NEWS

These official calls, in combination with hints from the EPSO Brief on the Draft Work Programme which was published on the members only website 5.5.2021, can further advance your proposals.

You find in the EPSO Brief on pages 39-43 the cluster topics relevant for plant scientists – this will help you to find the full call text in the EC published WP without having to read it in full.

Most relevant are:

• ERC – European Research Council Work Programme 2021
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
• Cluster 6 “Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment”)
• EIC– European Innovation Council Work Programme 2021

We will work on an update EPSO Brief in the coming weeks and we will upload this on the Members only website too.

For further insights for your proposals, join the online EC Info Days on 28.6. – 9.7.2021. No prior registration needed. Cluster 6 is on 7-8 July (Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture & environment).

We encourage scientists to enter / update their profile in the EC expert database. This is used by the EC for instance to select evaluators for proposals as well as for ongoing projects.

Have a look at the Horizon Europe Rules of Participation and proposal procedure from KoWi.

More details will be forthcoming in our EPSO news page.

 Find complete call list and more details in the full  news item:

Sources: KoWi news items; EPSO Brief 5.5.2021, EPSO News items

Contact: Karin Metzlaff

The Info Days will be open for participation without prior registration. During the event, prospective applicants and stakeholders of EU research and innovation get information and can ask questions about main funding instruments and the first Horizon Europe calls for proposals.

During the 10 Info Days nine topics will be addressed:

• 28 June: Infrastructures
• 29 & 30 June: Digital, industry & space (cluster 4)
• 30 June: Civil security for society (cluster 3)
• 1 July: Culture, creativity & inclusive society (cluster 2)
• 1 July: The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: what is new under Horizon Europe
• 2 July: Health (cluster 1)
• 5 & 6 July: Climate, energy & mobility (cluster 5)
• 7 & 8 July: Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture & environment (cluster 6)
• 9 July: European Research Area (ERA) & Widening

There will be exclusive discussions and hands-on sessions.

The Info Days will be open for participation without prior registration.

➜ Further information on the event website
Source: KoWi: – contact: Katharina Spannhake

MSCA: Opening of first calls in 2021 again postponed

The opening dates for the MSCA funding schemes Doctoral Networks, Postdoctoral Fellowships and European Researchers’ Night have been again postponed.

Current dates indicate that the Doctoral Networks 2021 will open on 22 June 2021 and close on 16 November 2021. The call for the Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 will also be published on 22 June 2021, with deadline on 12 October 2021. The call for the European Researchers’ Night 2022/2023 is postponed to open on 22 June 2021 with deadline on 7 October 2021.

➜ Net4Mobility
Source: KoWi – Contact: Dr. Kristina Wien

The 4th European-wide seminar of the new series supported by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and aimed at the Plant Science community and its stakeholders.

TTT: The seminar will be held online each third Thursday of the month at three (CET).

On 17^th June 2021 at 15:00 (CET) we will present three talks exploring “Post pollination development”:

Prof Maria Von Korff, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany

 “Barley spike development under abiotic stress”

 

 

 

 

 Dr Sarah McKim, University of Dundee, UK

 “Growing against the grain”

 

 

 

 

Prof John Pannell, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

 “A rapid transition between combined and separate sexes in flowering plants”

 

 

 

 

The seminars will be hosted on Zoom and last approximately 1.5 hours. Numbers will be limited to 300 attendees and therefore please register early if you would like to join. There will be ample opportunities to ask questions and join the debate. So please join us to support this new and exciting initiative for European Plant Science by following this link just prior to the start of the seminar.

EPSO members register in advance for this meeting:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcpc-CrrzMoHdf-d8G_hECgFZxJ9nVtEQYb

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

In the coming months we will be on the lookout for talented plant scientists among the EPSO membership to present their findings and perspectives to the EPSO seminar series. If we approach you to talk, we hope you will be happy to support the initiative. This is a fantastic opportunity for both eminent world leaders and talented up-and-coming early career researchers to present their research to an international audience and to network with potential collaborators. If you wish to suggest a theme for one of the autumn seminars and / or nominate yourself or one of your colleagues to give a seminar, we most welcome your suggestions. Please contact Tim George ([email protected]) to provide your name and potential talk title.

We look forward to seeing you all for the 4^th EPSO seminar on the 17^th June 2021

Tim George, Alan Schulman and Emily Breeze

EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee

Click here to read: Full EPSO news item 26.5.2021

Contacts:
Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board
Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & EPSO President
Emily Breeze, Warwick University / UK & EPSO Representative

The Strategic Plan outlined for 2021-2026 will help accelerate access to and benefit sharing from these resources that include seed and other plant collections, along with provenance and characterization data, so they can be used for the sustainable production of food, feed, fiber, medicines, and renewable natural products.

Available variation can be harnessed to deliver new cultivars that combine improved taste, nutritional value and human health benefits with climate-resilient qualities and increased carbon sequestration that achieve sustainable yields with fewer agricultural inputs.

DivSeek is a global community of practice committed to unlocking the potential of crop biodiversity so that it can be used to enhance the productivity, sustainability and resilience of crops, agricultural systems and supply chains.

Several EPSO members are active in DivSeek: Nils Stein & Andreas Graner (IPK / DE), Jean-Christophe Glaszmann (CIRAD / FR), Roberto Tuberosa (UniBol / IT), Theo van Hintum (WUR / NL) and Eva-Maria Sehr (AIT / AT).

Read more:

DivSeek media Release, Click below to download the media release in PDF.

Strategy to improve the Generation and Sharing of Information about Global Plant Genetic Resources https://divseekintl.org/strategic-plan/

 

Contacts:

Graham J King, DivSeek, [email protected] , www.divseekintl.org

Nils Stein, IPK Gatersleben / DE,  [email protected]

Research on carotenoids is crucial to solve the global challenge of producing health-promoting sustainable foods.

The article, published in Progress in Lipid Research (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plipres.2018.04.004), reviews the biosynthesis of carotenoids in plants and other organisms, highlights their importance in agro-food and health and outlines further research needs.

It is one of the outcomes of the COST Action EUROCAROTEN (www.eurocaroten.eu), which brings together stakeholders from 38 countries.

 “Carotenoids are extraordinary compounds that  illustrate the magic and wisdom of Nature, which has learnt to harness this ancient compound group for the most diverse purposes, including making our diets healthier and more appealing”, says Prof. Antonio J. Meléndez Martínez, the COST Action Chair.

Read the full EUROCAROTEN announcement or click below to download, 13.5.2021

Contact: Antonio J. Meléndez Martínez, Universidad de Sevilla, [email protected] ; www.eurocaroten.eu/

The EPSO Briefing on the Horizon Europe Draft Work Programmes 2021-22 has been published on the Members’ only Website*.  It contains all information for plant scientists already available in one document, It provides you as well additional researched information and final call texts already available.

 *Access to the Members’ only Website is restricted to EPSO active Members (not sleeping members, not external Personal Members) – please contact Sofia to get access.

Some Work Programmes are published and fully covered in the briefing. For those only available as Draft, publication is foreseen end May and we provide first information on the programme. For pillar 2 this includes for instance the list of topics relevant to plant scientists in the ‘Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment’.

 Excellent Science

• ERC – European Research Council Work Programme 2021
• MSCA – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action 2021-2022 [Draft]
• INFRA – Research Infrastructures 2021-2022 [Draft]

Global Challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness – Thematic clusters

• Cluster 1: Health [Draft – 03.2021]
• Cluster 4: Digital, Industry and Space [Draft – 16.03.2021]
• Cluster 5: Climate, Energy and Mobility [Draft – 02.2021]
• Cluster 6: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment 2021-2022 [Draft – 12.2020]

Missions

• Missions [Draft]

Innovative Europe

• EIC– European Innovation Council Work Programme 2021
• EIE – European Innovation Ecosystems
• EIT – European Institute of Innovation and Technology

Widening Participation and Strengthening the European research Area

• WIDERA – Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area 2021-2022

[Draft – 01.2021]

Further Work Programmes are available on the Funding & Tenders portal

 We aim to update the briefing upon publication of official WPs still missing now with the help from some Board members. We will notify you then – likely end May / early June.

Wishing you success with your proposals

Karin Metzlaff, Alexandra Barnoux, Alan Schulman and Ernst van den Ende

Contact: Karin Metzlaff