Register for “Promoting Plant Science in Sweden, PhD positions, courses and more!
- ** Register for “Promoting Plant Science in Sweden**
Remember to sign up for the meeting ”Promoting Plant Research in Sweden” on the 15-16 March (lunch to lunch) in Lund, see the attachment. This is a chance to engage in how to strengthen plant science in Sweden. Leader of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) Karin Metzlaff will attend. Colleagues from Umeå and Uppsala will be attending. Please register here
- **Report Society for Experimental Biology workshop**
In the recent issue of the SEB online journal, you can read a report from the workshop “Is there life outside Academia” where PlantLink director Erik Alexandersson participated.
- **PlantLink and Forskningsnätet Skåne are looking for 2-week summer projects for high school students**
Researcher! Do you have a suitable 2-week internship this summer? For a fifth consecutive year, PlantLink and “Forskningsnätet Skåne” are looking for short summer internships at SLU Alnarp and Lund University for 2-3 school students over the age of 18 entering their last year of high-school study and who are especially interested in science and research. “Forskningsnätet Skåne” has been promoting the contact between high school students and universities by bringing academic researchers to the class rooms during the last 15 years and will grant stipends for the selected students. PlantLink supports the hosting researcher with 5000 SEK/student. The students can be guided by researchers at any level, but the project should contain some practical aspects. If you have a suitable project please contact PlantLink or “Forskningsnätet Skåne” directly on: info@forskningsnatet.se More information about Forskningsnätet Skåne”:
- **Plant Biology Europe 2018 **
Plant Biology Europe is the biggest meeting of its kind in Europe. With a multidisciplinary approach to plant science in a global context, the conference covers wide-ranging scientific and policy related themes within plant science, demonstrating state-of-the-art scientific developments and contributions to policy shaping towards plants science at the European and national levels.
Plant Biology Europe is jointly organized by FESBP and EPSO, as a result of a merger between the previous individual EPSO and FESPB conferences.
In 2018 PBE2018 is hosted and organised by University of Copenhagen.
Find more information here
- **Membership in Plant Biologicals Network **
SLU will through PlantLink be a core partner in the Plant Biologicals Network (PBN), an initiative by University of Copenhagen together with industry. There will be a kick-off of this network focusing on biologicals for plant protection in the first half of 2018.
- **PhD-positions in new H2020 project Organic Plus**
Laura Grenville-Briggs at SLU Alnarp is a partner in a new H2020 project Organic plus, which just received funding. Organic Plus is led by a team of researchers at Coventry University, UK. The project aims to phase out contentious inputs from Organic agriculture in field and glasshouse crops, in the production of animal feed and in livestock production and is a network of 29 university and industry partners across Europe. The role for SLU will be to conduct field trials to test combinations of resistance, plant architecture and low-risk compounds including biological control agents for the control of potato diseases for organic potato production.
For more information please contact Laura at: laura.grenville.briggs@slu.se
- ** Upcoming PhD-positions in PROTECTA-project**
The very same Laura Grenville-Briggs has been awarded a Marie Sklodowska -Curie Innovation Training Networsk (MSCA ETN) grant, which she is coordinating. PROTECTA aims to conduct research into Pathogen Informed Resistance against Oomycete Diseases in Agriculture, Aquaculture and Ecosystems and will recruit 15 PhD students in both universities and companies across Europe. The network has a strong element of stakeholder and industry involvement, where each PhD student will have a team of international co-supervisors and spend secondment periods at other labs (both industry and academic) across the network. Each student will also have the support of an industry mentor. PROTECTA will start in Autumn 2018, and run for 4 years. Later this year we will be advertising for all 15 PhD positions, so please watch this space!
- ** Carl Trygger-funded Post-doc position on IPM **
Laura Grenville-Briggs is also seeking a post-doctoral stipend worker for an IPM project in potato, funded by the Carl Tryggers Foundation. Preference will be given to someone who has obtained their PhD no more than 3 years ago and the position is for 2 years, funded directly by the foundation as a training stipend. In this project we would like to test different combinations of low-risk compounds, biological control agents and fungicides for the control of potato diseases. We will also assess the off-target effects of these treatments on overall soil health, through microbiome analyses. The idea candidate will have a strong interest and background in plant pathology, biological control and experimental experience in both molecular plant pathology and applied greenhouse or field analyses. Experience with field sampling, statistics, and metagenomics is an advantage.
For more information please contact Laura at: laura.grenville.briggs@slu.se
A full advert describing this position will also be available on the plant link website and through twitter very soon.
- ** Department seminar in plant embryo development **
On 8 March (13.15), Joakim Palovaara from University of Bremen, Molecular Genetics, will give a Department seminar on “Transcriptional, hormonal and ploidy control of plant embryo development” in the Biology Building, Lund University.
Joakim Palovaara is currently investigating the role of polyspermy in regards to plant polyploidy, with specific focus on genomic regulatory factors. He studied Molecular Biology at Lund University, did a PhD at Linnéuniversitetet and has done postdocs in Wageningen and Bremen. Much of his research has been focused on cell specification and patterning events during early plant embryo development. He has also done whole-genome transcriptomics of marine bacteria.
- **New Focus areas in PlantLink**
The new focus areas “Plants and Society” (or possibly Plant, People and Society) and Plant modelling and informatics have been initiated in PlantLink. The next meeting with “Plants and Society” is 5 February in Lund. Tina has more information.
- **SPPS membership for LU and SLU-researchers**
Note that SPPS has a new homepage (http://spps.se/) and has adopted a new membership structure where institutions can join – please see instructions on the new homepage.
- **NOVA PhD course, “Phenotyping Technologies in Plant-environment Interactions – Integrated Analysis of Omics Data”, 11-15 June**
NOVA PhD course, “Phenotyping Technologies in Plant-environment Interactions – Integrated Analysis of Omics Data” is given at SLU Alnarp, 11-15 June. There are a few places still left for this course. Registration deadline is 10 May or when places run out! Register here!
- **Summer school in Warsaw “Genomics for Plant Breeding and Biotechnology” 19-25 August 2018**
MSc students! Next year’s ELLS Summer course in Plant Molecular Breeding and Biotechnology will have the “Genomics for Plant Breeding and Biotechnology”. It will be given in Warsaw 19-25 August. Registration will open early next year. For more information please contact Hania Bolibok-Bragoszewska for more information.
- **PhD course Plant Protection Biology, 20-31 August, 2018**
The objective of this bi-annual course is to give PhD students from different subject areas (e.g. ecology, entomology, nematology, plant breeding, molecular biology etc.) a deeper understanding of challenges and constraints in relation to modern plant protection in different systems. As a pilot, we will this year admit a group of MSc students via the ELLS network. More information and preliminary schedule is found here.
- **PhD course Plant Imaging techniques**
This PhD Course is aimed to give an overview on Plant Imaging Techniques a complex group of methods for acquiring, processing and visualization of structural or functional images of various plant objects or systems in plants, including extraction and processing of image-related information and using computer modeling. The course will allow PhD students to get familiar with the latest plant imaging and visualization methods including a number of microscopy and X-ray/neutron scattering techniques. During the course students will be introduced into areas of plant structural biology, computational biology and modern biology.
Course responsible: Ramune Kuktaite (ramune.kuktaite@slu.se)
- **Day of wonders – Museum collections symposium, Lund**
Welcome to the fabulous Day of Wonders! Come one, come all! See the amazing research being done with our museum collections! Be inspired to seek answers to your own questions about What, Where and When! And why not How and Why! This amazing resource, in part, right under your feet! Come hear! Come see! Be amazed! February 8, Blue Hall, Presentaitons (with examples from plants and animals) 13.15-14.30, thereafter coffee and discussion. To join a tour of the entomological collections: contact Niklas Wahlberg (niklas.wahlberg@biol.lu.se).