Dear colleagues,

 The December issue of Phytogen is out now and can be accessed HERE.

This is also a reminder that the deadline for submitting symposium proposals for the International Botanical Congress (IBC).

Two years ahead of the XX IBC, we are pleased to launch the Call for Symposia. We encourage researchers worldwide to submit symposium proposals on a variety of topics through the IBC website. The call for symposia will remain open until December 30th, 2022. Symposia constitute a very important component of the XX IBC, please submit a proposal and help shape the meeting’s program! Also note that diversity of speakers in terms of gender, career stage, and geography will be one of the criteria for selecting proposals. Symposium proposals that bridge two or more of the 31 proposed topics, including novel views and/or multi-disciplinary research perspectives, are especially encouraged.

Best regards,

The Organizing Committee of the XX IBC.

Call for symposia

Proposal submission now available! The scientific committee will evaluate symposium proposals based on potential audience interest, scientific quality, and diversity of speakers in terms of gender, career stage, and geography, among others. Symposium proposals that bridge two or more of the 31 proposed topics, including novel views and/or multi-disciplinary research perspectives are especially encouraged. We will make an effort to accept as many proposals as possible. Each symposium will last for 2 hours and will consist of six 20-minute oral communications (15 min presentations + 5 min Q&A). To maximize the interchangeability of participants among concurrent symposia, changes to this schedule will not be allowed. Deadline for symposium proposals 30 December 2022. Proposal Submission

Topics

Dear ASPS Members,

We look forward to seeing many of your at ComBio next week. The ASPS Annual General Meeting will be held during ComBio on Thursday at 6:10 pm and we encourage you to come along. The AGM agenda and various reports are now available on the ASPS website (www.asps.org.au). We are proposing small changes to the constitution which will be voted on at the AGM. These changes can be viewed on the website. Those members who cannot attend the meeting but would like to vote can organise a proxy if they wish. We are asking for nominations to fill vacant positions of the Council so look at the agenda if you are interested and contact our Secretary Kim Johnson. K.Johnson@latrobe.edu.au

Thanks, Peter Ryan

Dear ASPS members,

ASPS will hold a dinner for Society members during ComBio 2022 following our AGM on Thursday 29th September.

This will be a two-course dinner including some drinks at Melbourne Public in the Docklands a short walk from the Conference venue.

The ticket prices for members are subsidised by the Society:

Students members for $30

Other members for $60

Additional tickets can be purchased for $90

Tickets are limited, so don’t delay. Book today HERE.

Please indicate any dietary requirements when booking your ticket.

Dear ASPS Members,

Reminding you many of our ASPS award applications are closing at the end of the month.

ASPS Awards for 2022: We encourage applications for our annual awards. These include the Goldacre Medal, the Jan Anderson Award, the Robertson Travelling Fellowship and Education and Outreach Award. Deadlines are 28 March and details are available in the HERE.

ComBio 2022: 

ComBIO 2022 (Melbourne, 27-20 September 2022) includes, among many others, a Plenary Address from Jennifer Doudna, the Nobel Laureate for her work on gene editing. ComBIO is a combined meeting organised by several societies involved in biological sciences. Details at  https://combio.org.au/combio2022/information.html.

Importantly, student members of ASPS can apply for funding to attend this meeting and details will be released soon. Student poster prizes will also be awarded.

Thanks, Peter

Dr Peter R Ryan

President, Australian Society of Plant Scientists

Honorary Fellow, CSIRO Agriculture and Food

PO Box 1700

Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Email: Peter.Ryan@csiro.au

Mob: 0468671565

Dear ASPS members,

Many of you will be aware of the concerns raised on social media regarding diversity, equity and inclusion at the ASPS-sponsored conference IPMB2022. We apologise for the hurt caused by how this was initially handled. ASPS condemns bullying, disrespectful and discriminatory behaviour and we consider it to be important that ASPS voices our concerns and publicly addresses the concerns of the community. For the past week, ASPS has been actively working with the IPMB board, the ASPB and The Global Plant Council to address the issues raised surrounding IPMB2022 and will continue to do so. We welcome input from our members.

Our public apology letter and commitment to using this opportunity for positive change is available here: https://www.asps.org.au/a-letter-of-apology-and-commitment-to-building-a-better-plant-science-community.

The Australian Society of Plant Scientists is pleased to announce its awards for 2021.

R.N. Roberston Lecture – Professor Christine Beverage (University of Queensland)

Peter Goldacre Award – Dr Joanna Melonek (University of Western Australia)

Jan Anderson Award – Dr Kim Johnson (La Trobe University)

Education and Outreach Award – Dr Kim Johnson and Dr Monika Doblin (La Trobe University)

R.N. Roberston Travelling Fellowship – Xiaoyang Wei (University of Newcastle)

Best FPB paper award – Dr Ximeng Li (Western Sydney University)

You can hear these award winners speak about their research during the national ASPS hybrid conference on 25 November 2021. To register (https://www.asps.org.au/asps-2021-registration).

A description of these awards and the eligibility criteria to nominate for the 2022 awards are available at the ASPS website (www.asps.org.au).

____________________________________

Dr Peter R Ryan

President, Australian Society of Plant Scientists

Honorary Fellow, CSIRO Agriculture and Food

PO Box 1700

Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Email: Peter.Ryan@csiro.au

Mob: 0468671565

You can add you name to the form at then end of the letter at this link  https://forms.gle/oxqhWLiKZaKiPSBE9

Link – https://forms.gle/oxqhWLiKZaKiPSBE9

Dear ASPS Members,

We have a unique opportunity to promote your work!  Our President Peter Ryan’s application for funding to support ASPS running National Science Week (14-22 August) activities was successful and many events across Australia are in the process of being organized at QUT, Univ of Newcastle, Southern Cross Univ, Univ of Sydney, ANU, CSIRO, La Trobe Univ, Univ of Melbourne, Monash Univ, Univ of Adelaide and Flinders University).

To help engage National Science Week attendees we would like to introduce you and your work to participants – if you are an ASPS member we want to promote you!

To achieve this we need you to create a 30 second (mp4) video of yourself delivering four key pieces of information – in the video please tell us (1) your name, (2) your institution, (3) the piece of plant science research that you are most proud of and (4) the most pressing plant science research question you want to resolve in the future.

We need your video files by 25^th July. They will be compiled for sharing publicly as part of National Science Week Events, and potentially online in the lead up to the event. Instructions on how to do this are included below.

Thank you in advance,

ASPS WCSC

Instructions:

1. Log into Zoom and create a new meeting
2. Select ‘record’ and record the meeting to your computer
3. Record yourself explaining: (1) your name, (2) your institution, (3) the plant science research break through you are most proud of and (4) the most pressing plant science research question you want to resolve in the future. Then stop the recording and stop the meeting (file should be available on your computer). Open the file location and make sure it is 30 seconds or less (re-record if you go over time to keep it to 30 seconds or less).
4. Check the size and clarity – 30 sec video files should be approximately less than 4000KB, small enough to send via email; also, in Zoom settings you can chose to select a background image relevant to your work (your favorite plant, field site, lab equipment, figure file) – this will make your content more engaging.  30 seconds is about 50-60 spoken words – you can plan your words to ensure clear and simple messages, which are best for engaging all age groups.
5. Email ausplantsci@gmail.com with your video attached. Thank you!

____________________________________

Dr Peter R Ryan

President, Australian Society of Plant Scientists

Honorary Fellow, CSIRO Agriculture and Food

PO Box 1700

Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Email: Peter.Ryan@csiro.au

Mob: 0468671565

Dear ASPS members past and present,

Due to the ongoing issues with travel and the pandemic in 2021 the ASPS will run coordinated local face-to-face meetings in states and territories across Australia.

We ask members to “Save the Date”

ASPS 2021 conference

When: Thursday 25^th of November (joint awards session 2-4pm AEDT)

Where: Local state/territory meetings (TBA soon)

ASPS AGM

When: Friday 26^th of November, 12pm (AEDT)

Where: Online meeting

More details will come regarding local venues and registration in May.

Cheers,

Simon

Honorary Secretary ASPS.