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Global Plant Council February E Bulletin

06 March 2017

Your membership is paid to   (year, month, day).

Global Plant Council E-Bulletin February 2017
Forward to a Friend| View web version (also click here to translate to other languages!)
Email Us
Email Us
GPC Website
GPC Website
GPC Blog
GPC Blog
@GlobalPlantGPC
@GlobalPlantGPC
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@GPC_EnEspanol
Facebook
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Donate
Donate
E-Bulletin / 
February 2017
Welcome to the February issue of the Global Plant Council’s e-Bulletin, a monthly round-up of the latest plant science news, events, reports, funding opportunities and blog posts from the GPC community and beyond.

7–8 July, 2017: Save the Dates! In collaboration with GPC members the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB), the GPC is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a workshop entitled ‘New Breeding Technologies in Plant Sciences‘. This will be a satellite meeting of the SEB’s annual main meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden (3–6 July). Please see the website for more information, and we will let you know as soon as possible when this event is open for registration.

Sooner than that, don’t forget that 18 May 2017 is international Fascination of Plants Day (FoPD)! Coordinated by GPC members the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO), hundreds of scientists around the world will be holding exciting plant-focused outreach and engagement events. To get involved, please locate the contact details of your country’s national coordinator on the FoPD website, here.

As always, if you have any plant science events, news, reports or information that you would like us to help promote and share with the global community, then please do get in touch! Contact Lisa, GPC’s Outreach & Communications Manager: lisa@globalplantcouncil.org.

Latest News / 
View more…

If you have news you would like us to share on our website, please contact lisa@globalplantcouncil.org 

This month 56 new breaking news stories were posted on the GPC website including…

In Journal of Experimental Botany: imaging technique widens our view on the inner worlds of plants and their guests
Scientists from the UK’s John Innes Centre have succeeded in improving an imaging technique that helps us to explore 3D gene activity in fixed or living plant structures as large as 6 cm in length.

In New Phytologist: where do flowers come from? Shedding light on Darwin’s “abominable mystery”
Reporting in New Phytologist, French and British scientists have partially solved the mystery that is the origin of flowering plants.

In Nature Plants: how to reduce the environmental impact of a loaf of bread?
In a groundbreaking study researchers have calculated the environmental impact of a loaf of bread and which part of its production contributes the most greenhouse gas.

Current Plant Biology call for papers: special issue on microRNA genes 
Current Plant Biology invites submissions for an upcoming Special Issue on MicroRNA genes – submit by 30 June 2017.

Events /
View more…

If you have a conference, meeting, workshop, training course or other event coming up, we can include it in our Events calendar! Please email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org

State of the World’s Plants Symposium
25–26 May 2017, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. 

ASPB Plant Biology 2017
24–28 June 2017, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

GPC/SEB workshop: New Breeding Technologies in the Plant Sciences
07–08 July 2017, Gothenburg, Sweden. 

GPGR4: 4th International Symposium on Genomics of Plant Genetic Resources
03–07 September 2017, Giessen, Germany. 

Policy /

Lots of new reports, and an archive of useful documents from the last few years, are available on our website. Head to the Resources page and click ‘Reports’.

Fifth of the world’s food lost to over-eating and waste, study finds
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh (UK) examined ten key stages in the global food system – including food consumption and the growing and harvesting of crops – and concluded that almost 20% of the food made available to consumers is lost through over-eating or waste.

Forests to play a major role in meeting Paris climate targets
Forests will be important for meeting the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement; however, a consistent, robust, transparent and credible approach to measuring the impact of forests on greenhouse gas emissions is needed.

Funding /

Spotted a funding opportunity we’ve missed? Please tell us about it by emailing lisa@globalplantcouncil.org

Looking for funding for your research, a prize to bolster your résumé, or a summer internship? A list of some of the opportunities we’ve found this month can be found here, including:

  • American Society of Plant Biologists internships
  • Grants from The Royal Society
  • Canadian Society of Plant Biologists travel bursaries
  • Botanic Gardens Conservation International competition
  • Society for Experimental Biology internships and prizes
  • American Society of Agronomy/Crop Science Society of America/Soil Science Society of America scholarships
Click here for more details.
On the blog / 
View more…

Would you like to contribute an article to the GPC’s blog? Please get in touch! Email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org

The Future of Phenotyping
In this guest post, Rothamsted Research scientist Dr Kasra Sabermanesh discusses the development of new and exciting technology for in-field plant phenotyping.

Mother grain genome: insights into quinoa
The GPC’s Sarah Jose delves into the recently published Quinoa genome and reveals some of the secrets of the ‘mother grain’. 

RNA clay offers green alternative to plant pesticides
In this SciDevNet repost, Neena Bhandari explains how a nano-sized bio-degradable clay-comprising double stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) could offer a cost-effective, clean and green alternative to chemical-based plant pesticides.

Chickpea innovation: Revisiting the origins of crops to solve the challenges of modern agriculture
Dr Doug Cook from the University of California, Davis, looks to chickpea’s origins to solve modern problems in agriculture.

Members / 

Click here for details of the GPC Member Societies and Affiliates and their representatives. 

Please contact Ruth Bastow (ruth@globalplantcouncil.org) to find out how your organization can join the Global Plant Council. 

The GPC is a coalition of plant and crop science societies and affiliates from across the globe. The GPC seeks to bring plant scientists together to work synergistically toward solving the pressing problems we face.
Please click here to make a donation via PayPal to help support the GPC.
Copyright © 2017 Global Plant Council, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive updates from the Global Plant Council. If you no longer wish to receive the monthly GPC E-Bulletin, or think you have received this email in error, please unsubscribe using the link provided.
The Global Plant Council is a not-for-profit entity registered in Switzerland.
Our registered mailing address is: 

Global Plant Council

3rd Floor, Bow House
1a Bow Lane

London, EC4M 9EE

United Kingdom

Add us to your address book

Global Plant Council February E Bulletin

06 March 2017

Your membership is paid to (year, month, day).

Global Plant Council E-Bulletin February 2017
Forward to a Friend | View web version (also click here to translate to other languages!)
Email Us
Email Us
GPC Website
GPC Website
GPC Blog
GPC Blog
@GlobalPlantGPC
@GlobalPlantGPC
@GPC_EnEspanol
@GPC_EnEspanol
Facebook
Facebook
Donate
Donate
E-Bulletin / 
February 2017
Welcome to the February issue of the Global Plant Council’s e-Bulletin, a monthly round-up of the latest plant science news, events, reports, funding opportunities and blog posts from the GPC community and beyond.

7–8 July, 2017: Save the Dates! In collaboration with GPC members the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB), the GPC is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a workshop entitled ‘New Breeding Technologies in Plant Sciences‘. This will be a satellite meeting of the SEB’s annual main meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden (3–6 July). Please see the website for more information, and we will let you know as soon as possible when this event is open for registration.

Sooner than that, don’t forget that 18 May 2017 is international Fascination of Plants Day (FoPD)! Coordinated by GPC members the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO), hundreds of scientists around the world will be holding exciting plant-focused outreach and engagement events. To get involved, please locate the contact details of your country’s national coordinator on the FoPD website, here.

As always, if you have any plant science events, news, reports or information that you would like us to help promote and share with the global community, then please do get in touch! Contact Lisa, GPC’s Outreach & Communications Manager: lisa@globalplantcouncil.org.

Latest News / 
View more…

If you have news you would like us to share on our website, please contact lisa@globalplantcouncil.org 

This month 56 new breaking news stories were posted on the GPC website including…

In Journal of Experimental Botany: imaging technique widens our view on the inner worlds of plants and their guests
Scientists from the UK’s John Innes Centre have succeeded in improving an imaging technique that helps us to explore 3D gene activity in fixed or living plant structures as large as 6 cm in length.

In New Phytologist: where do flowers come from? Shedding light on Darwin’s “abominable mystery”
Reporting in New Phytologist, French and British scientists have partially solved the mystery that is the origin of flowering plants.

In Nature Plants: how to reduce the environmental impact of a loaf of bread?
In a groundbreaking study researchers have calculated the environmental impact of a loaf of bread and which part of its production contributes the most greenhouse gas.

Current Plant Biology call for papers: special issue on microRNA genes 
Current Plant Biology invites submissions for an upcoming Special Issue on MicroRNA genes – submit by 30 June 2017.

Events /
View more…

If you have a conference, meeting, workshop, training course or other event coming up, we can include it in our Events calendar! Please email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org

State of the World’s Plants Symposium
25–26 May 2017, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. 

ASPB Plant Biology 2017
24–28 June 2017, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

GPC/SEB workshop: New Breeding Technologies in the Plant Sciences
07–08 July 2017, Gothenburg, Sweden. 

GPGR4: 4th International Symposium on Genomics of Plant Genetic Resources
03–07 September 2017, Giessen, Germany. 

Policy /

Lots of new reports, and an archive of useful documents from the last few years, are available on our website. Head to the Resources page and click ‘Reports’.

Fifth of the world’s food lost to over-eating and waste, study finds
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh (UK) examined ten key stages in the global food system – including food consumption and the growing and harvesting of crops – and concluded that almost 20% of the food made available to consumers is lost through over-eating or waste.

Forests to play a major role in meeting Paris climate targets
Forests will be important for meeting the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement; however, a consistent, robust, transparent and credible approach to measuring the impact of forests on greenhouse gas emissions is needed.

Funding /

Spotted a funding opportunity we’ve missed? Please tell us about it by emailing lisa@globalplantcouncil.org

Looking for funding for your research, a prize to bolster your résumé, or a summer internship? A list of some of the opportunities we’ve found this month can be found here, including:

  • American Society of Plant Biologists internships
  • Grants from The Royal Society
  • Canadian Society of Plant Biologists travel bursaries
  • Botanic Gardens Conservation International competition
  • Society for Experimental Biology internships and prizes
  • American Society of Agronomy/Crop Science Society of America/Soil Science Society of America scholarships
Click here for more details.
On the blog / 
View more…

Would you like to contribute an article to the GPC’s blog? Please get in touch! Email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org

The Future of Phenotyping
In this guest post, Rothamsted Research scientist Dr Kasra Sabermanesh discusses the development of new and exciting technology for in-field plant phenotyping.

Mother grain genome: insights into quinoa
The GPC’s Sarah Jose delves into the recently published Quinoa genome and reveals some of the secrets of the ‘mother grain’. 

RNA clay offers green alternative to plant pesticides
In this SciDevNet repost, Neena Bhandari explains how a nano-sized bio-degradable clay-comprising double stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) could offer a cost-effective, clean and green alternative to chemical-based plant pesticides.

Chickpea innovation: Revisiting the origins of crops to solve the challenges of modern agriculture
Dr Doug Cook from the University of California, Davis, looks to chickpea’s origins to solve modern problems in agriculture.

Members / 

Click here for details of the GPC Member Societies and Affiliates and their representatives. 

Please contact Ruth Bastow (ruth@globalplantcouncil.org) to find out how your organization can join the Global Plant Council. 

The GPC is a coalition of plant and crop science societies and affiliates from across the globe. The GPC seeks to bring plant scientists together to work synergistically toward solving the pressing problems we face.
Please click here to make a donation via PayPal to help support the GPC.
Copyright © 2017 Global Plant Council, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive updates from the Global Plant Council. If you no longer wish to receive the monthly GPC E-Bulletin, or think you have received this email in error, please unsubscribe using the link provided.
The Global Plant Council is a not-for-profit entity registered in Switzerland.
Our registered mailing address is: 

Global Plant Council

3rd Floor, Bow House
1a Bow Lane

London, EC4M 9EE

United Kingdom

Add us to your address book

Call for 2017 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes

06 March 2017

Your membership is paid to (year, month, day).

Dear ASPS member,

Entries and nominations are now open for the 2017 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes.

We are hoping you can help us reward great Australian science by promoting the following opportunities to your networks. Please read on for more information as well as some options for promotional blurbs you might be able to use in your internal and external communications, newsletters, website or social media.

There are 15 prizes on offer this year including one NEW prize:

Research & Innovation

o   NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Eureka Prize for Environmental Research

o   University of Technology Sydney Eureka Prize for Excellence in Data Science **NEW**

o   UNSW Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research

o   Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research

o   Johnson & Johnson Eureka Prize for Innovation in Medical Research

o   ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology

o   Defence Science and Technology Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia

o   Macquarie University Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher

o   UNSW Eureka Prize for Scientific Research

Leadership

o   3M Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science

o   CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Innovation and Science

o   University of Technology Sydney Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers

Science Engagement

o   Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Eureka Prize for Innovation in Citizen Science

o   Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Eureka Prize for Science Journalism

School Science

o   University of Sydney Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize (Primary and Secondary School)

Key dates

Friday 10 February               Entries open

7 pm AEST Friday 5 May     Entries close

Friday 28 July                        Finalists announced

Wednesday 30 August         Winners announced

Antarctica trip? Apply by Feb 20th

10 February 2017

The Homeward Bound Initiative

By Sandra Kerbler
PhD Candidate at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology,
The University of Western Australia

If you could change one thing in the world today, what would it be? I’m sure many of you reading this will be thinking of certain political leaders right now, but what about the issues a little closer to home? The ones you face each and every day? What about those that are long engrained, such that we don’t even realise they are there sometimes? Seeing so many of my talented female colleagues leave science because it was just “too competitive” and that they “didn’t have what it takes,” the answer to this question was simple. For me, I would change the gender inequality in science and that’s why I took part in Homeward Bound.

Homeward Bound is a leadership and strategy program for women scientists, set against the backdrop of Antarctica. Created by Australian leadership expert Fabian Dattner in collaboration with Dr Jessica Melbourne-Thomas of the Australian Antarctic Division, the program aims to equip a 1000-strong global collaboration of women scientists with the ability to lead, influence and contribute to policy and decision making, over the next 10 years. Homeward Bound was an incredible experience for me. Not only did has it helped me develop the skills needed to succeed in the upper echelons of science, but being part of a larger collaborative of women, all with a science background and all at very different stages of their careers has been truly inspiring.

If you would similarly like to improve the gender inequality in science and enhance your ability to lead constructively, plan strategically and communicate effectively to both scientists and non-scientists alike, please consider applying for the next Homeward Bound voyage in 2018. Applications close on the 20th February, 2017. For more information, please visit: https://homewardboundprojects.com.au or alternatively contact me directly at: sandra.m.kerbler@gmail.com

Want to go to Antarctica? Apply by Feb 20

10 February 2017

The Homeward Bound Initiative

By Sandra Kerbler
PhD Candidate at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology,
The University of Western Australia

If you could change one thing in the world today, what would it be? I’m sure many of you reading this will be thinking of certain political leaders right now, but what about the issues a little closer to home? The ones you face each and every day? What about those that are long engrained, such that we don’t even realise they are there sometimes? Seeing so many of my talented female colleagues leave science because it was just “too competitive” and that they “didn’t have what it takes,” the answer to this question was simple. For me, I would change the gender inequality in science and that’s why I took part in Homeward Bound.

Homeward Bound is a leadership and strategy program for women scientists, set against the backdrop of Antarctica. Created by Australian leadership expert Fabian Dattner in collaboration with Dr Jessica Melbourne-Thomas of the Australian Antarctic Division, the program aims to equip a 1000-strong global collaboration of women scientists with the ability to lead, influence and contribute to policy and decision making, over the next 10 years. Homeward Bound was an incredible experience for me. Not only did has it helped me develop the skills needed to succeed in the upper echelons of science, but being part of a larger collaborative of women, all with a science background and all at very different stages of their careers has been truly inspiring.

If you would similarly like to improve the gender inequality in science and enhance your ability to lead constructively, plan strategically and communicate effectively to both scientists and non-scientists alike, please consider applying for the next Homeward Bound voyage in 2018. Applications close on the 20th February, 2017. For more information, please visit: https://homewardboundprojects.com.au or alternatively contact me directly at: sandra.m.kerbler@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

Homeward Bound

10 February 2017

 The Homeward Bound Initiative

By Sandra Kerbler
PhD Candidate at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology,
The University of Western Australia

If you could change one thing in the world today, what would it be? I’m sure many of you reading this will be thinking of certain political leaders right now, but what about the issues a little closer to home? The ones you face each and every day? What about those that are long engrained, such that we don’t even realise they are there sometimes? Seeing so many of my talented female colleagues leave science because it was just “too competitive” and that they “didn’t have what it takes,” the answer to this question was simple. For me, I would change the gender inequality in science and that’s why I took part in Homeward Bound.

Homeward Bound is a leadership and strategy program for women scientists, set against the backdrop of Antarctica. Created by Australian leadership expert Fabian Dattner in collaboration with Dr Jessica Melbourne-Thomas of the Australian Antarctic Division, the program aims to equip a 1000-strong global collaboration of women scientists with the ability to lead, influence and contribute to policy and decision making, over the next 10 years. Homeward Bound was an incredible experience for me. Not only did has it helped me develop the skills needed to succeed in the upper echelons of science, but being part of a larger collaborative of women, all with a science background and all at very different stages of their careers has been truly inspiring.

If you would similarly like to improve the gender inequality in science and enhance your ability to lead constructively, plan strategically and communicate effectively to both scientists and non-scientists alike, please consider applying for the next Homeward Bound voyage in 2018. Applications close on the 20th February, 2017. For more information, please visit: https://homewardboundprojects.com.au or alternatively contact me directly at: sandra.m.kerbler@gmail.com

Media videos of Homeward Bound can be found here.

ASPS President’s letter and updated executive and discipline representatives web pages

05 February 2017

Your membership is paid to  (year, month, day).

Hello ASPS members,

Meet your new Executive Committee and Discipline Representatives.

President’s Letter

By Sergey Shabala

University of Tasmania

Dear Colleagues,

From January 1 I have the responsibility of leading the ASPS for the next two years. This is a great honour and a privilege, and I will try my best to ensure that plant science in Australia maintains its high international profile and continues to enjoy the strongest possible reputation. I would like to use this opportunity to thank John Evans, as the outgoing President, for the fantastic job he has done over the last two years taking ASPS community through the harsh realities of a modern-day academic and political life. I would also like to thank the outgoing Honorary Treasurer, Brent Kaiser, and Honorary Secretary, Martha Ludwig for their sterling efforts in running of the society over this period. I look forward to working with the new committee and hope that we can serve our members equally as well.

Next year the ASPS will celebrate a major milestone – a 60th anniversary since its establishment. All this time Australian plant science has been at a forefront of international research. I believe that it may be highly appropriate to try to highlight our major milestones and summarise achievements of Australian plant science over this period in an article and then disseminate it via media, and would encourage someone to put a hand up for doing this. Do I hear any voices from volunteers?

Last year I attended several international meetings in my field and was pleased to see great representation from Australian researchers amongst delegates. We are also doing extremely well in international rankings when it comes to various metrics. Of 115 Australian highly cited scientists listed by Thompson Reuters in 2016, 18 belong to plant science community. We are also doing remarkably well in the overall rankings, being 5th country after USA, UK, Germany and China.  For a country with such a small population, this is a commendable achievement. And while we all know about the difficulties in getting ARC grants, our current success rate (18%) is much higher that in many other countries. So, I believe we have all the reasons to be optimistic and look for more exciting developments in our field in the near future.

It would be very tempting for me to stop at this point and simply wish you best success in your work. Yet, I do not want to leave an impression that our road is covered by rose petals and we do not have issues. Similar to many other disciplines, Australian plant science is facing some big challenges. Some of them are under our control and therefore could be resolved in the short-term, while other are systemic and will require much more efforts and time. One of immediate issues is changing a format of our annual meetings. At the last Combio conference all founding societies have voted unanimously to move away from the existing format making Combio meetings bi-annual events, and having smaller (society-specific) conferences every alternating year. While these changes will be implemented only from 2019, we will need to start making plans much earlier. Other issues that our discipline is facing are (in no specific order): gender equality in Academic positions in Biological Sciences; collegiality and peer support in our discipline; the quality and integrity of peer review, both for publication and grants; proliferation of ‘predatory’ and poor quality journals; and scientific literacy in the public domain. While all these issues are not our discipline-specific, it is important that Australian Plant Sciences does its part in moving quickly towards resolving these or at least putting actions in place to initiate change.

Over the upcoming months the ASPS newsletter will feature viewpoints on these topics and more to stimulate discussion and propose ways in which our society can help promote change. For any of this to happen we need your input and support so we are calling for your active involvement – it is your society after all, and should be representing your views. You may also have additional things that the society should be working towards – so please get in touch.

This is all from me for now. I wish you a successful 2017 and hope it will be a year of new exciting discoveries, fruitful collaborations, and success for all of you.

Sergey Shabala

ASPS President’s letter and updated executive and discipline representatives web pages

05 February 2017

Your membership is paid to  (year, month, day).

Hello ASPS members,

Meet your new Executive Committee and Discipline Representatives.

President’s Letter

By Sergey Shabala

University of Tasmania

Dear Colleagues,

From January 1 I have the responsibility of leading the ASPS for the next two years. This is a great honour and a privilege, and I will try my best to ensure that plant science in Australia maintains its high international profile and continues to enjoy the strongest possible reputation. I would like to use this opportunity to thank John Evans, as the outgoing President, for the fantastic job he has done over the last two years taking ASPS community through the harsh realities of a modern-day academic and political life. I would also like to thank the outgoing Honorary Treasurer, Brent Kaiser, and Honorary Secretary, Martha Ludwig for their sterling efforts in running of the society over this period. I look forward to working with the new committee and hope that we can serve our members equally as well.

Next year the ASPS will celebrate a major milestone – a 60th anniversary since its establishment. All this time Australian plant science has been at a forefront of international research. I believe that it may be highly appropriate to try to highlight our major milestones and summarise achievements of Australian plant science over this period in an article and then disseminate it via media, and would encourage someone to put a hand up for doing this. Do I hear any voices from volunteers?

Last year I attended several international meetings in my field and was pleased to see great representation from Australian researchers amongst delegates. We are also doing extremely well in international rankings when it comes to various metrics. Of 115 Australian highly cited scientists listed by Thompson Reuters in 2016, 18 belong to plant science community. We are also doing remarkably well in the overall rankings, being 5th country after USA, UK, Germany and China.  For a country with such a small population, this is a commendable achievement. And while we all know about the difficulties in getting ARC grants, our current success rate (18%) is much higher that in many other countries. So, I believe we have all the reasons to be optimistic and look for more exciting developments in our field in the near future.

It would be very tempting for me to stop at this point and simply wish you best success in your work. Yet, I do not want to leave an impression that our road is covered by rose petals and we do not have issues. Similar to many other disciplines, Australian plant science is facing some big challenges. Some of them are under our control and therefore could be resolved in the short-term, while other are systemic and will require much more efforts and time. One of immediate issues is changing a format of our annual meetings. At the last Combio conference all founding societies have voted unanimously to move away from the existing format making Combio meetings bi-annual events, and having smaller (society-specific) conferences every alternating year. While these changes will be implemented only from 2019, we will need to start making plans much earlier. Other issues that our discipline is facing are (in no specific order): gender equality in Academic positions in Biological Sciences; collegiality and peer support in our discipline; the quality and integrity of peer review, both for publication and grants; proliferation of ‘predatory’ and poor quality journals; and scientific literacy in the public domain. While all these issues are not our discipline-specific, it is important that Australian Plant Sciences does its part in moving quickly towards resolving these or at least putting actions in place to initiate change.

Over the upcoming months the ASPS newsletter will feature viewpoints on these topics and more to stimulate discussion and propose ways in which our society can help promote change. For any of this to happen we need your input and support so we are calling for your active involvement – it is your society after all, and should be representing your views. You may also have additional things that the society should be working towards – so please get in touch.

This is all from me for now. I wish you a successful 2017 and hope it will be a year of new exciting discoveries, fruitful collaborations, and success for all of you.

Sergey Shabala

January GPC E-Bulletin

05 February 2017
Global Plant Council E-Bulletin January 2017
Forward to a Friend  | View web version (also click here to translate to other languages!)
Email Us
Email Us
GPC Website
GPC Website
GPC Blog
GPC Blog
@GlobalPlantGPC
@GlobalPlantGPC
@GPC_EnEspanol
@GPC_EnEspanol
Facebook
Facebook
Donate
Donate
E-Bulletin / 
January 2017
Happy new year, and welcome to the first 2017 issue of the Global Plant Council’s monthly e-Bulletin! We can’t wait to see what amazing discoveries another year of plant science will hold!

The GPC’s e-Bulletin is a monthly round-up of the latest plant science news, events, reports, funding opportunities and blog posts from the GPC community. If you have anything you would like us to help promote then please do get in touch! Contact Lisa, GPC’s Outreach & Communications Manager: lisa@globalplantcouncil.org.

Latest News / 
View more…If you have news you would like us to share on our website, please contact lisa@globalplantcouncil.org 

This month 49 new breaking news stories were posted on the GPC website including…

In Journal of Experimental Botany: Crop achilles’ heel costs farmers 10 percent of potential yield
Crop ancestors evolved in an environment where most of their leaves were exposed to full sunlight, so lower leaves of modern crop plants cannot photosynthesize efficiently when shaded by overcrowded neighbors.

In New Phytologist: the Venus flytrap uses its prey’s nitrogen compounds to extract energy
The carnivorous Venus flytrap captures insects for more than just nutritional purposes, a research team from the University of Freiburg revealed.

In Nature Plants: ‘Gene-silencing’ technique is a game-changer for crop protection
Researchers at the University of Surrey and University of Queensland developed a revolutionary new crop protection technique which offers an environmentally-friendly alternative to genetically-modified crops and chemical pesticides. 

Also:
Nature Plants celebrated its 2nd anniversary with a free collection of popular articles

Current Plant Biology issued a special issue on genomic resources and databases for its 3rd anniversary

Events /
View more…
If you have a conference, meeting, workshop, training course or other event coming up, we can include it in our Events calendar! Please email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org
Phenome 2017
10–14 February 2017, Tucson, AZ, USA. New Breeding Technologies in the Plant Sciences
07–08 July 2017, Gothenburg, Sweden. 

XIX International Botanical Congress
23–29 July 2017, Shenzhen, China. 

Policy /

Lots of new reports, and an archive of useful documents from the last few years, are available on our website. Head to the Resources page and click ‘Reports’.

Updated statement from EPSO: Crop Genetic Improvement Technologies
EPSO acknowledges the interpretation of the EU GMO legislation as both process- and product-based and considers that this could help to clarify the legal status of the NPBTs. In its update EPSO includes recently published reports from Belgium and Italy.
On the blog / 
View more…Would you like to contribute an article to the GPC’s blog? Please get in touch! Email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org
2016 Plant Science Round Up
GPC New Media Fellow Sarah Jose rounds up another fantastic year of discovery in plant science.…¡y nos fuimos por las ramas!
Professor Edith Taleisnik discusses her new book on the history of plant physiology research in Argentina.

Break down barriers between seed banks and field study
In this SciDevNet repost, Marie Haga and Ann Tutwiler call for a better integration of seed banks and field studies.

In case you missed it: 
Genome editing: an introduction to CRISPR/Cas9
At the end of December, Dr. Damiano Martignago (Rothamsted Research) gave us an introduction to CRISPR/Cas9 in plant science.

Members / 

Click here for details of the GPC Member Societies and Affiliates and their representatives. 

Please contact Ruth Bastow (ruth@globalplantcouncil.org) to find out how your organization can join the Global Plant Council. 

The GPC is a coalition of plant and crop science societies and affiliates from across the globe. The GPC seeks to bring plant scientists together to work synergistically toward solving the pressing problems we face.
Please click here to make a donation via PayPal to help support the GPC.

January GPC E-bulletin

05 February 2017

Your Asps membership is paid to  (year, month, day)

Global Plant Council E-Bulletin January 2017
Forward to a Friend  | View web version (also click here to translate to other languages!)
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E-Bulletin / 
January 2017
Happy new year, and welcome to the first 2017 issue of the Global Plant Council’s monthly e-Bulletin! We can’t wait to see what amazing discoveries another year of plant science will hold!

The GPC’s e-Bulletin is a monthly round-up of the latest plant science news, events, reports, funding opportunities and blog posts from the GPC community. If you have anything you would like us to help promote then please do get in touch! Contact Lisa, GPC’s Outreach & Communications Manager: lisa@globalplantcouncil.org.

Latest News / 
View more…If you have news you would like us to share on our website, please contact lisa@globalplantcouncil.org 

This month 49 new breaking news stories were posted on the GPC website including…

In Journal of Experimental Botany: Crop achilles’ heel costs farmers 10 percent of potential yield
Crop ancestors evolved in an environment where most of their leaves were exposed to full sunlight, so lower leaves of modern crop plants cannot photosynthesize efficiently when shaded by overcrowded neighbors.

In New Phytologist: the Venus flytrap uses its prey’s nitrogen compounds to extract energy
The carnivorous Venus flytrap captures insects for more than just nutritional purposes, a research team from the University of Freiburg revealed.

In Nature Plants: ‘Gene-silencing’ technique is a game-changer for crop protection
Researchers at the University of Surrey and University of Queensland developed a revolutionary new crop protection technique which offers an environmentally-friendly alternative to genetically-modified crops and chemical pesticides. 

Also:
Nature Plants celebrated its 2nd anniversary with a free collection of popular articles

Current Plant Biology issued a special issue on genomic resources and databases for its 3rd anniversary

Events /
View more…
If you have a conference, meeting, workshop, training course or other event coming up, we can include it in our Events calendar! Please email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org
Phenome 2017
10–14 February 2017, Tucson, AZ, USA. New Breeding Technologies in the Plant Sciences
07–08 July 2017, Gothenburg, Sweden. 

XIX International Botanical Congress
23–29 July 2017, Shenzhen, China. 

Policy /

Lots of new reports, and an archive of useful documents from the last few years, are available on our website. Head to the Resources page and click ‘Reports’.

Updated statement from EPSO: Crop Genetic Improvement Technologies
EPSO acknowledges the interpretation of the EU GMO legislation as both process- and product-based and considers that this could help to clarify the legal status of the NPBTs. In its update EPSO includes recently published reports from Belgium and Italy.
On the blog / 
View more…Would you like to contribute an article to the GPC’s blog? Please get in touch! Email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org
2016 Plant Science Round Up
GPC New Media Fellow Sarah Jose rounds up another fantastic year of discovery in plant science.…¡y nos fuimos por las ramas!
Professor Edith Taleisnik discusses her new book on the history of plant physiology research in Argentina.

Break down barriers between seed banks and field study
In this SciDevNet repost, Marie Haga and Ann Tutwiler call for a better integration of seed banks and field studies.

In case you missed it: 
Genome editing: an introduction to CRISPR/Cas9
At the end of December, Dr. Damiano Martignago (Rothamsted Research) gave us an introduction to CRISPR/Cas9 in plant science.

Members / 

Click here for details of the GPC Member Societies and Affiliates and their representatives. 

Please contact Ruth Bastow (ruth@globalplantcouncil.org) to find out how your organization can join the Global Plant Council. 

The GPC is a coalition of plant and crop science societies and affiliates from across the globe. The GPC seeks to bring plant scientists together to work synergistically toward solving the pressing problems we face.
Please click here to make a donation via PayPal to help support the GPC.
Copyright © 2017 Global Plant Council, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive updates from the Global Plant Council. If you no longer wish to receive the monthly GPC E-Bulletin, or think you have received this email in error, please unsubscribe using the link provided.
The Global Plant Council is a not-for-profit entity registered in Switzerland.
Our registered mailing address is: 

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