Student Travel Award: International Phytophthora Conference
Our student member and international travel award recipient, Shannon Hunter recently attended the 8th Meeting of IUFRO Working Party 7.02.09: Phytophthora in Forests and Natural Ecosystems, held in Vietnam.
Shannon reports back on her exciting experience:
I have just completed participating in my first international conference, held in Vietnam from the 19th – 24th March 2017. The conference was the 8th Meeting of the IUFRO Working Party 7.02.09: Phytophthora in Forests and Natural Ecosystems. The conference was very successful and included a two day field trip to Paper Mill plantations and four days of presentations and poster presentations. I was honoured to present my Masters research in a 15 minute presentation. I received great feedback about my project and generated possibilities for international collaboration with American and Australian researchers later this year as part of my Masters project.
The conference was specific to my field of study of plant pathology and was a unique opportunity to network with researchers studying all aspects of diseases caused by Phytophthora species including management, chemical control and host resistance. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the New Zealand Society of Plant Biologists (NZSPB) for their generous support with an international travel grant which made it possible for me to attend the conference in Vietnam.