The first ACGG "Q-Retreat" was held in Germany from July 29 to August 2, 2024, with a full programme of wor´kshops, lectures, excursions/tours and social ractivities spanning an entire week across multiple locations. A total of 70 participants took part, including 35 students from UQ, JLU, HGU and JKI along with many project leads and associated postdocs from the German and Australian institutions. The Q-Retreat provided a great first opportunity for most of the IRTG 2843 participants to meet the colleagues and students from Germany and Australia in person and catch up on the latest updates from the ACGG research programme.
In a week packed full of information, excursions and events, the highlights included:
An excellent "3-Minute Thesis" competition involving all 35 participating PhD students. Congratulations to our 3MT audience-choice group winners Caitlin Dudley, Lennart Roscher-Ehrig and Noemia Morales Díaz, and to Noemia for also winning the overall jury prize!
A guided tour of the UNESCO cultural heritage town of Quedlinburg, venue for the first two days of this year's Q-Retreat.
Informative lectures and facility tours at IPK Gatersleben.
Insights into ongoing research at the Julius Kühn Institute for Resistance Research and Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Quedlinburg.
A guest lecture by Dr. Petra Jorasch, Euroseeds, on the European regulatory framework for new breeding technologies.
Insights into career paths in plant breeding and crop science from Petra Jorasch and our SAB members Jacqui Batley (University of Western Australia, Perth), Greg Rebetzke (CSIRO, Canberra), Susanne Dreisigacker (CIMMYT, Mexico) and Amine Abbadi (NPZ Innovation, Germany).
A visit to Germany's largest breeding company KWS Seeds, Einbeck, with focus on sugar beet breeding.
A participatory grant-writing workshop for PhD students and postdocs.
A field visit to JLU sorghum breeding nursery in Gross Gerau.
Insight into grapevne breeding and it's products at Hochschule Geisenheim University.
After an intense but highly successful week, we're already looking forward to the next ACGG "Q-Retreat", scheduled for September 29 – October 3 at UQ and on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
Comments