Hello ASPS members,

The deadline for 2019 ASPS student travel grant applications has been extended to 5.00pm June 28th 2019. If you are a student or supervisor of a student who has been meaning to apply there is still time. Application attached.

You can also download the June edition of Phytogen here.

The Global Plant Council June E-Bulletin is available here.

Welcome all to Phytogen for June 2019. I know it gets busy this time of year. Hopefully you can manage a couple of brain breaks and send some images and enjoy reports from students and researchers who attended ComBio 2018 in Sydney 2018. Keep reading…..

In this issue we would like to collect images from you for banners to be displayed at the upcoming Translational Photosynthesis Conference 2019, Brisbane June 30 – July 3. We will also use them at our November meeting too. The images will be inserted into this mask:

We can only accept images until Friday 21st June. Please email images to Tam Salter and ensure they are .PNG , .jpg, .TIFF, or .pdf, with greater than 300 dpi, email: william.salter@sydney.edu.au

If the images have people, they will have to sign a permission form: ASPSphotopermission Please print the permission form and have them sign then send along with your entry to Tam, we look forward to receiving your images.

Here is a reminder to register for our meeting this year:

Early registration will apply until 30 June 2019 register

Four ASPS Award Lectures:

• Peter Goldacre Award Presentation & Lecture: Simon Williams, Australian National University
• Jan Anderson Award Presentation & Lecture: The Australian Society of Plant Scientists congratulates Monika Murcha, University of Western Australia (https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/monika-murcha) as recipient of the prestigious 2019 ASPS Jan Anderson award. This award acknowledges talented female plant science researchers. Dr Murcha will be presenting the Anderson lecture at ASPS 2019 (https://www.asps.org.au/combio/asps-2019).
• JG Wood Award Presentation & Lecture: Ros Gleadow, Monash University
• ASPS Teaching Award Presentation & Lecture: Sigfredo Fuentes, University of Melbourne

International Speakers include:

• Prof George Bassel, University of Birmingham
• Prof Dan Szymanski, Purdue University

ComBio2018 reports

Aruni Alahakoon, PhD candidate, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne

Nicholas Booth, Honours student, Flinders University, College of Science and Engineering

Duc Quan Nguyen, PhD candidate, School of Environmental and Life Science, University of Newcastle

Sayed Mohammad Mohsin, PhD candidate School of Agricultural Sciences, Ehime and Kagawa Universities, Japan

Pei Qin Ng, PhD candidate, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide

Yu Zhou, PhD Candidate, Research School of Biology, ANU

Christopher Waterman, PhD Candidate, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University

Eric Brenya, PhD Candidate, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University

Sally Buck, PhD Candidate, Research School of Biology, ANU

Dr Nicole Pontarin, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, BIologie des Plantes et Innovation (BIOPI), Amiens, France

Dr Yagiz Alagoz, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University

Johanna Wong, PhD candidate, The Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University

Hello all ASPS members,

Just a friendly reminder that ASPS2019 student travel grant applications are due today!

The student and the supervisor need to be financial members of ASPS and the student must present at ASPS2019 (poster or talk). For more details see https://www.asps.org.au/awards/combio-travel-awards

Best of luck.

Hello ASPS members,

This Saturday is International Fascination of Plants Day. After you vote, take some pics of plants and add to our ASPS site on twitter by entering @asps_ozplants into the search twitter window (see Phytogen for more ideas).

The May edition of Phytogen is out now and available here.

Information on our annual conference ASPS2019 is available here. You can also register for ASPS2019 here.

The May edition of GPC E-Bulletin is available here.

Happy International Fascination of Plants Day.

Welcome to May Phytogen, hopefully you have had some rain and it is now cooler.

1. International Fascination of Plants Day, Saturday 18th May. After you vote, take some pics of plants and add to our ASPS site on twitter by entering @asps_ozplants into the search twitter window. Tag #plantday and @PlantDay18May. There is still time to register an event, and we have requested a code for Australia and will add events when posted to @asps_ozplants. Events can be throughout all of May. If you would like some tips to help with twitter read this article by Tam Salter: Guide to ASPS and twitter

2. Look forward to seeing you at ASPS 2019 Tuesday 26th-Friday 29th November 2019. Remember, applications for student travel awards by Friday June 14 and early registration until June 28. Have a go at twitter to #ASPS2019 to let us know after you have registered.

Four ASPS Award Lectures:

• Peter Goldacre Award Presentation & Lecture: Simon Williams, Australian National University
• Jan Anderson Award Presentation & Lecture: to be announced
• JG Wood Award Presentation & Lecture: to be announced
• ASPS Teaching Award Presentation & Lecture: to be announced

International Speakers include:

• Prof George Bassel, University of Birmingham
• Prof Dan Szymanski, Purdue University

Latrobe University have also setup a nice website with map.

3. It is reassuring that science, STEM (see Science and Technology Australia) and our environment are well represented this upcoming Federal election. There are statements from The Australian Academy of Science, plus their EMCR forum. @ScienceAU is excellent for following the all the action.

4. ComBio2020, for you to be able to plan ahead for 2020. www.combio.org.au/combio2020

Here is a report from 2018 ASPS teaching award recipient  – Beth Loveys

During my PhD and then subsequent post-doctoral research positions I had not really considered the possibility of becoming a teaching only academic, mainly because I was not aware such positions existed! I always assumed I would continue doing research with some teaching when necessary. Three children and several moves chasing short term research contracts made me think more broadly about what a future career in science might look like for me. I had always enjoyed teaching, even as demonstrator during my PhD, and coming across an advert for a teaching only academic at the University of Adelaide got me thinking.

Beth receiving her award from ASPS president Professor Sergey Shabala

After being appointed in the teaching only position I quickly learnt that being an effective teacher in large classes was not an easy task. I quickly realised the best resources available to me where not only my colleagues but also the students themselves. There is no better way to trouble-shoot problematic courses or topics than to ask the students where they are getting stuck. Over the first 5 years of my teaching only position I immersed myself in teaching pedagogy literature to begin understanding the best ways to support students in their learning. This knowledge allowed me to develop learning resources to help students grasp complex topics in plant science and biochemistry. The scientist in me wanted data to support the decisions I was making about teaching methodologies and resources, this meant I had to learn how to deal with qualitative data and the moving target of different cohorts of students each year. These data have allowed me to reflect in an objective way about what works and what doesn’t work and where the biggest gains in student comprehension can be made. Over the last two years I have become increasingly interested in working with students as partners in developing curriculum.

Beth working the lab with her Foundations in Plant Science students

It was a real honour to be awarded the ASPS Teaching Award in 2018, recognition from science peers is both humbling and pleasing. Since receiving the award I undertook a project to build video resources for supporting a mixed cohort of undergraduate, postgraduate, domestic and international students in mastering practical winemaking and laboratory skills. Senior students demonstrated, scripted and recorded voice over narration for all videos. Two of the senior students involved with the project were international students so were able to translate all scripts into Cantonese as additional support for the growing cohort from China. The input of the senior students was invaluable to create videos that were appropriate for the incoming cohort. An example of one of the videos can be seen here:

https://youtu.be/iZO1Z2cWtGo

As the student population becomes increasingly diverse, culturally and demographically, having resources that support independent learning outside of prescribed class time is essential. For these resources to be of maximum benefit they must be well designed with embedded feedback so that students are able to gain confidence outside of class and thus be better prepared for their time with the teacher in class.

There is a website with education conferences, Aussie Educator that covers all ages from junior to academia, STEM, national and international. On the site are two international education conferences coming up in Adelaide this year. The conferences cover all discipline areas in tertiary education. One focuses on the emerging pedagogy of Students as Partners and the other focuses on the teaching-research nexus. Registration is discounted if you attend both conferences! Click on the pictures below to expand.

To finish off for this month:

Hope you have registered for our ASPS  meeting in Melbourne this year and students please apply for travel support by Friday June 14.

Next month: Reports from student travel awards 2018 and it would be nice to promote a Plants event near you for International Fascination of Plants Day on Sunday May 19. There isn’t an event registered for Australia yet…… see how you go.

Tweets by PlantDay18May

About us

Hello ASPS members,

The March edition of Phytogen is out now. You can access it here.

Remember to register and submit your abstract for our annual conference ASPS 2019 in Melbourne this November.

ASPS 2019 registration here.

ASPS 2019 abstract submission here.

This month we are promoting books and conferences. CABI, The Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, is a not-for-profit inter-governmental development and information organisation focusing primarily on agricultural and environmental issues in a developing world. There is a new book co-edited by Sergey Shabala and they have set up a discount for ASPS members on all CABI books. The code to use is CCAB20, which is valid for 20% off individual orders through the CABI Bookshop. Below is a jacket for Halophytes and Climate Change – all of CABI’s work and books look great !

Hope to see you at ……..

The ASPS conference will cover diverse aspects of plant biology including: Student Sessions, Breeding for Human Nutrition, Reproductive and Seed Biology, Plant Nutrition, Genome Regulation: Tissues and Cells, Phenotyping Technologies, Medicinal Agriculture, Plant Development, Communication and Education, Abiotic Stress and Biotic Interactions. On the Friday 29th is a Grains Satellite Meeting.

Registration and Abstract submission is now open !

See website: https://www.asps.org.au/combio/asps-2019 for links to registration, abstract submission and student travel grants.

keep up with ASPS and conference information on twitter : ASPS (@asps_ozplants)

another great conference not to be missed…..

This conference brings together the key elements for a future food revolution.

Registration and Abstracts : Monday 1st April 2019, just over a week to go !

see website for information, http://photosynthesis.org.au/innovag/

keep up with the centre on twitter: ARC CoETP (@leaf2field)

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