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Worried about the loss of ID and related skills amongst British graduates?
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Want to study botany but can’t find any suitable courses left?
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Want to help keep botany British botany alive and kicking into the next millennium?!
This is your chance to tell Dr M what needs to be done to inspire the next generation of British botanists and plant scientists!
The featured image shows University of Reading MSc Plant Diversity students enjoying a recent field course with Dr M learning plant ID skills and vegetation survey techniques.
But these days you can count the number of institutions where you can learn field botany and taxonomy to an advanced level pretty much on the fingers of one hand (check BSBI list of course providers here). The need for botanical training and skills is a critical issue.
Dr M has previously discussed the recent UKPSF report, UK Plant Science: Current status and future challenges and the associated UK PlantSci 2014 conference in York.
Since the York meeting, UKPSF have set up five working groups to take forward specific priorities and ensure the report’s recommendations are implemented.
Dr M has been invited to join the group focussing on training and skills and the first meeting will be on 14 July chaired by Professor Simon Leather.
The working group will develop an implementation plan for the UKPSF and plant science community, outlining clearly defined actions and time scales.
The working group brief is to develop one or two short term actions and one to three medium to long term actions.
Dr M will be drawing on his experiences teachng botany, plant ID and vegetation survey on the University of Reading Plant Diversity MSc to discuss these critical issues.
BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Dr M wants to know your thoughts and ideas on the immediate and longer-term actions that should be taken to enhance training and skills in botany and plant science in the UK?
Please contact Dr M with your ideas on how best to inspire the next generation of British botanists!
July 9, 2014
