ACGG kickoff meetings, July 2023

To officially start up ACGG at JLU, six colleagues from UQ were joined in Giessen by our partners from Julius Kühn Institute and Hochschule Geisenheim University in July for a week of meetings with the JLU project leaders, the first cohort of ACCG students and all associated students from JLU. Highlights included a great PI lecture from Lee Hickey on fast-track breeding using AI-guided haplotype stacking, along with our official ACGG kickoff dinner at Heligenstedt Restaurant hosted by JLU President Mukherjee and the JLU International Office. – a great chance for the new ACGG students to meet some of our UQ project partners. On this occasion UQ lead Ian Godwin was awarded an Honorary Professorship for his contributions to research and student mentoring at JLU. Also attending were JKI President Frank Ordon, QAFFI Director Matthew Morrell and Henriette Pook from Trade and Investment Queensland. After many excellent scientific meetings during the week, the visit concluded with a visit to our Rauischholzhausen field station and attendance at JLU's annual reception for international scientists at Rauischolzhausen Castle.