This year’s Plants @ Cambridge Botanicon took place at St John's College on Friday 4 July. The event was organised by, and brought together, early-career researchers from across the plant biology network in Cambridge.
The event involved a range of activities, including short talks, poster sessions and hot techniques workshops, allowing early-career researchers the opportunity to present their research and discuss ideas with colleagues from across the Plants @ Cambridge network.
There were also two panel discussions which were particularly popular. They provided invaluable advice for attendees, and the chance to explore the diversity of career opportunities available to them. These panels included representatives from academia, industry, policy, education, communications, and government.
Dr Jeongmin Choi and Dr Lida Derevina, co-organisers of this year’s event, said “This year's Botanicon successfully achieved two key goals: strengthening connections across the Cambridge plant science community and celebrating the contributions of early-career researchers (ECRs).
“To further support ECRs, we also launched a new pump-priming award to support new collaborations and independent research, which was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Department of Plant Sciences, Niab, and the Sainsbury Laboratory at Cambridge. We look forward to seeing the impact of this funding on the career development of our ECR community.
“A huge thank you to our fantastic organising committee – whose talent, creativity, and dedication not only made planning the event a joy, but truly bought the vision to life and made the day a great success.
“Finally, we are incredibly grateful to St John's College for hosting us in such a stunning venue and for their excellent catering and IT support throughout the day.”
Many thanks to everyone who took part on the day, and special thanks to the organising committee:
- Dr Jeongmin Choi, Crop Science Centre
- Dr Lida Derevina, Crop Science Centre
- Professor Alex Webb, Department of Plant Sciences
- Vicki Marshall, Department of Plant Sciences
- Dr Humberto Herrera Ubaldo, Department of Plant Sciences
- Zara Guppy, Department of Plant Sciences
- Dr Nina Foreman, Crop Science Centre
- Ellen Hinks, Crop Science Centre
- Ángela Cano, Botanic Garden
- Marta Wojnowska, Department of Biochemistry
- Elisabeth Burmeister, Sainsbury Laboratory
- Renuka Kolli, Sainsbury Laboratory
- Dominic Leach, Sainsbury Laboratory
- Ludi Wang, Sainsbury Laboratory
- Karen Uchida, Sainsbury Laboratory
- Samaneh Najafi, Niab
- Anusree Saha, Niab
About Plants @ Cambridge
Plants @ Cambridge brings together plant scientists and partner organisations from across the University and beyond for closer collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Our vision is to work together to ensure our high-quality research and discovery work contributes to addressing fundamental challenges including the growing bioeconomy, sustainable agriculture, food security, and resilience to climate change.
Plants @ Cambridge members include:
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge
- Crop Science Centre partnership between University of Cambridge and Niab
- Sainsbury Laboratory University of Cambridge
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
- Cambridge University Botanic Garden (CUBG)
- Cambridge University Herbarium
- Niab
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Text: Zara Guppy, Research Lab Technician, Department of Plant Sciences
Image: Colleagues at Botanicon 2025. Photo by Zara Guppy.