We’d like to help make sure that every participant is included in our conference activities. We understand that many will be first-time conference attendees, early-career researchers, and/or members of underrepresented/minoritized groups. So, many people will find it challenging to navigate our conference and we’re planning a few events to make this a little easier.
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Day 1 (Sunday, July 7)
Meet a mentor / First-time participant lunch.
We all need multiple mentors to succeed in science. Senior members of the community will spread out across the tables at lunch and will be available to meet first-time attendees and junior members of the community. This will provide senior and junior members of the community with the opportunity to get to know each other a bit and make plans to follow up during at future coffee breaks and poster sessions. We encourage conversations about how to develop a career in reproductive plant science and how to take advantage of the conference. Everyone can sign up here
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Day 2 (Monday, July 8)
Bayer Career Exploration Lunch
Huachun Larue and Jonathan Lamb of Bayer Crop Sciences will be available to speak with students and postdocs about career opportunities at Bayer Crop sciences and how to prepare for a career in industry. We are grateful for Bayer’s sponsorship and to Huachun and Jonathan for taking time to mentor participants. Students and Postdocs can sign up here
Predominantly Undergraduate Institution Lunch
Anna Edlund will host a lunch for people at predominantly undergraduate institutions and for those interested in developing their careers at institutions that focus on undergraduate education. This will be a great networking opportunity fostering connections and collaborations and building this vital part of our community. Everyone can sign up here
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Day 3 (Tuesday, July 9)
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Lunch
The purpose of this lunch will be to encourage discussions about how we can build a conference culture that increases and embraces the diversity of our participants. For example, our conference is meant to be global, but scientists working in Africa are not represented and there are many other parts of the world that are underrepresented. The place where we do our science is but one of many important dimensions of our identities we need to consider as we change conference culture to make it more inclusive. Our goal is to discuss how diversity and inclusion impacts the goals of the conference and come away with suggestions to improve future conferences. Everyone can sign up here