Hello ASPS members,

National Science Week is coming up and we’d like to encourage everyone interested to get involved.  ASPS member Kim Johnson is involved in this great initiative for National Science Week:

The National Science Week events ‘Taste Tomorrow: what will you be eating in 2050’ is now open for registration (www.tastetomorrow.edu.au/events) and will feature a panel of experts, including plant scientists.

The ON24 events will be hosted by John Brumby and Wade Kelly. When people register they will be delivered a box of mystery ‘future foods’ to spark conversation and people can also engage with the website (www.tastetomorrow.edu.au) to find fact files, blogs, experiments (for home or school) and recipes related to the sustainability and nutrition of the foods.

Taste Tomorrow will also post videos by chefs and sports personalities creating new recipes with our future foods (Insta taste_tomorrow, Twitter @taste_tomorrow, #tastetomorrow).

Thank-you for your support!

For more information contact:

Dr Kim Johnson

Senior Research Fellow

La Trobe Institute for Agriculture & Food (LIAF)

Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Science

k.johnson@latrobe.edu.au

Hello ASPS members,

As we adjust to different ways of living and working in this changing world alternative opportunities also arise.  This year you can attend Plant Biology 2020 World Summit without having to travel to the northern hemisphere!

Plant Biology 2020 Worldwide Summit

July 27-31

Virtual event with talks, workshops, posters, networking events and virtual exhibit hall

https://plantbiology.aspb.org/

All talks will be recorded for access on demand by registered participants, and virtual posters will be available for viewing shortly before, during, and after the meeting.

#PlantBio20

Note also that there are group rates that bring the cost down significantly

We also have two new PhD opportunities have been posted on our job board and can be viewed here.

Finally a member of the public has ask for help identifying a tree they saw on a trip to the west coast of Tasmania. Responses can be e-mailed to admin@asps.org.au , FB ASPSozplants or Twitter @asps_ozplants.

ASPS members,

The ASPS Annual General Meeting is today. The AGM agenda and reports are available through the ASPS website HERE. https://www.asps.org.au/about/agm

ASPS needs you to vote for a change in constitution to appoint state-based representatives

We need 2/3 rd of financial members to vote so please click on this link today

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8KH6FV5

For more details click HERE.

To be part of the discussion click HERE.

To renew your membership so you are a financial member click HERE. You can request a new password be sent to your registered e-mail address.

Financial members are current Ordinary memberships of 1, 2 or 4 years or hold current student membership. Life and retired members are also included in this survey.

Hello ASPS members,

We’d like to draw you attention to the Symposium celebrating Barry Osmond: Reflections in a Flash which will be held Sept 12th and 13th at ANU. Registration and further information can be found on the ASPS events page HERE.

The ASPS2019 draft timetable is now available HERE or on the ASPS2019 website HERE.

Dear ASPS members,

The Australian Academy of Science awards are now open.

Consider applying or nominating for an award yourself or encouraging another to step up.

In particular consider encouraging women to apply for;

• Mid career medal: Nancy Mills
• Early career medal: Fenner

and also

• Max Day environmental science award,
• Thomas Davis research fund,
• Rudi Lemberg travelling fellowship,
• Boden conference funding support

 If you need someone in the Academy to help with a nomination, you could contact these fellows:

Hans Lambers, Steve Tyerman, Rana Munns, John Evans, TJ Higgins or Christine Beveridge through the ASPS membership directory here or click on their name above.

Also, if you want to be in the running to give an oral presentation and save $$$, the early bird registration for Innovations in Agriculture for Food Security closes April 1. More information can be found here.

Thanks

 Professor John R Evans FAA
Division of Plant Sciences
Research School of Biology
The Australian National University
134 Linnaeus Way
Acton, ACT, 2601, Australia

T: 61 2 6125 4492

M: 0477 777132

W: http://biology.anu.edu.au/john_evans/

E: John.evans@anu.edu.au

 http://photosynthesis.org.au/InnovAg

ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis

 http://photosynthesis.org.au/about/

 Awards A4 flyer

Dear ASPS members,

Abstract submission and registration for the Australian Society of Plant Scientists conference, ASPS 2019 and Grains Satellite Meeting is NOW OPEN!

Featuring world renowned international speakers, industry representatives and networking opportunities, this is an event not to be missed!

Please put up the ASPS 2019 poster and encourage everyone to come along.

Visit https://www.asps.org.au/combio/asps-2019 now and be part of the Australian Plant Science event of the year.

For further details contact: conferences@asps.org.au

Dr Kim Johnson

Senior Research Fellow

La Trobe Institute for Agriculture & Food (LIAF)

Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Science

La Trobe University

Bundoora VIC 3086

T +61 3 9032 7471 | E k.johnson@latrobe.edu.au

REMINDER:

For all those attending COMBIO 2018 this is a reminder that the ASPS AGM 2018 will be held in Room C2.2 at 12.55-1.55pm Wednesday 26th September.

Thanks,

 Matt Gilliham

Dear ASPS member,

This is a remainder for our annual society dinner registration, the ASPS dinner at ComBio2018 on Tuesday, 25^th September.

We are happy to extend the registration till Friday, 21^st September as many of you showed interest to attend the dinner. We have very limited tickets, so please confirm your spot by doing EFT before Friday, 21^st September.

For details, please follow our earlier email copied below.

We looking forward to see you all at ASPS dinner at ComBio2018

Warm regards,

ASPS Dinner Organising Committee

Count down to 60 years of ASPS

Dear ASPS members,

with about 6 weeks until ComBio 2018, make sure you check the website for a new post to Phytogen each Monday. This beginning post has been emailed to start you off and will be on our website after that (https://www.asps.org.au/)

The posts will be :

Tuesday 14th August — The beginning

Monday 20th August — Thoughts from some of our leaders

Monday 27th August — Rewarding excellence

Monday 3rd September — Growing up within ASPS

Monday 10th September — Plants in Action

Monday 17th September — Why we need more women

we hope you will enjoy reading, hint: after this coming Monday’s post, you will be able to like on our Societies facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ASPSozplants) post a pebble if you like and that will feed through to twitter also, Kind Regards, the ASPS Website & Communications Sub-Committee (WSCS).

ASPP/ASPS  —  The beginning

We are in the process of writing a history of the Society planned for publication in 2019. This blog is a taste of the Society’s beginnings, but we are aware of gaps in our narrative.  Should anyone have other relevant information that you would be willing to share, we would be most appreciative.

Tina Offler and John Patrick, University of Newcastle

The mid-1940s onward witnessed a burgeoning growth in plant physiology research spread across CSIRO, State Departments of Agriculture and Universities. It was within this environment that Bob Robertson (to become Sir Rutherford Roberson and affectionately referred to as Sir Bob), in 1957, proposed the formation of ASPP to a group of leading national-based plant physiologists (Neales 1994). The group agreed to convene a one-day meeting linked with the programmed Adelaide Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) conference. The one-day event was held on August 19, 1958 at which 12 papers were presented by GA Atkins, Peter Brownell, Martin Canny, Jack Dainty, Alex Hope, Ned Krefford, Nick Marinos, JD McLean, John Pate, Dugald Paton, Bob Williams and Harold Woolhouse. At the inaugural General Meeting held that afternoon, chaired by Sir Bob, the ASPP Constitution was approved along with the election of Lance May (Adelaide) as Honorary Secretary, Les Paleg (Adelaide) as Honorary Treasurer and Joseph Garnett Wood (Adelaide) as the first President. There seems to be some disparity in reports of the number of delegates attending the meeting with 64 and 69 reported and the original record of attendees having 66 signatures. However, what is not in dispute is that many of the signatures on these fading sheets of paper are of those you will recognise for their significant contributions to Australian Plant Science and to our society. To name but a few: Bob Robertson, John Pate, Alan Walker, Lloyd Evans, Peter Brownell, Hal Hatch, Harold Woolhouse, Martin Canny and so it goes on and on…… 

The CSIRO/Botany School Unit, headed by Bob Robertson, and housed in the Sydney University Botany Department was the core from which ASPP grew and expanded. Bob Robertson’s group comprised a dozen or so young plant physiologists who were to make major advances in our science, including Hal Hatch, Alex Hope, Jack Dainty (from Edinburg, UK), John Pate, Carrick Chambers, Don and Heather Adamson, John (F) and Donella Turner. Bob brought 14 of its members to Adelaide for the Inaugural Meeting, and it wasn’t easy to get there!!  In his “recollections” written for the 50^th anniversary of the society, Martin Canny recounts that Hal Hatch said to me (Martin),

“Tell them how different it was, how difficult to get from Sydney to Adelaide.”

Apparently, in order to attend the Adelaide meeting he (Hal) had taken two days in trains, overnight from Sydney to Melbourne, with a midnight change at Albury to accommodate a shift in rail gauge from 4 feet 8 1/2 inches (New South Wales) to the Victorian line gauge of 5 feet 3 inches, then another overnight trip to Adelaide, with yet another change in railway gauge down to 3 feet 6 inches at the Victorian/South Australian boarder. And, there are other similar stories.

In the following year, the plant physiology community was saddened by the untimely death of JG  (Joe) Wood (1900 -1959) just prior to the second meeting of ASPP convened in Sydney across three days. Sir Bob was elected as the second ASPP President, a position he served in until 1962.  ASPP/ASPS has honoured these two foundation presidents for many years through the JG Wood and Robertson Lectures, presented by invitation biennially at ASPP/ComBio meetings in alternate years.  Also, amongst the attendees at the inaugural meeting in Adelaide was a talented young plant scientist, Dr Peter Goldacre who tragically died in 1960 before being able to fulfil his full research potential. It is in his honour that the prestigious Peter Goldacre Award has been awarded to an outstanding early career plant scientist each year since 1965.

Neales Tom (1994). Our Society; An Historical Perspective. An early history of the Australian Society of Plant Physiologists. ASPP Membership Directory and reproduced (with permission) in Phytogen 11(2), 11-18.