A sold-out audience explored the latest advances in imaging, phenomics, genomics, machine learning and more at the 7th Annual Plant Phenotyping and Imaging Research Centre (P2IRC) Symposium on Oct. 25.
More than 160 researchers, students and industry representatives were in attendance for the event, which featured diverse presentations addressing this year’s theme: Growing the Future with Digital Agriculture.
“As a key program at the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) here at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), P2IRC was designed with the ambitious goal to transform crop breeding and provide innovative solutions to national and global food security,” Ian Stavness, an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at USask, P2IRC Program Director and an Enhancement Chair at GIFS, told attendees.
“This Symposium series has been an important part of that mission, helping us to share information, foster dialogue and connect leading-edge researchers and organizations.”
Speaker Highlights
The 2022 P2IRC Symposium was highlighted by keynote addresses from Dr. Valerio Hoyos-Villegas of McGill University and Dr. Danny Singh of Iowa State University, both of which discussed advanced phenotyping and plant breeding.
Dr. Eiji Nambara of the University of Toronto and Dr. Etienne Yergeau from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique of the Université du Québec, along with 11 researchers from the University of Saskatchewan and the Global Institute for Food Security, also discussed their research on a diverse range of topics related to P2IRC’s programs and platforms.
Their presentations can be viewed view below.
Poster Competition
The P2IRC Symposium also featured almost 40 one-minute research presentations from students, postdoctoral fellows and research associates participating in the annual Poster Competition.
Congratulations to this year’s winners (pictured above, left to right):
- Sara Mardanisamani
- Thulani Hewavithana
- Keyhan Najafian
- Travis Gray
- Phuntsho Norbu
Celebrating Accomplishments
The 2022 P2IRC Symposium will be the research centre’s final conference as its seven-year mission, funded by the Canadian First Research Excellence Fund, is winding down.
The recent event provided leaders from USask, GIFS and P2IRC with the opportunity to reflect on P2IRC’s interdisciplinary collaborators and their many accomplishments, which includes an extensive body of research, as well as commercial activities that have been operationalized by GIFS and its Omics and Precision Agriculture Laboratory.
At the event, Stavness thanked all the graduate students, postdocs and researchers who contributed to P2IRC’s growth and evolution since its inception.
“One constant we’ve had is a large, diverse and amazing group of students and interdisciplinary researchers,” said Stavness.
“I think that’s really been the core of the program and what I’ve appreciated about being a part of it.”