Welcome to the Plant Health Student Network's first newsletter!

Welcome

Hello PHSN member and welcome to our new newsletter system!

You’re receiving this email as you have previously expressed your interest in the PHSN and we are transitioning over to a new system for sharing career opportunities and upcoming events that might interest you!

— Alyssa, Michael, Rabia and Zali (2024-25 PHSN Coordinators)

Upcoming PHSN meeting - 12 March 6pm AEST/ 8am GMT

Join the Plant Health Student Network at our first meeting of 2025!

Connect with fellow members and listen to a Plant Health researcher share their insights of working in this space!

  • Date: Wednesday 12 March 2025

  • Time: 6 pm (AEDT) or 8 am (GMT)

This event is FREE, but please register in advance to attend this meeting: https://uqz.zoom.us/meeting/register/3O7s-i1RTKK01Go4lbbnPA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting and be able to add the event to your calendar.

Website launch!

We’ve been busy working in the background to bring together a PHSN webpage to make our network more accessible and to have a central place to share information with you.

You can check it out here: planthealthstudentnetwork.com 

Closing soon! Plant Health TV contest

Following the declaration by the United Nations General Assembly of the International Day of Plant Health (IDPH), every 12th of May, the plant health community celebrates the importance of plant health by organising events to raise awareness and to mobilize international communities.

In order to promote national and international research and development activities carried out by plant health scientists and their organizations, the EUPHRESCO III network, the IPPC Secretariat, the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies of Bari (CIHEAM Bari), the Plant Biosecurity Research Initiative (PBRI) and CABI are pleased to launch the fourth edition of the video contest ‘Plant Health TV - Promoting the importance of plant health research’.

Guidelines on how to participate in the video contest and relevant documents are available from here.

If you are interested in creating a video expressions of interest close 17 February 2025 (12:00 am GMT)

Expression of Interest submitted to the Secretariat.

PhD opportunities available now at the ARC Training Centre for Plant Biosecurity.

The ARC Training Centre for Plant Biosecurity is seeking outstanding PhD applicants to innovate novel approaches to prevent, respond to, and recover from plant pests and diseases that threaten the economy and environment.

There are currently 8 scholarships available for specific projects, you can read more details and submit your expression of interest here: https://plantbiosecuritycentre.edu.au/phd-opportunities/ 

Presentation opportunity for students of plant mycology, bacteriology and invertebrate plant pests

The National Plant Biosecurity Diagnostic Network (NPBDN) is seeking expressions of interest for student presentations for the virtual Annual Diagnostics Workshop webinar series, held from February to April 2025.

They are looking for PhD and post graduate students to present on the following topics:

  • Plant mycology

  • Plant bacteriology

  • Invertebrate plant pests

This is an excellent opportunity for students researching plant mycology, bacteriology, and invertebrate plant pests to present their research to a national audience of experts in plant diagnostics and biosecurity.

There are lots of exciting plant health-related events coming up in 2025. These events are a great opportunity for you to meet other researchers with similar interests and gain knowledge from other areas of plant health research. Listed below are some of the key events you won't want to miss:

Save the date:

  1. International Advances in Plant Virology 2025 - 8-11 April 2025 in Murcia, Spain.

  2. 25th Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference - 26-28 May 2025 in Sydney, Australia - student bursary information coming soon.

  3. 17th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference - 4-6 June 2025 in Perth, Australia.

  4. Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union - 6-10 July 2025 in Bari, Italy.

  5. Plant Health 2025 by The American Phytopathological Society - 2-5 August 2025 in Honolulu, Hawaii.