Hello ASPS members,

We’re looking forward to catching up at the ASPS 2024 Hub meetings on Thursday 28th November. The ASPS 2024 website can be accessed HERE. Contact your Hub leader directly if you have questions on the day.

The November edition of Phytogen can be accessed HERE.

Join us for our AGM on Friday 29th November at 1 pm DST. View the AGM documents HERE. Join the AGM virtual meeting HERE.

Congratulations to Dr Caitlin Moore who has been awarded the inaugural Annals of Botany Travelling Lectureship.

Caitlin is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Agriculture and Environment at The University of Western Australia. She is a representative for Australia’s Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) in Western Australia, and is the communications officer for the OzFlux network. Caitlin received her PhD from Monash University on a project looking at carbon fluxes and phenology dynamics in Australian tropical savannas. She then completed a four-year postdoc at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the USA applying her skills to phenotyping and understanding climate and management impacts in agricultural cropping systems. Back in Australia, her current research broadly focuses on understanding native and managed ecosystem interactions with climate from the leaf to landscape scale.

Hello ASPS members,

A new PhD opportunity has been posted on our job board. You can access the job board HERE!

Hello ASPS members,

2024 ASPS awards are closing Sunday April 28th. These include;

• Peter Goldacre Award
• Jan Anderson Award
• Education and Outreach Award
• R.N.Robertson Travelling Fellowship      get your applications in.

The April edition of Phytogen is out now and can be accessed HERE. This issue includes a report on Science Meets Parliament by Lee Chin and a report on the 2023 Education and Outreach Award winners Robert Sharwood, Michelle Donovan-Mak, Jayakumar Bose, David Randall, Jing He, Oula Ghannoum and Zhonghua Chen.

Nominate to join the ARC College of Experts. There have been many ASPS members in the past. Join current ASPS members Matt Gilliham and Michelle Watt ensuring the value of plant research is recognised. More information on the ARC College pf Experts and nomination details can be found HERE.

THE DAVID SYME RESEARCH PRIZE

Nominations are now invited for the 2023 David Syme Research Prize. The Australia-wide prize recognises the best original research in Biology, Physics, Chemistry or Geology produced* in Australia during the past two years (1 January 2022 – 31 December 2023).

*Produced – e.g. published

The David Syme Research Prize is managed by the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne.

Summary details are:

Value: approx. $10,000, and a medal

Closing date: 30 April 2024

• The prize is made by nomination only. Senior members of the academic or research community such as co-authors or co-researchers, heads of department or deputy vice-chancellors (research) are invited to nominate eligible colleagues. Self-nominations are not accepted.
• Researchers associated with any Australian university and researchers without university connections are eligible for nomination, noting that the following are not eligible:

– Professors or researchers who will have attained the position of professor at the time the award is made;

– Researchers outside universities who will have attained a level of seniority comparable to a university professor at the time the award is made (LEVEL E);

– Researchers who have not spent the equivalent of at least 5 full years of the last 7 in Australia.

• The award is made on the basis of the research quality within the discipline and its likely impact and value in the industrial and commercial interests of Australia.

Full details and the nomination form are available at: https://scienceunimelb.smartygrants.com.au/DSyme2024

Enquiries should be directed to: science-internalfunding@unimelb.edu.au

THE DAVID SYME RESEARCH PRIZE

Nominations are now invited for the 2023 David Syme Research Prize. The Australia-wide prize recognises the best original research in Biology, Physics, Chemistry or Geology produced* in Australia during the past two years (1 January 2022 – 31 December 2023).

*Produced – e.g. published

The David Syme Research Prize is managed by the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne.

Summary details are:

Value: approx. $10,000, and a medal

Closing date: 30 April 2024

• The prize is made by nomination only. Senior members of the academic or research community such as co-authors or co-researchers, heads of department or deputy vice-chancellors (research) are invited to nominate eligible colleagues. Self-nominations are not accepted.
• Researchers associated with any Australian university and researchers without university connections are eligible for nomination, noting that the following are not eligible:

– Professors or researchers who will have attained the position of professor at the time the award is made;

– Researchers outside universities who will have attained a level of seniority comparable to a university professor at the time the award is made (LEVEL E);

– Researchers who have not spent the equivalent of at least 5 full years of the last 7 in Australia.

• The award is made on the basis of the research quality within the discipline and its likely impact and value in the industrial and commercial interests of Australia.

Full details and the nomination form are available at: https://scienceunimelb.smartygrants.com.au/DSyme2024

Enquiries should be directed to: science-internalfunding@unimelb.edu.au

Hello ASPS members,

Our 2024 ASPS awards are now open! Details including application form and rules for each award can be found on the ASPS web site or through the links below. Closing date is April 5th 2024, except the Student Travel Award which is 29th March 2024.

These include the:

Peter Goldacre Award

Jan Anderson Award

ASPS Education and Outreach Award

R.N. Robertson Travel Award

Student Travel Awards   Due 29th March 2024

Details including application form and rules for each award can be found on the ASPS web site or through the links above. Closing date is April 5th 2024, except the Student Travel Award which is 29th March 2024.

You can access the current STA newsletter HERE!

Dear ASPS members,

Applications for student travel awards to the International Plant Molecular Biology (IPMB) congress in Cairns (24-28 June 2024) are now OPEN.

This major event covers the gamut of current topics relating to plant molecular biology, and is a special opportunity for us to showcase Australian plant science. We expect 600+ delegates and it would make a great impression to our visitors to see strong representation from the ASPS membership. The provisional program with an exciting line-up of confirmed speakers is here.

Early bird student and ECR registration is great value at $495, and includes daily lunch/morning & afternoon tea, and a ticket to the Welcome Reception. (The optional conference dinner is $75).

You are eligible to apply for a travel award if:

1. You are a current student (Honours/Masters/PhD) member of ASPS;
2. Your supervisor is a current member of ASPS;
3. You have received fewer than two ASPS student travel awards previously.

Early bird registration closes on 21 March 2024, which is why this announcement is so early in the year. Applications for ASPS student travel awards close 29 March, so get planning!

Further details on ASPS student travel awards and the application form are available HERE.

Kind regards,

Mark Waters

Honorary Treasurer, ASPS

Hello ASPS members,

A new position has been posted on the ASPS job board which you can access HERE.

Keep updated with ASPS2023 award winners and program HERE.

The October Global Plant Council E-Bulletin can be accessed HERE.

Given the success of the first round, we have just announced a call for the second round of JXB Editorial Internships for 2024. The aim of these internships is to provide early career researchers with experience of scientific publishing from the editorial side, as an opportunity for career development as a researcher or with a view to a career in scientific publishing. We’d really appreciate it if you could help disseminate this call around your institute and network where appropriate.

Full details: https://academic.oup.com/jxb/pages/editorial-internships-call-for-applicants

Hello ASPS members,

Updates on our annual conference ASPS 2023 can be accessed HERE.

Last editions of Phytogen can be accessed HERE and HERE.

Last GPC E-bulletin can be accessed HERE.

Last STA newsletter can be accessed HERE.

Invitation for an Expression of interest for the Threatened Species Scientific Committee.

A call for expressions of interest for membership of the Australian Government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has now been published.

This is an opportunity to play a pivotal role in protection of Australia’s biodiversity. We would be grateful if you would share this invitation with members of your organisation.

Full details can be found on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s website: Expressions of interest open for the Threatened Species Scientific Committee – DCCEEW

The expression of interest is open until 17 September 2023.

For more information on the position, please contact Anthea Brecknell at TSSCSecretariat@dcceew.gov.au