The Plant Environmental Physiology Group (PEPG)’s Field Techniques Workshop will be taking place from Sunday 7th September to Friday 12 h September 2025 in Naturasolta - Quinta de São Pedro, Portugal, just 15 minutes from Lisbon. This event will invite 100 plant biologists to come together for a series of practical workshops, alongside presenting their work in the form of a poster (with selected abstracts being given the opportunity to present a flash-talk alongside their poster).
The organisers would like to encourage students, early career researchers (PhD and Postdoctoral) and well practiced biologists in the field of environmental physiology and experimental botany to attend. Attendees will also include 14 established scientists as well as representatives from 10 scientific manufacturers.
Arrival and Departure
Check-in will be open from 15:00 on Sunday 7th September, and check out is by 12:00 Saturday 13th September.
Event Description
The workshop will provide scientific lectures and hands-on training sessions for early career scientists directly from global leaders in plant physiology and company representatives providing cutting-edge plant physiology equipment. The unique format of the event ensures a broad coverage of topics - ranging from modeling photosynthesis, measuring ecosystem flux, chlorophyll fluorescence, leaf gas exchange, plant-soil interactions, and plant-water relations. The breadth of this training provides an unparalleled opportunity for scientists to develop a working understanding of skills beyond those offered by their home departments or core training environments. This event has successfully taken place in its current form in 2012, 2014, 2016 , 2018 and 2023 attracting early career scientists from all over the world, and been oversubscribed every time.
The workshops provide an unrivaled opportunity for industrial manufacturers to introduce equipment and provide training in the latest developments, and the combination of formal lectures (providing the theory underpinning measurements and recent technical advances) and fieldwork sessions, has provided an invaluable introduction to many early-stage researchers, who are now established in their fields.
The current workshop model is a 5-day event, with hands-on practical sessions every morning, featuring both an academic researcher and manufacturer representative. Each afternoon features lectures to offer a deep perspective on the theory underpinning the practical sessions that the participants are receiving.
A key feature of our programme is networking opportunities, with evenings dedicated to both on-site unstructured free time, a planned off-site social outing (to the seaside or city centre) and a social off-site dinner for all participants.
There are also 2 poster sessions for attendees to present their work to each other and to the senior scientists, with poster prize awarded on the last day.
Aims of the Event
- Advance and promote the science and practice of plant environmental physiology
- Support, and train early career and developing plant environmental physiologists
- Broaden participation in the field of plant environmental physiology by providing a premiere training opportunity with reduced participant costs to lower the barrier for entry to the field.
- Advance and promote the role of SEB in building a research career. -
Organisers
Dr. Amanda Cavanagh
Dr Lorna McAusland
