Bringing together Europe's young plant scientists

作者：Sjors van der Horst, Tijmen van Butselaar, Hao Zhang, Gilles Vismans, Merel Steenbergen, Sarah Courbier, Manon Neilen, Jesse J. Küpers · 发表于：New Phytologist · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1111/nph.15691 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Plant tissue culture and regeneration、Plant Reproductive Biology、Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases

It is often challenging for early career scientists such as PhD candidates to find their way in the scientific community. Besides performing research, a crucial aspect of a PhD career is to establish a scientific network. It is therefore important to attend conferences where PhD candidates can meet fellow scientists and discuss their research. However, many conferences are centred around more senior scientists, often resulting in limited possibilities for PhD candidates to present their research. Moreover, in the presence of established senior scientists many young PhD candidates are reluctant to ask questions and participate in discussions. To aid young researchers in building a scientific network, representatives from three European graduate schools (Experimental Plant Sciences (the Netherlands), International Max Planck Research School (Germany) and Sciences du Végétal (France)) took the initiative to create an event specifically for PhD candidates in plant sciences. This collaborative effort resulted in the very first edition of the European Plant Science Retreat (EPSR) at Wageningen University (the Netherlands) in 2008. Since then, the EPSR became a symposium organized by and for European PhD candidates, with an emphasis on interactions between young researchers working in plant science. The EPSR has since been organized in Germany, France, the UK, Belgium and Spain. This year, the EPSR was hosted by Utrecht University (the Netherlands) from 3 to 6 July. Over a hundred P...