9 Sep 2014
With the aid of the David Miller Travel Award I was able to attend and present my PhD findings at the International Symposium on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI) in Rhodes, Greece. This conference attracts a huge number of delegates from all over the world, from those working in the field of pathogen-infecting vegetables to cereals and ornamental species. As a PhD student in my final year, the opportunity to place my work in the wider context of plant-pathogen interactions was an incredibly valuable experience.
I and other MPMI travel awardees participated in the dissemination of research from the congress to social media. Reports were produced from all plenary and concurrent sessions that are still available on the IS-MPMI website (www.ismpmi.org/Congress/TravelAwards). In addition, over 2000 tweets (#MPMI2014) were published on major findings presented throughout the conference. This facilitated effective communication with my peers and the relevant experts in the field.
Presenting my work at this conference was an exceptional training experience and directly resulted in numerous subsequent discussions about my research. In addition, the breath and quality of the research present has helped to foster new ideas/directions in my own research and potential collaborations for future career opportunities. The ideas and knowledge acquired, made possible by the David Miller Travel Award, have been directly translated into current grant applications.
A copy of my presentation, which I presented at the David Miller Awards 2014 on 19 September, can be downloaded by clicking the link below.
Sebastian Eves-van den Akker,
David Miller Travel Award Recipient
Visit Blog