ICPP98 Update 7th International Congress of Plant Pathology, Edinburgh It's next year . . . ! . . . So now is the time to make your plans, budget for your costs, apply for funding, and rearrange your holiday to take in the Edinburgh International Festival the week after the Congress! As a BSPP Member you have received the First Announcement. If you didn't return the form to receive further information, do it now! You will then receive the Second Announcement in September. If you need more copies of the First Announcement, contact the Congress Secretariat or visit the Web site. Get plenty - and send them to your colleagues all over the world! The programme . . . . . . is coming along strongly. It's in a novel format, with modular symposia and poster sessions arranged in half-day units. Symposia will comprise invited oral presentations and include a structured discussion session. Each symposium (more than 50 have already been arranged) will have something for the specialist and something for anyone with a general interest. Poster sessions will include a structured discussion. There will also be evening discussion meetings and workshops. Throughout, topics will be of direct relevance to modern plant pathology. They will appeal to the entire range of plant pathological interests in both developed and developing nations. Don't be dismayed if you don't see your familiar session on a traditional topic - host plant resistance, nematology, crop loss assessment, soilborne diseases, whatever . . . Your interests WILL be catered for within the new format! Financing your trip . . . . . . needs thinking about well ahead. The first step for most people will be to request funding from your unit's travel budget for next year. For anyone who is a plant pathologist, there has to be a very strong case to attend, so you need not be shy putting it forward. Presenting a poster will nearly always strengthen your case. The deadline for titles and abstracts of posters will be 28 February 1998. Details will be in the Second Announcement. Abstracts will be in a full-page format and will be citable as publications. The next step may well be to look for top-up funding from other sources. For BSPP Members, the Society has established a substantial Assistance Fund to help with costs. Details will be announced later this year. Make sure you are still a paid-up Member! Tell your colleagues, students, overseas contacts, friends . . . even rivals about the Assistance Fund. NOW is the time for them to join BSPP and qualify to apply to the Fund. For those in developing countries, BSPP has established a Bursary Fund to help with costs of the visit to Edinburgh. BSPP has been supported by many organizations and individuals with contributions to this Fund. Details will be announced later this year. Many BSPP Members have generously contributed to the Bursary Fund. Further gifts or covenants to this worthy cause are warmly invited: contact Dr Derek Perry, BSPP Treasurer. Meanwhile, the ICPP98 Organizing Committee is engaged in a major fund raising campaign with a target of more than £200,000 to help make the Congress more affordable for all. Other attractions . . . . . . are many. The British royal family, one of whose homes (the Palace of Holyrood House) is in Edinburgh, has lent its name to the Congress through our Patron, The Princess Royal (Princess Anne). She is expected to address the Opening Ceremony on 10 August 1998. Edinburgh is not to be missed. Our First Announcement correctly calls it "one of the most dramatic and beautiful cities in Europe . . ." and of course " . . . a focus of plant pathological activity" If you plan to stay on for the Edinburgh International Festival, starting the week after the Congress, do plan early. Every year hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world come to this famous festival of culture, the arts, entertainment, pageantry, fringe events . . . If you haven't been before, this is your chance! Scotland is there to be explored. Highlands, islands, bagpipes, tartans, whisky, golf, . . . Make a holiday of it! The Edinburgh International Conference Centre, venue for the Congress, has now been open a year and has hosted many splendid events. Its technical wizardry includes the main Pentland Auditorium, with revolving sections enabling it to be set up as one, two or three separate auditoria. Social events at the Congress will include a Ceilidh (it's some kind of music, song, dance thing), a couple of receptions, local excursions, and lots more. Scottish hospitality should take care of everything. Information technology . . . . . . Whether you are technophile or technophobe, you will like the IT at ICPP98! For example, the programme and abstracts will be available electronically if you want, but we shall not be forcing technology on you if you are not keen. If you do not have access to the World Wide Web, you are missing something that everyone can enjoy. If you are connected, take a look at the ICPP98 Web site, and return to it often because it will be your most up-to-date source of information about the Congress. Peter Scott
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