Climate change is one of the most serious threats humanity has ever faced.

Developing crops that are more resilient to rapidly changing and harsher environments will be crucial for tomorrow’s food production. Green biotechnology offers solutions to maintain high food productivity while preserving the earth’s valuable ecosystems. In addition, plants may also play an important role in mitigating the rising levels of greenhouse gases.

This VIB conference ‘Plant Science for Climate Emergency’ aims at reviewing current research on adapting plants to climate change as well as on using plants for mitigating the accumulation of greenhouse gasses.

Twenty leaders in plant biotechnology will present the latest developments in sessions focused on drought tolerance, tolerance to high temperatures, salt and flooding tolerance, the effects of climate change on defense systems against insects and pathogens, carbon capturing plants, crop engineering and improvement, nitrogen use efficiency, and much more.

Besides an inspiring scientific program, conference participants will have ample networking opportunities during the poster sessions, the reception, and the conference dinner.

Deadlines:
• Grant submission deadline: 15/03/2021
• Abstract submission deadline: 29/03/2021
• Early Bird deadline: 26/04/2021
• Late registration deadline: 24/05/2021

Speakers:
• Tom Beeckman - VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, BE
• Wout Boerjan - VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, BE
• Hidde Boersma - freelance science journalist, essayist and documentary film maker, NL
• Wolfgang Busch - Salk Institute for Biological Studies, US
• Jorge Casal - Leloir Institute Foundation, AR
• Ana Caño Delgado - Centre For Research In Agricultural Genomics, ES
• Laura Dixon - University of Leeds, UK
• Tobias Erb - Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, DE
• Matthew Gilliham - The University of Adelaide, AU
• Cara Haney - The University of British Columbia, CA
• Sheng-Yang He - Michigan State University, USA
• Gabriel Krouk - French National Centre for Scientific Research, FR
• Mark Lynas - British author, journalist & environmental activist with a focus on climate change
• Wenbo Ma - University of California Riverside, USA
• Donald Richard Ort - University of Illinois, USA
• Pierdomenico Perata - Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies Pisa, IT
• Rashmi Sasidharan - Utrecht University, NL
• Motokai Seki - RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, JP
• Mechthild Tegeder - Washington State University, USA
• Christa Testerink - Wageningen University, NL

Information for poster submissions:
The format for your poster should be: A0 (841 x 1189 mm / 33.1 x 46.8 in), portrait orientation. The best three abstracts were given a short talk slot in the plenary program.

Travel grants:
We offer 5 travel grants to international attendees, which will reimburse travel costs up to 400 Euros. Are you interested in attending PlantResearch21 and want to have a chance on a travel grant? Submit your motivation below by clicking on the 'Apply for a grant' button before 15 March 2021. The organizing committee will notify you of your travel grant acceptance by the end of March.
No registration is needed before submitting a travel grant proposal. When you’re awarded with a travel grant you will receive a practical email containing the next steps. Note that being awarded a travel grant does not mean being registered for the conference. Scroll down to apply for your grant.