IAPPS NEWSLETTER

Number IX      September, 2007

SNEAK PREVIEW: IPPC 2011

While preparations for the IPPC 2007 in Glasgow are getting febrile, the Executive Committee of the IAPPS Governing Board has already chosen the venue for the next meeting. IAPPS has signed an agreement with the American Phytopathological Society (APS) to hold the 2011 meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. Details regarding our agreement are described below. Dr. Bill Tweedy, IAPPS Governing Board Treasurer, has been elected Chair for the 2011 IPPC and will soon begin planning and also looking for help from IAPPS members.

APS and IAPPS are considering a joint meeting for August 6 - 10, 2011. The APS Council has approved Honolulu, Hawaii as the site for the 2011 APS Annual Meeting. IAPPS estimates that approximately 600 of their members will attend this meeting. This number does not include attendees who may be members of both Societies. With regard to promoting the joint meeting, here some of the proposed action points:

Dr. E. A. "Short" Heinrichs
IAPPS Secretary General
E-mail: eheinric@vt.edu

IAPPS REGIONAL MEETING: REGION I, EUROPE

The meeting took place on May 9, 2007, at the Humboldt University in Berlin. 35 Scientist from 20 nations participated. Scientists from Russia, Rumania, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Kirgizia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Belarus, Czech Republic, China, Greece, Slovakia, Ghana, Poland, United Kingdom and Germany were present.

The organizer of the meeting, Dr Gündermann, IAPPS Coordinator for Europe and Vice-president of the Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (BBA) presented the program and the aims of IAPPS, including the IPPC that take place every 4 years. As part of the networking activities of IAPPS, a symposium 'Best Practices in Disease, Pest and Weed Management', was jointly organized by the German Phytomedical Society (DPG) and British Crop Protection Council (BCPC), from 10 to 12 May 2007 and attended by the same participants. Both events were used as an opportunity to recruit participants for the IPPC in Glasgow.

Dr Falko Feldmann, Managing Director of DPG, gave a presentation on international networks from the view of the DPG. Non-governmental organizations (NGO) actively contribute to the performance of phytomedical interventions along the whole chain of agricultural production. NGO canalize and bundle consumer demands and focus on social, ecological and economic aspects. For instance, in the Risk Reduction Program of the German Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, more than 40 NGOs are partners in discussions reflecting a broad societal basis of interest in plant protection and phytomedical topics. In contrast to the majority of politically-motivated non-governmental interest groups, scientific associations play an important role as independent fora for emotion-free and knowledge-based standard settings and experience exchange on the whole area of phytomedicine including plant protection, consumer protection and production quality. On that background Dr Feldmann appealed the delegates of the concurring scientific symposium not to act as individuals only, but also to strengthen scientific organizations in their own country as basis for international co-operation. He concluded by expressing his appreciation for meetings like this one, which he considers a platform for international networks between national scientific NGO.

Dr Hommel, scientist at the Institute for Integrated Plant Protection of BBA, presented the Network of Excellence (NoE) projects, financed by the European Union, which just took off this year. NoEs are designed to strengthen Europe's excellence on a particular research topic by integrating the critical mass of expertise through a joint program of activities (JPA) which is aimed primarily at creating a durable integration of the research capacities of the network partners. Each NoE also has a mission to disseminate excellence where training is an essential component. JPAs have four main intervention areas: integration, joint research, dissemination of excellence and management. Integration activities are focusing on coordinated programming of partners' activities, sharing of research platforms, tools, facilities or infrastructure, joint management of the knowledge portfolio, staff exchanges, possibly relocation of staff and equipment and reinforced electronic communications. Activities to disseminate excellence include training programs for researchers and other key staff, and communication. NoEs shall be evaluated through special indicators, and are to be continued in the 7th Research Framework Program of the European Union (EU-FP7).

Dr Ralf Wilhelm, scientist at the Institute for Plant Virology, Microbiology and Biosafety of the BBA, presented EU-FP7and its links to international cooperation. Although addressing primarily institutions and scientists from the EU and associated countries, EU-FP7 also involves institutions from third countries, i.e. international cooperation partner countries can also receive funding according to the specific terms of the calls. Detailed information and a partnering database are available by the CORDIS web site http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html.
In order to be able to join a research network in FP7, each partner needs to fit into the scientific and formal objectives of the call. The selection of projects is highly competitive, so administrative capabilities and independent financial resources may play an important role for a successful application. Because the preparation of project proposals is time consuming, it is highly recommended to get in contact with potential stakeholders as early as possible. During the discussion it became clear that many scientists were not aware of the importance of early networking. Participants were encouraged to become more active in the scientific community and organizations, and to assist in establishing international networks.

Overall, the meeting and the ensuing discussions chaired by Dr Gündermann were judged as very fruitful by many participants, who also declared this event was a successful one that should be repeated on regular basis.
Participants and organizers expressed their gratitude to IAPPS for the financial support to the meeting.

Dr. Gerhard Gündermann
IAPPS Coordinator Region I: Europe
E-mail: g.guendermann@bba.de

SPANISH VERSION OF IAPPS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

As announced earlier, the Spanish version of the Newsletter is now being posted both on this website and on the UNL Dept. of Entomology website http://entomology.unl.edu/IAPPS where you also find the Archives of Dr. E.A. 'Short' Heinrichs' Monthly Newsletter. This has been possible thanks to the personal initiative of our IAPPS Governing Board member and Coordinator for Region VIII (Latin America/Caribbean), Dr. Segenet Kelemu, and to the translation services of her administrative assistant, Ms. Melissa Garcia

Thanks again, Segenet and Melissa !

Dr. Manuele Tamò
Editor, IAPPS Newsletter
E-mail : m.tamo@cgiar.org

ARAB SOCIETY FOR PLANT PROTECTION NEW WEBSITE

The Arab Society for Plant Protection (ASPP) is a non-profit professional and scholarly organization of scientists from both public and private academic institutions, as well as industry representing a great variety of scientists who are involved in the field of plant protection in the Arab World and abroad. The society promotes research, education, and extension activities related to pests, provides science-based information to the public and private sectors and fosters awareness of pests and their impacts on arable and natural ecosystems. The ASPP is affiliated to the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS), International Society for Plant Pathology (ISPP) and the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union (MPU).The ASPP website (http://www.asplantprotection.org) has been completely redesigned, and it is accessible both in English and Arabic. Please go through the new look of the ASPP website, and send your comments/suggestions/changes to the ASPP webmaster (aspp_webmaster@yahoo.com).

Dr. Safaa Kumari
Plant Virologist
ICARDA, Aleppo, SYRIA
E-mail : s.kumari@cgiar.org

The IAPPS Newsletter is published by the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences and distributed in Crop Protection to members and other subscribers. Crop Protection, published by Elsevier, is the Official Journal of IAPPS.

IAPPS Mission: to provide a global forum for the purpose of identifying, evaluating, integrating, and promoting plant protection concepts, technologies, and policies that are economically, environmentally, and socially acceptable.

It seeks to provide a global umbrella for the plant protection sciences to facilitate and promote the application of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to a the world's crop and forest ecosystems.

Membership Information: IAPPS has four classes of membership (individual, affiliate, associate, and corporate) which are described here.

The IAPPS Newsletter welcomes news, letters, and other items of interest from individuals and organizations. Address correspondence and information to:

Dr. Manuele Tamo, Editor
IAPPS Newsletter
Biological Control Center for Africa, IITA-Benin
08 B.P. 0932 Tri Postal, Cotonou, Republic of Benin
E-mail: m.tamo@cgiar.org