciates that among cluster 6 impacts ‘ensuring food and nutrition security’ (incl. fostering a dietary shift) as well as ‘biodiversity’ including ‘increasing agrobiodiversity’ are considered now throughout the strategy.
Under the expected impact #28 ‘Putting biodiversity on a path to recovery, and protecting and restoring ecosystems and their services’, “increase agrobiodiversity – e.g. by supporting R&I on niche, underutilised and novel crops” are highlighted.
Under the expected impact #30 ‘Ensuring healthy food and nutrition security by making agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and food systems sustainable, resilient, inclusive and within planetary boundaries’, crop improvement and adaptation is one path towards food and nutrition security. Contributions relevant to plant scientists are for example “Key research areas for agriculture will include mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, fostering plant and animal breeding and conserving and improving the use of genetic resources (including the use of new technologies).”, “address crop diversification, improvement and adaptation”, “bolster plant health… leverage the potential of protein crops and underutilised crops.”
Among the partnerships, for plant scientists the upcoming one on forests and forestry will be of interest, in addition to the biodiversity, the agroecology and the food systems partnerships.
EPSO provided advise to national ministries on this as well to the European Commission and is looking forward to continuing this constructive collaboration with advice towards the development of the respective Work Programmes.
Links:
EPSO full statement, 29.3.2024
European Commission: The Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-27, 20.3.2024
Contact:
Karin Metzlaff, EPSO
The 32nd Europe-wide seminar of the series supported by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and aimed at the Plant Science community and its stakeholders.
TTT: The seminar will be held online each third Thursday of the month at three (CET).
On 18th April 2024 at 15:00 (CET) we will present three talks exploring “Potential of Metabolomics in Crop Improvement”
Jhon Venegas-Molina, University of Ghent, Belgium: “From protein structural changes to protein functions: discovering novel jasmonate signaling regulators by Limited Proteolysis-Mass Spectrometry”
Wolfram Weckwerth, University of Vienna, Austria: “PANOMICS meets the Holobiont – concepts for sustainable agriculture and food security”
William Allwood, The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, UK: “Assessing the impact of nitrogen supplementation in oats across multiple growth locations and years with targeted phenotyping and high-resolution metabolite profiling approaches”
The seminars will be hosted on Zoom and last approximately 1.5 hours. Numbers will be limited to 300 attendees and therefore please register early if you would like to join. There will be ample opportunities to ask questions and join the debate. So please join us to support this new and exciting initiative for European Plant Science by following this link just prior to the start of the seminar.
EPSO members register in advance for this meeting via this Zoom link
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
In the coming months we will be on the lookout for talented plant scientists among the EPSO membership to present their findings and perspectives to the EPSO seminar series. If we approach you to talk, we hope you will be happy to support the initiative. This is a fantastic opportunity for both eminent world leaders and talented up-and-coming early career researchers to present their research to an international audience and to network with potential collaborators. If you wish to suggest a theme for one of the spring seminars and / or nominate yourself or one of your colleagues to give a seminar, we most welcome your suggestions. Please contact Tim George ([email protected]) to provide your name and potential talk title.
We look forward to seeing you all for the 32nd EPSO seminar on the 18th April 2024
Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser
EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee
Click here to read: Full EPSO news item
Contacts:
Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board
Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & Advisor EPSO Board
Marie-Theres Hauser BOKU / AT & EPSO Board
EPSO initiated the YPSA awards to encourage the development of ideas and imaginative thinking in the plant sciences.
EPSO is happy to announce the two winners of the fourth EPSO Young Plant Scientist Award: Priyanka Chopra was selected for her fundamental plant research and Benjamin Kogelmann for his applied plant research.
Priyanka and Benjamin will have the opportunity to present their research during the Science Day of the EPSO General Meeting to be held in Oeiras, Portugal on 12.06.2024. In addition, each awardee will receive 200 € and EPSO will cover their travel to the meeting.
We would like to thank the distinguished jury members Alan Schulman (Chair), Marie-Theres Hauser, Angelo Santino, Timothy George and Odd Arne Rognli. The two winners were selected from among 23 PhD students who submitted 16 different entries to the EPSO YPSA call from 13 countries across Europe.
Click here to read the full announcement about the winners.
Contact: Karin Metzlaff, EPSO