“Fundamental Biology of Legume Crops” Workshop

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 31 JULY 2025

The John Innes Centre is organising a workshop on the Fundamental Biology of Legume Crops. The aim is to gather speakers in the early stage of their career (postdocs and junior group leaders) who already have experience with legume species as an experimental system. We will discuss the latest research in genomics, metabolomics, biotic interactions (symbiosis and pathology) and plant development.

The demand for pulses as protein crops has seen a steep upwards trend, but there is relatively little fundamental research on legume crops, especially in the UK. High quality genome sequences have recently become available for pea, faba bean and other legumes, and pan-genomes are being generated. These and other resources will greatly facilitate the identification of genes underlying biological processes and specific traits, enhancing our knowledge of this unique family of plants and accelerating crop improvement.

We would like to bring together early career researchers working on legume crops for an engaging seminar programme on the first day and hold two discussion workshops on the second day. There will be ample opportunity for knowledge exchange and networking.

Funding is available to cover travel and one night accommodation costs for all speakers.

Apply here: https://jic.link/FBLCW2025-apply

As part of your submission, you will be asked to submit an abstract of your talk (up to 300 words) and a short CV including your publications (not more than 2 pages).

 

Outline programme:

Monday 3 November

12:00    Arrivals and registration

12:30    Lunch and networking

13:30    Keynote speaker TBC

14:15 – 15:15   Two selected talks (25 minutes + 5 minutes for discussion)

15:15    Tea break

15:45 – 17:45   Four selected talks

Drinks reception and networking

Dinner with speakers and JIC/EI crop scientists

 

Tuesday 4 November

9:00      Visit the Germplasm Resources National Capability hosting the UK Cereal and Legume public collections

10:00    Workshop 1: Latest tools and best practice for legume genomics

11:00    Coffee

11:30    Workshop 2:  How to pitch funding applications for legume research

12:30    Lunch

13:30    Further networking