Future prospects for chemical insecticides

A symposium for Michael Elliott

Thursday 21st January

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How will energy crops affect our landscapes?

Results from RELU Biomass

Tuesday 10th March

Meeting (by invite only, contact Andrew Riche (andrew.riche@bbsrc.ac.uk) 01582 763133
extn 2476) to be held at Rothamsted Manor, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Tuesday 10th
March 2009.

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Royal Entomological Society: Darwin-Wallace Celebratory Meeting

Insect evolution below the species level: ecological specialisation and the origin of species

Wednesday 22nd April

This is of course a very important anniversary year for biologists and indeed mankind generally - the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth in Shrewsbury, England in 1809 (d. 1882) and the 150th anniversary since the publication of Darwin's epoch- making book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, one of the most important books of all time. One year before, the short papers by Darwin and the independent co-discover of the theory of evolution by natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), were read at the Linnean Society of London. Later, in 1889, Wallace wrote a book Darwinism, expanding on the theory of evolution with further supporting examples.

Hence 2009 marks the 120th anniversary of this book too. Darwin and Wallace were both keen entomologists and were Vice-President and President, respectively, of the Entomological Society (as it was then called, the Society only gaining the 'Royal' prefix in the centenary year of its foundation in 1933). The Royal Entomological Society is pleased to organise this meeting on insect evolution below the species level, to be held at Rothamsted on 22nd April, 2009, the agricultural research station having been home - as it still is - to some of the world's leading entomologists.

This will be a one day symposium meeting.

Convenors:
Dr Hugh Loxdale (hugh.loxdale@uni-jena.de)
Professor Mike Claridge (claridge@cardiff.ac.uk)
Professor Jim Mallet (j.mallet@ucl.ac.uk)

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Soil Organic Matters

A scientific meeting covering key areas of soil science

Tuesday 23rd - Thursday 25th June

The meeting has two main aims:

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Africa’s Engine for Growth

Plant science & biotechnology hold the key

Monday 12th - Wednesday 14th October

This international meeting is designed to bring together approximately 75 motivated/innovative Africa scientists with another 75 leading researchers and their teams from other countries working on basic science and areas related to the improvement of African agriculture. This international arena will allow dynamic interactions to discuss cutting edge research issues and promote science, education and policy issues related to Africa. This meeting is designed to address key issues by examining existing plant science knowledge, possible applications and development of new technologies, together with their use for improving crop performance in Africa. The need to enhance education in novel areas of plant research and biotechnology that might provide suitable solutions for Africa will also be addressed.

Journalists are welcome to attend free of charge.

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ANAEE Final Open Meeting

Frontiers of terrestrial ecosystem research: Designing the next generation of experiments to understand and manage ecosystem responses to climate and socio-economic change

Tuesday 24th - Wednesday 25th November

Location: Sandy Park Conference Centre, Exeter, Devon

There is renewed interest in the development of integrated infrastructures for terrestrial ecosystem research at the European scale. This is driven partly by the increasingly important science and policy agendas of land use and climate change, and partly by the availability of new technologies that are both essential to drive forward the science, but are too expensive to be developed in an uncoordinated way.

The ANalysis and Experimentation on Ecosystems (ANAEE) project is a design study, funded by Framework 7 to look how such infrastructures should be developed. ANAEE has focussed on four kinds of research platforms that will enable the experimental study of ecosystem responses to change, though they would all be linked: long-term, field scale experiments; controlled-environmental ecotrons; analytical facilities and data management and modelling infrastructure.

This final meeting of the ANAEE project seeks to look at both the science issues involved in experimental ecosystem research and the infrastructure required to enable such research, setting the scene for a major leap forward in Europe’s research capability.

Objectives of Meeting

» To bring together new thinking in experimental terrestrial ecosystem research, that enables a more integrative, quantitative approach to the ecosystem change and its management under changing climatic and socio-economic conditions
» Present findings of ANAEE working groups
» Discuss the requirement for European research infrastructure in enabling next generation research

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RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Willow Power

Tuesday 20th - Saturday 24th May

The exhibit will showcase the broad spectrum of willows within the Collection and explain the DNA marker assisted breeding methods employed to select superior biomass willows. It will also explain the short rotation coppice cycle used for biomass willows, incorporating growth (and re-growth), harvest and combustion.

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Cereals 2008

Rothamsted Showcase 2008

Wednesday 11th - Thursday 12th June

This year the demonstration plot will feature the latest research from Rothamsted covering: barley, rape and wheat diseases and fungicide resistance management; the Wheat Genetic Improvement Network (WGIN); manipulating hormone status for improving cereal yield and quality; fertiliser input management and the new RB209; measuring and improving soil physical properties; and a selection of other work on topics including cereal cyst nematodes, selenium, biofuels, and pollen beetles.

Cereals 2008 will take place at Heath Farm, Leadenham, Lincolnshire.

Insects and Sustainable Agriculture

Royal Entomological Society. Special Interest Group Meeting

Wednesday 4th April

The need to make agriculture more sustainable is increasingly being recognised, in addition to the fact that agriculture has many different functions in addition to food production. Entomologists know that insects are an important part of farmland biodiversity and provide many essential environmental services. Progress towards sustainability can be achieved through systems of management that minimise negative side-effects whilst maximising positive side-effects. Understanding and balancing the potential benefits and risks of existing and new agricultural technologies play an important part in this context. The SIG will aim to increase exchange of information on entomology-related aspects of these complex issues and to raise the profile of insects as an important component of farmland biodiversity. Subjects to be covered include e.g. potential effects of novel crops (e.g. GM crops and energy crops) and the impacts of environmental stewardship schemes on insects. Posters are invited for the next meeting .

Resistance 2007

Monday 16th - Wednesday 18th April

This major international conference, the fifth in an ongoing series, will review the latest research on the origins, nature, development and prevention of resistance to fungicides, herbicides and insecticides. It will provide a forum for researchers, consultants, regulators and industrialists to present and discuss approaches to overcoming this increasingly important constraint to effective crop protection.

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Applied Statistics in Animal and Plant Sciences

Joint meeting of Rothamsted Research and The Biometric Society British Region

Thursday 19th January

To mark the retirement of Robin Thompson from official duties at Rothamsted.

Cryo-Techniques for Electron Microscopy

Monday 3rd - Friday 7th April

This is an intensive four day course covering applications in biological sciences. It will be of interest to those with a research or technical background in life science or cell biology, from academia and industry, who wish to learn new skills or update their knowledge. The Centre for Bio-imaging in partnership with Gatan UK and Jeol UK is a state-of-the- art facility for cryo electron microscopy. It is equipped with both scanning and transmission electron microscopes.

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Long-term Studies in Ecology

A celebration of 150 years of the Park Grass experiment

Monday 22nd - Wednesday 24th May

2006 sees the 150th anniversary of the world-famous Park Grass experiment based at Rothamsted Research in the UK. It is the longest standing ecological experiment of its kind, and continues to exemplify the value of long-term studies to investigate effects of biotic and abiotic factors on population dynamics, above- and below-ground community composition and microevolutionary change. To commemorate this milestone, Rothamsted is to host an international symposium exploring the role and applications of long-term ecological research, and the exploitation of resulting datasets. The symposium will highlight experiments already underway but will also review opportunities for establishing new experiments as an investment for future generations of ecologists and society as a whole.

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Integrative Bioinformatics Workshop

Monday 4th - Wednesday 6th September

This, third workshop on Integrative Bioinformatics will be of interest to Bioinformaticians, Computer Scientists and others working in, or interested in finding out more about, the developing area of integrative bioinformatics. There will be opportunities to present and discuss methods, theoretical approaches or their practical applications.

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MASAMB-2005

Mathematical and Statistical Aspects of Molecular Biology. 15th Annual meeting

Monday 21st - Tuesday 22nd March

Bioinformatics and statistical genetics, twin themes of the long-running series of annual MASAMB meetings, have gained huge impetus from large-scale genome sequencing projects and development of high-throughput biological assay systems, including gene-expression microarrays. These immense data resources, and the underlying complexities of molecular and cell biology, provide exciting research opportunitities for numerate scientists.

With typically around 60-80 participants from mathematics, statistics, computer science, bioinformatics, biology and related fields, the MASAMB meetings provide an intimate setting for exchange of ideas in methodological and applied research. Research students and scientists newly entering the field of genomic research are particularly welcome.

The meeting will contain approximately 12 half-hour talks selected from participants' submissions, plus a poster session.

A Course in Cryo-techniques for Electron Microscopy

Monday 11th - Friday 15th April

The course will cover applications in plant sciences, microbiology and virology and will be of interest to those with a research or technical background in cell biology or life science, from both academia and industry. Techniques covered will include rapid cooling, freeze substitution, cryo-sectioning, thin film TEM and cryo-transfer and freeze fracture cryo-SEM. The Centre for Bioimaging is equipped with state-of-the-art scanning and transmission electron microscopes.

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Pesticides and the food chain

Overcoming producer, processor and retailer challenges with technology

Tuesday 10th May

The UK food chain is big business - retail and catering sales are almost £100 billion. Quantity, safety and quality are paramount issues to all involved - from input suppliers to consumers. And, like it or not, pesticides remain a vital part of the food production tool kit. From start to finish, science supports the food chain - developing new ways to control pests, preserve quality, ensure safety, and so on.

This seminar brings together the science, regulation and practice of pest control in the food chain. It addresses issues of today and opportunities for the future.

The seminar is intended for technical managers from retailers, processors and suppliers. With leading speakers from the UK and the United States, it will be an afternoon well spent, with an opportunity to discuss the issues.

Rothamsted Research Association Science Day

Incorporating sow2succeed and the First Report of the Sustainable Farming and Food Research Priorities Group

Tuesday 7th June

The BA Festival of Science

Africa's Rainbow Revolution

Thursday 8th September

Kofi Annan has called for "a uniquely African Green revolution" to end the continent's hunger. Asia's "green revolution" tripled food production, but can't be transplanted directly to Africa , where a wide diversity of crops is grown under many different farming systems. A broad range of challenges need to be addressed-more like a rainbow revolution than a green one-can science help?

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The 6th Rothamsted International BioMarket

BioProducts for Food

Monday 7th - Wednesday 9th November

Now in its sixth year, the BioMarket is a commercial networking event that attracts senior decision makers from industry and academia who are involved in the technology transfer and commercialisation of BioProducts from plant and microbial biotechnology. The event combines a traditional conference format with a full delegate partnering service and is structured to maximise opportunities for delegates to make contact with each other.

Manage your soils and grow your business

Tuesday 15th - Wednesday 16th November

A forward looking "strategic lecture- and discussion-led workshop exploring the impacts of global markets, climate change and current farming practices on the functionality and biodiversity of soils, and air and water quality in arable, livestock and horticultural farming systems.

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BBSRC Microarray Workshop

Methods of analysis and interpretation of microarrray data

Monday 20th - Tuesday 21st September

Microarrays have become the standard technique for high-throughput determination of gene expression, but there is still great diversity in the approaches taken in experimental design and analysis. There is a need to identify best practice and standardise. There are also increasing efforts to link gene expression data to genetics, proteomics and metabolomics. These topics are addressed in this workshop by recognised experts in their field.

In recognition of the growing importance of microarray technologies in their currently funded research, BBSRC has kindly sponsored this event which will take place in the Fowden Conference Centre, Rothamsted Research.

60 Years of UK Transmission Electron Microscopy

Wednesday 29th September

In 1944 Rothamsted Research received one of the first transmission electron microscopes in the UK. To celebrate this event, there will be a one day meeting at Rothamsted examining the contributions electron microscopy has made to the materials and life sciences, and what it may allow us to achieve in the future.

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BioProducts 4 Food

The Fifth Rothamsted International BioMarket - BioProducts from Plants & Microbes

Tuesday 9th - Thursday 11th November

The premier international networking event for all those - from research bench to the marketplace - involved in commercialising added-value bioproducts from plants and microbes. Includes conference programme, European research discoveries showcase, delegate presentations, technology transfer posters, and pre-booked one-to-one delegate partnering meetings.

Second Annual WGIN Stakeholder Meeting

Monday 29th November

A one day meeting to report on the finding of the first year of the Defra WGIN (Wheat Genetic Improvement Network) Project, and to discuss planned activities for Year 2. Attendees are invited from all interested groups including research, farming and end-user groups.

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