NEWS
New tools for data sharing in plant research

Three new data management tools designed to help plant researchers with data analysis, visualisation and integration following FAIR principles are now available for the community.
EOSC-Life publishes midterm Achievements Brochure

The European Open Science Cloud project EOSC-Life, which EMPHASIS participates in, has just published a digital brochure featuring highlights from the first two years of the project.
Italy: Phen-Italy launches first call for access to national phenotyping infrastructures

The Italian Plant Phenotyping Network Phen-Italy has launched a call to fund access to plant phenotyping participating infrastructures within the Joint Research Unit Phen-Italy.
RI-VIS publishes three white papers on international cooperation between research infrastructures

As part of the RI-VIS project, a team of European research infrastructures, led by EMPHASIS, has just published three white paper providing recommendations on how to increase cooperation between European infrastructures and counterparts from Africa, Latin America and Australia. The papers are targeted at funders, policy makers and research infrastructure managers and collate the insights of 21 experts from research infrastructures and policymakers from the respective regions.
Belgium: VIB and ILVO jointly obtain regional funding to establish the ‘EMPHASIS-Belgium’ consortium as national node of EMPHASIS

With the ambition of “phenotyping future crops”, a new consortium - EMPHASIS-Belgium - has been established as the Belgian node of EMPHASIS and has recently been granted funding from Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). It combines globally leading expertise, from lab to field, in both basic plant research at the VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) Center for Plant Systems Biology (PSB), led by Prof. Dr. Dirk Inzé, and applied crop research at ILVO (Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) Plant Sciences unit, led by Prof. Dr. Isabel Roldán-Ruiz.
Present your research to the community: PhenomicsWebinars relaunch in new format

Now open: abstract submission for the upcoming season of the newly revised PhenomicsWebinars series on plant phenotyping.
Special issue: Plant Phenotyping for a Sustainable Future

Contributions to the special issue are welcome and may include research papers as well as review articles. Authors should submit a title and brief outline for the consideration of the editors via email by 31 October 2021. All papers are peer reviewed to the usual standards and must fit within the scope of the journal.
RI-VIS Publishes White Paper on African-European Research Infrastructure Cooperation

A team of European research infrastructures, led by EMPHASIS, has published a White Paper entitled "Recommendations towards cooperation between African and European research infrastructures" as part of the RI-VIS project.
What kind of bioinformatics do plant scientists need?

Your input is needed: the German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure de.NBI would really appreciate if you could take a couple of minutes to answer five short questions here.
Special Issue: "From Phenotyping to Phenomics—Techniques for Exploring Plant Traits and Diversity"

IPPN member AgResearch (New Zealand) kicks-off new Special Issue in "plants". This Special Issue aims to bring together a range of research papers that cover plant phenotyping at large-scale from hundreds of genotypes using simple and repeatable technology to small-scale using high-tech and accurate methods and anything in between.
Belgium: VIB acquires CropDesign site from BASF and launches its first agricultural biotechnology incubator

VIB, a leading life sciences institute in Flanders, has signed an agreement with BASF to acquire its CropDesign site in Nevele, Belgium. VIB and CropDesign have had a close scientific relationship for more than 15 years. CropDesign, currently part of BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division, was established in 1998 as a VIB spinoff and has grown into a biotech company specializing in plant phenotyping technology. The divesture includes site infrastructure and intellectual property. All former CropDesign employees found new jobs within or outside BASF.
Latest edition of EMPHASIS Newsletter

The latest edition of the EMPHASIS Newsletter published on 14 December 2020 is now online.
Israel: Functional Phenotyping of Plant Response to Abiotic Stress
Denmark: Collaborative SUSWHEAT project receives funding from Independent Research Fund Denmark

The SUSWHEAT project combines globally leading research expertise on wheat from complementary teams at Copenhagen and Aarhus University, China and the UK, creating a strong partnership to dissect the resilience mechanisms in response to future climate. The collaborative project has recently been granted funding from the Independent Research Fund Denmark.
Italy: First call for access to national phenotyping infrastructures launching soon

In early 2021, Phen-Italy (the Italian Network of Plant Phenotyping Infrastructures) will launch the first call for access to the national plant phenotyping infrastructures. The applicants are requested to submit a project proposal aiming at answering a clear scientific question and/or addressing a technological challenge in the field of plant phenotyping. The project proposals will be evaluated by a Commission of independent experts. More information will be circulated in January 2021 on www.phen-Italy.it.
Netherlands: Two new gantries installed in NPEC greenhouse

The gantries will allow multispectral imaging, 3D scanning and high-resolution thermal imaging of plants as well as a combination of multispectral- and thermal imaging with gravimetric phenotyping to study plant water household.
Norway: Application submitted for the Norwegian Plant Phenotyping Platform (PheNo)

The plant research community in Norway has joined forces and submitted a national infrastructure proposal to establish the Norwegian Plant Phenotyping Platform (PheNo).
Spain: New user-friendly application for smallholder farmers for detection of plant diseases and nutritional disorders

The University of Barcelona in partnership with the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) are developing a smartphone-based, user-friendly application for smallholder farmers from the MENA region (Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) aiming to identify major biotic and abiotic stresses in key relevant herbaceous crops.
Landmark study: First genomic atlas for global wheat improvement

In a landmark discovery for global wheat production, an international team has sequenced the genomes for 15 wheat varieties representing breeding programmes from around the world.
Press release (PDF)
Ireland: New PlantScreen System at University College Dublin

University College Dublin (UCD-Ireland) has acquired a PlantScreen system from Photon System Instruments (PSI) with the financial support of Science Foundation Ireland Future Research Leaders Programme (SFI-FRL) awarded to Dr. Sónia Negrão.
Your participation needed: Global Plant Phenotyping Survey 2020/21

For the past six years, IPPN and EMPHASIS have carried out their bi-annual "Plant Phenotyping Surveys". They cover basic and advanced questions related to plant phenotyping for the purpose of assessing the status of global plant phenotyping and emerging fields. The surveys address participants from all geographic regions and in all professional disciplines in any way related to plant phenotyping.
IGA defines scope and timeline of EMPHASIS implementation phase

During the 3rd meeting of the Interim General Assembly (IGA) on 9 November 2020, important decisions were made regarding the scope and timeline of the EMPHASIS implementation phase including the establishment of a new association, and a Chair and Vice-Chair were elected.
International Bioeconomy Forum (IBF) launches website

The new website of the International Bioeconomy Forum (IBF) is now online. The IBF was launched in 2016 by the European Commission and provides a platform for international communication and cooperation regarding the development of a sustainable bioeconomy. Members are the European Commission, Argentina, Canada, China, India, New Zealand, South Africa and USA.
Series of animated movies

We are excited to present the EMPHASIS Scribble Series: three short animated videos produced in scribble style illustrate the basic concepts of research infrastructures, why we do plant phenotyping and what EMPHASIS is all about.
New guide on how to draft communication strategies for research infrastructures

A team of communication experts and managers of research infrastructures led by EMPHASIS and Instruct-ERIC have developed a step-by-step guide on how to develop and implement a communication strategy for research infrastructures.
First services for researchers as EMPHASIS moves into implementation phase

Earlier this year, EMPHASIS has reached an important milestone: the establishment of the Interim General Assembly (IGA), a board of ten countries that have formally declared their intention of moving EMPHASIS towards operation.
Phenomics Webinars User Survey

We are constantly striving to improve our webinar series and would very much appreciate your feedback.
Digital Life Sciences Open Call by EOSC-Life
EMPHASIS Newsletter Now Online

The latest edition of the EMPHASIS Newsletter published on 29 September 2020 is now online.
Phenome Emphasis Prolonged Until 2025

The French infrastructure Phenome Emphasis has been officially prolonged until 2025, with an extra funding of EUR 5 million.
Nordic Network NordPlant Prolonged for Three Years
Computer Vision Problems in Plant Phenotyping (CVPPP) 2020

This year’s CVPPP was held alongside the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) on Friday 28 August online.
Presentation material of the Nordic Plant Phenotyping field day available online
The Nordic Plant Phenotyping field day that was held here at NMBU on 17 June. This is an annual get-together for plant breeders and scientists in the Nordic countries to get in touch with field phenotyping activities and learn about the latest development.
Interdrought 2020 congress proceedings now online

Interdrought 2020, organized by CIMMYT and the University of Queensland, was scheduled to take place in Mexico City in March 2020. As it was not possible to proceed with face-to-face meetings due to the travel restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizing committee delivered the scientific program online.
Sixth and final call for application for transnational access to European plant phenotyping facilities

EPPN2020 has just launched its sixth call for application for transnational access, open to European groups but also open (to a limited extent) to groups originating from emerging countries or international research centers. The call closes on 26th of October 2020.
UK: Malcolm Bennett elected Fellow of Royal Society

The plant biologist from the University of Nottingham who is pioneering research to reveal how root systems work has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Discussions with ministries on strategic options for EMPHASIS

During two web-based ministry meetings held in February and April, the newly established Interim General Assembly discussed specific steps for moving EMPHASIS into implementation.
Launch of Phenomics Webinars

To compensate for the cancellation of many scientific conferences and opportunities to discuss latest developments in the field, the plant phenotyping initiatives IPPN, EPPN2020 and EMPHASIS are launching a webinar series on plant phenotyping. We are looking for contributions from researchers from all phenotyping-related fields.
EMPHASIS Digital Flyer
We are happy to present our new digital flyer providing a brief introduction to EMPHASIS. Please feel free to download, share and present it at any occasion.
Increasing the visibility of research infrastructures? There’s a toolkit for that.

The Communication Toolkit for European Research Infrastructures provides an easy and useful set of tools, guidelines and resources to improve the communication strategy and activities of research infrastructures. Its common use is expected to increase the individual and collective visibility of research infrastructures, by aligning key-messages and improving how different stakeholders perceive them.
The EMPHASIS Photo Competition

It’s competition time: EMPHASIS is launching a photo competition in plant phenotyping in collaboration with IPPN and sponsored by LemnaTech and DPPN. Send us your best plant phenotyping photos and be in for a chance of winning a high-end camera!
3rd EMPHASIS Ministry Meeting

As the preparatory project EMPHASIS-PREP will be finalised towards the end of 2020, EMPHASIS progresses in developing its business plan in discussion with national ministries.
First General Assembly of RI-VIS Project

EMPHASIS is collaborating with partners from eleven other research infrastructures in the H2020-funded RI-VIS project to increase the visibility of European research infrastructures (RIs) to new communities in Europe and beyond.
First Annual General Meeting of EOSC-Life Project

The implementation of a digital space for the life sciences in Europe is moving forward with EMPHASIS contributing as part of the EOSC-Life project.
Czech Republic: Survey on new device for plant phenotyping

A team at Palacky University Olomouc is developing a stand-alone, high-throughput indoor phenotyping device for seedlings and small plants and is asking the community to take part in a short survey to optimise its use.
Serbia: Recent progress of the EPPN2020 collaboration TrichoTOL
The EPPN2020 project “Trichoderma-Plant interaction for improvement of drought tolerance” (TrichoTOL; ID 159) was carried out by a research team from Educons University in Sremska Kamenica, Serbia, with strong support from the host institution Slovak University of Agriculture, in Nitra, Slovakia.
Glowing Plants at School
In February, we supported the science week of a German primary school with some exciting experiments and insights on plants and their importance to humans.
ENVRI Community publishes statement to the Horizon Europe Framework Programme

In February 2020, the ENVRI community published a joint statement on Horizon Europe in order to engage in a dialogue with the European Commission on the upcoming Framework Programme.
Special issue on Statistics, Bioinformatics, and Machine Learning Methods in Phenomics
Plant Phenomics is pleased to announce a special issue on Statistics, Bioinformatics, and Machine Learning Methods in Phenomics.
Submission Deadline: April 1st, 2020
Call for papers: "Plant Phenomics And Precision Agriculture"

PLOS ONE is calling for papers on plant phenomics and precision agriculture research. The deadline for submission is 5 June 2020.
Germany: Government proclaims Science Year 2020 – Bioeconomy

On 16 January, Anja Karliczek, German Federal Minister of Education and Research, inaugurated the Science Year 2020, which will focus on the bioeconomy. The aim of the dedicated Science Year is to raise public awareness for the importance of a bio-based economy.
European Parliament Declares Climate Emergency

In advance of this week’s UN COP25 Climate Change Conference, the European Parliament has approved a resolution declaring a global climate and environmental emergency.
Finland: Data Makes the Difference

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) 14th Plenary Meeting in Helsinki in November was followed by an evaluation of the interoperability of image-based data of the Finnish National Plant Phenotyping Infrastructure (NaPPI) with the PHIS information system for plant phenomics.
5th Call for Transnational Access
Second EMPHASIS Ministry Meeting

Representatives of nine countries discussed the next steps for moving EMPHASIS into the Implementation Phase.
New Corporate Identity
Uncovering the Secrets of Plants

EMPHASIS participated with an interactive booth in the Science is Wonderful! exhibition of the European Research and Innovation Days in Brussels.
The 11th European Plant Science Retreat 2019

The 11th European Plant Science Retreat was hosted this year at the University of Nottingham from 8 to 10 of July. The annual conference is targeted at PhD students studying at European universities and aims to bring together early career researchers working in plant sciences. The meeting was hosted and organised by PhD students from the University of Nottingham with the generous financial support of the European Plant Phenotyping Network 2020 (EPPN2020) and other funding bodies.
Poland: Application for National Network of Plant Phenotyping Research Infrastructure
Portugal: Plant Phenotyping Community Benefits from EMPHASIS

Geographical distribution of EMPHASIS
expressions of interest in Portugal (July 2019)
The Portuguese plant research community is highly engaged with phenotyping initiatives. Participation in EMPHASIS and access to EPPN2020 transnational calls is a major breakthrough as high-throughput platforms are unavailable within the country.
EMPHASIS at the ENVRI Dissemination Day
Estonia: Plant Biology Infrastructure Now Listed in National Roadmap and New Collaboration for Use of Big Data in Agricultural Research

The Plant Biology infrastructure (TAIM) is listed in the Estonian Research Infrastructure Roadmap 2019, and Estonia now has a long-term programme for the use of agricultural big data – a collaboration between Agricultural Research Centre, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonian Crop Research Insititute, Tieto Estonia AS and E-Agronom OÜ.
Netherlands: Summer School Imaging & Phenotyping in Wageningen
Norway: Plans for a National Plant Phenotyping Infrastructure and Virtual Reality in the Field
Vollebekk research farm at NMBU
in Ås. Photo: Morten Lillemo
Three of the leading plant science research institutions in Norway have joined forces to develop a roadmap for a national plant phenotyping infrastructure called PheNo. In other news, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) has teamed up with the plant breeding company Graminor, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico and Boston University in the USA for an innovative project combining high-throughput field phenotyping with genomic selection and virtual reality.
Belgium: Second Official Belgian Plant Phenotyping Network Meeting
EMPHASIS at the FZJ Open Day

As Forschungszentrum Juelich opened its gates for 28,000 visitors on 7 July, EMPHASIS used the opportunity to explain to the general public why plant phenotyping is essential for crop breeding, adaptation to climate change and sustainable crop production.
Workshop on Monitoring Research Infrastructure Methodology and Key Performance Indicators
Participants during the ESFRI workshop
EMPHASIS participated in an ESFRI workshop on 'Monitoring Research of Infrastructures Methodology and Key Performance Indicators' in an advisory capacity.
Italy: International Collaboration for Training in Plant Phenotyping

Stephan Summerer (ALSIA) training Peruvian scientists
Basilicata Agency of Development and Innovation in Agriculture (ALSIA, Italy) and Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (UNALMA, Peru) team up for a training course in imaging for plant phenotyping
1st EMPHASIS Ministry Meeting
EPPN2020 – Transnational Access Testimonials
EMPHASIS Supporting CATRIS: Aiming at Online Catalogue for RI Services

Catris Workshop
EMPHASIS has been invited to participate in the CATRIS validation workshop in Brussels.
IBISBA – Second Call for Research Projects
ENVRIplus Report on Identification and Citation Service Case Studies

The report 'Inter RI data identification and citation services' from ENVRIplus provides a summary of three use cases related to data citation.
EMPHASIS at the Kick-Off Meeting of the Integrape COST Action
EOSC-Life Project Kicks Off

EOSC-Life brings together the 13 Biological and Medical ESFRI research infrastructures (BMS RIs) to create an open collaborative space for digital biology.
EMPHASIS Support Group Meeting: Integrating National Plant Phenotyping Communities Across Europe
EMPHASIS Awarded Certificate of Excellence
The EMPHASIS Italian Node Phen-Italy Organized Workshop
Kick-Off Meeting of RI-VIS

EMPHASIS joins forces with twelve European Research Infrastructures (RIs) to increase the visibility of RIs.
Launch Meeting of PhenomUK

The newly-formed UK plant phenotyping network PhenomUK held its inaugural meeting at Rothamsted Research.
EMPHASIS as the EGU2019

EMPHASIS and Environmental and Earth System Research Infrastructures at the ENVRI community booth at EGU 2019
2nd CzPPN Meeting - Environmental simulation and indoor phenotyping
Corbel: 3rd Annual General Meeting, (16 - 17 October, 2018)

Corbel 3rd meeting
CORBEL, the cluster of biological and medical research infrastructures in Europe, held its 3rd Annual General Meeting, providing a platform to reflect the progress made so for and discuss and decide on next steps in further joining scientific capabilities and sharing services to understand and translate biological mechanisms.
EMPHASIS collecting the viewpoint of the plant phenotyping modelling community
Emphasis held a modelling workshop Sep 24 – 26 in Brussels, discussing the potential benefits to be generated by Emphasis for the modelling community and potential future roles of the modelling community for plant phenotyping experiments in the Emphasis framework. The results of this workshop will form a basis for the on-going discussion with modellers, data scientists and experimental plant phenotypers in Europe.
Training Course: High-throughput wheat phenotyping, Bologna, 17-18 Sep, 2018

Announcement: Training Course Bologna 2018
Phen-Italy co-organized with the Wheat Initiative, CREA and University of Bologna a training course Training course on High-throughput wheat phenotyping in Bologna t the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
Plant phenotyping forum, Austria
The role of Austria and Eastern Europe in agricultural production.
Strategies of the European infrastructures EMPHASIS and ELIXIR

Data standards and Information Systems: strategies of the European infrastructures EMPHASIS and ELIXIR
EMPHASIS exhibiting at the International Conference for Research Infrastructures (12 - 14 Sep, 2018)

Exhibition Vienna, September 2018
EMPHASIS has been exhibiting at the “International Conference for Research Infrastructures 2018” in Vienna, Austria.
The 3rd ESFRI Exchange of Experience Workshop
EMPHASIS representatives have participated on invitation in the 3rd ESFRI Exchange of Experience Workshop on “Effective use of Preparatory Phase Funding”.
EMPHASIS moderating discussion on the future of field plant phenotyping

Field Workshop
How will the future of field phenotyping in (pan-)Europe look like? This was THE topic of the EMPHASIS Field Phenomics workshop on the 6th of September 2018.
Greece joins the EMPHASIS Support Group
The Italian plant phenotyping landscape (5. - 6. Sep, 2018)

Participants of the WS: The Italian Plant Phenotyping Landscape
The Italiano Emphasis node Phen-Italy organized the workshop: The Italian plant phenotyping landscape and the other international initiatives
Third UK EMPHASIS Workshop
A third UK EMPHASIS Workshop was held at the University of Nottingham to further increase understanding of EMPHASIS and discuss potential UK capability in relation to the EMPHASIS infrastructure requirements and services. Conclusions from all UK workshops have led to an BBSRC leading on an in-depth consultation exercise with the UK plant/crop phenotyping community and stakeholders to inform future strategy and engagement.
2nd EPPN2020 General Assembly (23 - 25 May, 2018)
EMPHASIS partner project EPPN2020 held a second General Assembly of Members in at the University of Nottingham addressing transnational access to plant phenotyping facilities in Europe.
PhenoHarmonis, Montpellier (14 - 17 May, 2018)
Working group to organize the collaboration between Elixir and Emphasis project,
EMPHASIS at the 7th ERIC-Forum , Oxford (19 - 20 April, 2018)
EMPHASIS were represented at the 7th ERIC-Forum meeting which took place in Oxford, UK hosted by INSTRUCT-ERIC. The meeting covered a wide range of issues including recommendations from the OECD on an impact assessment for RIs and an update on the 2nd ERIC Implementation Report by the EC.
EMPHASIS providing strategic advice on European Environmental Research Infrastructures
EMPHASIS is from now on participating in the Board of European Environmental Research Infrastructures (BEERI), providing strategic advice and guidance to the cluster project of environmental infrastructures. In that role, EMPHASIS will help to create a more coherent, interdisciplinary and interoperable environmental research infrastructure landscape in Europe, tackling grand challenges facing human society (e.g. food security, climate change mitigation).
Further information on BEERI is available here: http://www.envriplus.eu/beeri/
EMPHASIS joining forces with European environmental research infrastructures
Conference: Research Infrastructures beyond 2020, Sofia 22 - 23 March, 2018

Research Infrastructure Announcement
EMPHASIS representatives participated in the high-level conference “Research Infrastructures beyond 2020 – sustainable and effective ecosystem for science and society” taking place in Sofia,
EMPHASIS integrating European plant phenotyping

Emphasis Meeting
Representatives from 22 European countries that have been mandated by their national community (and form the so-called Support Group) met at IBG-2 (Forschungszentrum Jülich) between March the 12th – 13th.
2nd UK EMPHASIS Workshop
InRoad Workshop- Priorisation, Evaluation and funding; Brussels (15 - 16 January, 2018)
InRoad works towards a better synchronisation of RI roadmapping procedures and thus contributes to a sustainable and efficient RI landscape in Europe. EMPHASIS was present at this important event which looked to address issues around long-term sustainability around RIs based on recommendations from the EC and feed into shaping these recommendations further.
Support for EMPHASIS grows to twenty national plant phenotyping communities
We are happy to welcome the Swedish community as 20th plant phenotyping community committed to support the development of the pan-European initiative EMPHASIS.
EMPHASIS representatives participated in the EOSCpilot (28 - 29 November, 2017)

EOSC Pilot Logo
1st Stakeholder Engagement Event in Brussels, contributing to the first phase of the development of the future European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).
Joint Catalogue of Services published,

Service Catalogue
The biological and medical research infrastructure cluster CORBEL has published a joint Catalogue of Services
Plant Phenotyping Forum: integrating European plant phenotyping community in Tartu, Estonia (22 - 24 November, 2017)

Tartu, November 2017
This forum, organised under the auspices of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU, attracted nearly 120 participants to discuss the need to further development of EU-based technologies that can be applied for characterization of plant form and function in shifting climate.
1st ERIC Forum, Graz (16. - 17.11. 2017)
16 - 17 November, 2017
1st ERIC Forum, Graz
Biological and medical research infrastructure cluster CORBEL holds it 2nd Annual General Meeting (25 - 26 October, 2017)

Goals CORBEL
Within the last two days, thirteen research infrastructures from the biological and medical cluster met for their 2nd Annual Assembly in Amsterdam in the framework of the cluster project CORBEL (https://www.corbel-project.eu/).
First official Belgian Plant Phenotyping Network meeting
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss further actions on the formation of the Belgian Plant Phenotyping Network (BPPN), similar to national plant phenotyping networks as they exist in Germany (DPPN), France (Phenome-FPPN) and many other that starting to exist.
EMPHASIS contributing to innovation frameworks at research infrastructures

BrightnESS
EMPHASIS exchanged concepts and best practices with several ESFRI infrastructures today for the establishment and maintenance of an innovation framework and its ecosystem at research infrastructures on invitation by the Technical University of Denmark.
First UK EMPHASIS Workshop
The first UK EMPHASIS Workshop was held in the UK to introduce relevant stakeholders to EMPHASIS.
Towards an European research infrastructure on sustainable agriculture

AnaEE&EMPHASIS
The European infrastructures EMPHASIS and AnaEE aim to collaborate in bringing innovative solutions for a sustainable intensification of agriculture.
MBA course on Research Infrastructure Management has started with participation of EMPHASIS

EMMRI 2017
Executive Masters in Management of Research Infrastructures programme (EMMRI) has been started with its first face-to-face module “Governance and Organisation”, with two member of the EMPHASIS-Prep Coordination and Support Team participating.
15th national plant phenotyping community in Europe has expressed its interest to support EMPHASIS
We are happy to welcome the Estonian community as 15th plant phenotyping community committed to support the development of the pan-European initiative EMPHASIS.
CORBEL publishing framework for quality management with the contribution of EMPHASIS

Corbel Framework
A framework for quality management in the field of biological and biomedical research infrastructures (BMS)has been developed and published with the contribution of EMPHASIS.
EMPHASIS admitted to MBA course on Research Infrastructure Management

Core Modules
Two members of the EMPHASIS-Prep Coordination and Support Office have been admitted to the Executive Masters in Management of Research Infrastructures programme (EMMRI) at the University of Milano-Bicocca ( http://www.emmri.unimib.it/ ).
EMPHASIS fostering community building of plant phenotyping in Northern Europe

Agenda Gothenburg 2017
After having successful two regional mapping conference in Portugal in March 2017 and Austria in April 2017, EMPHASIS held a third meeting in Gothenburg as Satellite Meeting next to the SEB (Society for Experimental Biology) conference.
EMPHASIS joining biological and medical infrastructure consortium CORBEL

Corbel Consortium
EMPHASIS has been approved to join the CORBEL consortium, an initiative of currently thirteen new biological and medical research infrastructures, which together will create a platform for harmonised user access to biological and medical technologies, data and related services.
EMPHASIS stipulating innovation at research infrastructures
11 Biological and Medical Science Research Infrastructures including EMPHASIS explored how they could stimulate innovation in Europe through providing open access to their key assets,
Belgian Plant Phenotyping Network (BPPN) formation

Belgian Plant Phenotyping Network
Plant phenotyping researchers of the public sector in Belgium united for the first time, in campus Plant Systems Biology (VIB) Ghent,
Tenth national plant phenotyping community in Europe has expressed its interest to support EMPHASIS
We are happy to welcome the Danish community as tenth plant phenotyping community committed to support the development of the pan-European initiative EMPHASIS.
18 May, Fascination of Plants Day 2017: EMPHASIS addressing the broader public about plant phenotyping

plants day 2017
Partners from the EMPHASIS-Prep consortium organised multiple activities in the framework of the Fascination of Plants Day 2017, an initiative initiated by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO; www.epsoweb.org) and intended to increase the understanding about plant science importance with the broader public.
EMPHASIS exchanging experience on innovation
EMPHASIS contributed to the discussions and experience exchange at the “2nd RICH Symposium: Fostering the innovation potential of research infrastructures”. This workshop organised by RICH ( http://www.rich2020.eu/ ), the network of National Contact Points for H2020-Research Infrastructure Programmes, aimed at showcasing approaches to innovation taken by Research Infrastructures and projects in all scientific domains, as well as to provide a floor for the discussion of policies and incentives for innovation.
European Maize meeting ( 03 - 05 May, 2017 )
EMPHASIS exchanging experience on service provision (02 - 05 May, 2017)

retrain exchange meeting
The EMPHASIS-Prep Coordination and Support Office participated successfully in a staff exchange programme on service provision of European research infrastructures, organised by the RiTrain project (http://ritrain.eu/). The programme was highly tailored to the individual needs of the participants allowing them to take full advantage of their time at EMBL-EBI to gain insight into the working practice of an established and successful research infrastructure.
EMPHASIS continuing mapping activities of plant phenotyping in Europe
After a successful first regional mapping conference in Portugal in March 2017, EMPHASIS held a
second meeting in Vienna as a Satellite meeting to the International Wheat Genomics Symposium.
The meeting attracted over 70 participants and focused on the phenotyping landscape in Austria,
Serbia, Hungary, Switzerland, Romania, Czech Republic, Cyprus and Slovakia. This meeting helped to
further exchange knowledge about plant phenotyping activities in the respective countries and to
foster collaboration across national borders in Europe. Specific breakout sessions enabled to identify
needs and demands for support by EMPHASIS to generate benefit for the community once it
operates. This mapping conference will be followed by two further meetings in Gothenburg in July
2017 and Tartu in November 2017.
EMPHASIS exchanging experience on Strategic Vision, Governance and Business Development (10 April - 11 April, 2017)

RiTrain project
The EMPHASIS-Prep Coordination and Support Office participated successfully in a staff exchange programme on strategic vision, governance and business development organised within a framework of the RiTrain project ( http://ritrain.eu/ ) by the ESFRI project EATRIS ERIC.
EMPHASIS kicking off mapping of European plant phenotyping

Kickoff Mapping
EMPHASIS started a series of regional conferences, intended to map the European plant phenotyping landscape and foster the knowledge exchange within the community. We started this process with a conference in Lisbon that took place on March 29 as side event to a 3rd general meeting of the COST action FA1306. The meeting introduced the EMPHASIS project to more than 70 participants from academia, industry, politics and funding agencies.
First Meeting of the Austrian Plant Phenotyping Network (APPN)

APPN Kickoff 2017
The Austrian Plant Phenotyping Community held its first meeting at BOKU - Vienna, organised by the Vienna Biocenter Core Facilities and supported EMPHASIS. This meeting had great success in fostering information exchange about plant phenotyping activities in Austria and in Europe and was an adequate starting point for the building of an Austrian plant phenotyping community as part of the European landscape.
Find further information about the event here: https://www.appn.at/1stappnmeeting-2/