NEWS

The 8th European-wide seminar of the 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 16th December 2021 at 15:00 (CET) we will present three talks exploring the “Future of Plant Nutrition”

Prof Søren Husted, University of Copenhagen, Denmark:  “Dissecting nutrient key-functionalities in metabolism to identify latent nutritional disorders in crops”

Dr Antoine Martin, BPMP, CNRS, Montpellier, France :   “Genomics of plant nutrition in the context of climate change”

Dr Eva Oburger, Institute of Soil Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences – BOKU, Vienna, Austria: “Phytosiderophore release of contrasting barley (Hordeum vulgare) lines grown in Zn and Cu deficient soils”

 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/tJ0pceuspzgrHNPSV6F62KQr6tDb_54V-PQk

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 spring 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 8^th EPSO seminar on the 16^th December 2021

Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser

EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee

Click here to read: Full EPSO news item

Contacts:

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

Biodiversity is one of the destinations of the Horizon Europe (HE) Work Programmes in cluster 6 ‘Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment’ and the focus of the Biodiversity Partnership in HE in order to achieve the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 to build the bridge between science, policy and practice.

Biodiversa+ is the co-funded biodiversity partnership under the Horizon Europe programme and was jointly developed by BiodivERsA and the European Commission (DG Environment and DG Research & Innovation). It is one of the HE partnerships to start and was officially launched 1^st October 2021. It continues the work of the Biodiversa ERA-NET which was established under Horizon 2020.

Biodiversa+ gathers 75 research programmers and funders and environmental policy actors from 37 European and associated countries to work on five main objectives:

1. Plan and support research and innovationon biodiversity through a shared strategy, annual joint calls for research projects and capacity building activities
2. Set up a network of harmonised schemes to improve monitoring of biodiversityand ecosystem services across Europe
3. Contribute to high-end knowledge for deploying Nature-based Solutions and valuation of biodiversity in the private sector
4. Ensure efficient science-based support for policymakingand implementation in Europe
5. Strengthen the relevance and impact of pan-European research on biodiversity in a global context.

Register to the launch event held online on 17-18 November 2021 for Biodiversa+ 2021-2022 joint Call for Transnational Research Proposals on “Supporting the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems across land and sea”.

More details on the call “Supporting the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems across land and sea”.

To know more on biodiversity in Horizon Europe, EPSO invites its members to check the updated EPSO briefing on Horizon Europe Work Programmes 2021-2022 on the Members’ only Website* 29.9.2021.  It contains all information for plant scientists already available in one document. It provides as well additional researched information and final call texts published by the European Commission since 15 June 2021.

 *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.

Source: Biodiversa, KoWi

EPSO is pleased to announce the start of its new Working Group ‘Future Proofed Crops’. It will focus on adapting our crops to the shifting climate, to improve abiotic stress, photosynthesis and resource use efficiency of crops, and to stably increase crop yield and – via the link to our Nutritional Security WG crop nutritional quality. It encompasses the continuum from basic to applied research.

The first activity planned by the WG will be a (probably online) meeting in February 2022 to discuss the upcoming novel possibilities to future proof our crops.

Pls discuss this in your organisation and reply to Karin, cc Sofia and the chairs to become a member of this WG best by 3^rd December (we suggest 1-2 expert scientists per organisation interested in this subject). To enrol an expert, please provide the providing the name, function in the institute, 1-3 keywords on the expertise and contact details.

Interested in the other EPSO WGs?

Discuss in your organisation all EPSO Working Groups (see 2^nd attachment) and let Karin know if you want to add expert scientists to the other WGs.

EPSO members start and coordinate EPSO Working Groups to collaborate on science advancement, networking, strategy and provide science advice to policy.

We suggest that 1-2 expert scientists per member organisation join a WG relevant to them.

Membership in EPSO WGs is restricted to experts from EPSO Institutional members. Others can apply to become and observer of a WG

Looking forward to collaborating with you in the FPC WG

Rene, Christine, Andreas, Francesco, Alain and Karin

FPC WG co-chairs: René Klein Lankhorst, Christine Raines, Andreas Weber, Francesco Loreto and Alain Gojon.

EPSO Executive Director: Karin Metzlaff

Click here to read: Full ‘EPSO FPC WG announcement’ and the ‘EPSO Join Working Groups announcement’.

Contacts:

EPSO:    Karin Metzlaff, EPSO Executive Director & Sofia Ciravegna, EPSO Executive Assistant

EPSO FPC WG co-chairs:

• René Klein Lankhorst (WUR / NL)
• Christine Raines (Essex / UK)
• Andreas Weber (HHU / DE)
• Francesco Loreto (CNR / IT)
• Alain Gojon (INRAE / FR)

Calls for proposals for Horizon Europe 2022 are open. EPSO encourages its members to apply, especially to calls under the European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Slodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) of Pillar I (Excellent Science), and Cluster 6 ‘Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment’ of Pillar II (Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness).

EPSO published its updated EPSO briefing on Horizon Europe Work Programmes 2021-2022 on the Members’ only Website* 29.9.2021.  It contains all information for plant scientists already available in one document. It provides you as well additional researched information and final call texts published by the European Commission since 15 June 2021.

 *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.

Work Programmes covered in the briefing and still open for submission are:

Excellent Science

• ERC – European Research Council Work Programme 2021 & European Research Council Work Programme 2022
  • ERC-2022-StG: opened 23.09.2021, closing 13.1.2022
  • ERC-2022-CoG: opened on 19.10.2021, closing 17.3.2022
  • ERC-2022-SyG: opened 15.7.2021, closing on 10.11.2021
  • ERC-2022-PoC2: opening on 16.11.2021, closing 15.2., 19.5. and 29.9.2022
  • ERC-2022-PER: opened on 05.10.2021, closing 11.1.2022

• MSCA – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action 2021-2022
  • MSCA-SE-2021: opened on 7.10.2021, closing 9.3.2022
  • MSCA-SE-2022: opening on 6.10.2022, closing 8.3.2023
  • MSCA-COFUND-2021: opened on 12.10.2021, closing 10.2.2022
  • MSCA-COFUND-2022: opening on 11.10.2022, closing 9.2.2023
  • MSCA-PF-2022: opened on 13.4.2021, closing on 14.9.2022
  • MSCA-DN-2021: opened 22.6.2021, closing on 16.11.2021
  • MSCA-DN-2022: opening on 3.5.2022, closing on 15.11.2022

• INFRA – Research Infrastructures 2021-2022

Global Challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness – Thematic clusters

• Cluster 1: Health
• Cluster 4: Digital, Industry and Space
• Cluster 5: Climate, Energy and Mobility
• Cluster 6: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment 2021-2022
• Cluster 6 Opening date 28.10.2021;
• Cluster 6 Deadline single stage 15.2.2022; 2-stage: S1 15.2.2022, S2 1or 6.9.2022

Missions

• Missions

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

 Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area 2021-2022

Further Work Programmes are available on the Funding & Tenders portal

Wishing you success with your proposals

Karin Metzlaff, Alexandra Barnoux and Alan Schulman

Contact: Karin Metzlaff

The 7th 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 18th November 2021 at 15:00 (CET) we will present three talks exploring “Use of Diverse Species as Crops”

Assistant Prof Marta Vasconcelos, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto, Portugal

                        “Biodiversity with underutilized crops in Europe: challenges, strategies and benefits”

 Dr Delphine Renard, CEFE CNRS, Montpellier, France

                         “Contributions of crop diversity to food security and resilience”

Prof Zerihun Tadele, University of Bern, Switzerland ,

                          “Promoting productivity of under-researched crop: the case of tef”

 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/tJwscuqgpz0tEt36RSyQylnhhngEmc5JPET8

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 spring 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 7^th EPSO seminar on the 18^th November 2021

Tim George, Alan Schulman and Marie-Theres Hauser

EPSO Plant Science Seminar Series Organising Committee

Click here to read: Full EPSO news item

Contacts:

• Tim George, Hutton / UK & EPSO Board
• Alan Schulman, LUKE / FI & EPSO President
• Marie-Theres Hauser, BoKu / AT & EPSO Representative

EPSO welcomes the initiative taken by the European Commission to adjust the regulation on NGT and promote NGT for plant breeding in the European Union (EU). Taking into account recent and ongoing research activities, EPSO would like to provide the following feedback to the Inception Impact Assessment (IIA):

• Criteria for sustainability should refer to all techniques and approaches, and not only NGTs.
• Risk assessment for NGT products should be proportionate
• Labelling and requirements for detection methods should not be barriers in the approval process.

Read details in the full EPSO statement – the EPSO submission to the DG SANTE public consultation to the Roadmap (Inception Impact Assessment, IIA) regarding the legislation for plants produced by certain new genomic techniques (NGTs).

EPSO statement EC roadmap (IIA) on new genomic techniques, 25.10.2021

EPSO Annex 1 to the NGT roadmap statement, 25.10.2021

EC: Roadmap (inception impact assessment) on new genomic techniques, 24.9.2021

Contacts:

• Jens Sundström, Ralf Wilhelm & Frank Hartung, EPSO Chairs WG Agricultural Technologies
• Alan Schulman & Karin Metzlaff (EPSO President, Executive Director)