Plant Pathology 2026 (PPATH2026) and Early Careers Plant Pathology 2026 (ECPP2026)
LINKS: Conference Info l Practical information l Submit an abstract l Registration/tickets l Accommodation
Plant Pathology 2026 (PPATH2026) 9th to 11th September
Early Careers Plant Pathology 2026 (ECPP2026) 8th September
John Innes Conference Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
Professor Saskia Hogenhout, President of the BSPP, invites you to register for the main annual meetings of the British Society for Plant Pathology.
The programme can now be downloaded:
Programme for ECPP and PPATH26
Tuesday 8th September: Early Careers Plant Pathology 2026
- Registration open at 09:00
- Talks and poster sessions 10:45 – 18:30
- Evening BBQ from 18:30 (ECPP registrants and invitees only)
A day dedicated to the work of students and early career researchers, which anyone can register to attend. Open sessions will feature talks and posters from early career researchers, selected from abstract submissions. The programme will be followed by an entertaining talk and evening barbecue.
Wednesday 9th September: Plant Pathology 2026 Day 1
- Registration/Breakfast from 08:00
- Programme 09:15 to 18:00
- Conference Dinner
Featuring presentations from invited speakers, offered papers, the P. H. Gregory Competition and posters including the J. Colhoun Poster Prize competition.
The conference dinner takes place at Dunston Hall on Wednesday evening and is included in the ticket price of early bird registrations. The venue is now at full capacity and the conference dinner will not be included with standard registrations.
Thursday 10th September: Plant Pathology 2026 Day 2
- Registration/Breakfast from 08:00
- Programme 09:15 to 17:00
Featuring a range of presentations from invited speakers, talks and posters selected from abstract submissions. The day will conclude with the keynote RKS Wood prize presentation and the announcement of prize winners.
Friday 11th September: Plant Pathology 2026 Day 3
We are offering three parallel sessions that can be selected at registration.
- Workshop: Launching ventures: strategy, story and scale (09:15 to 12 noon)
- Green-shielding our food security: Endophyte discovery and applications in plant pathology (09:15 to 12 noon)
- Surveillance and improved disease control (09:15 to 15:30)
Confirmed speakers for Plant Pathology 2026
We have a great line up of invited speakers:
ECPP – Tuesday
PPATH – Main Sessions – Wednesday & Thursday
- Saskia Hogenhout – BSPP President
- Nick Talbot – The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, winner of the RKS Wood Prize 2026
- Sanu Arora – John Innes Centre, UK.
- Tolga Bozkurt – Imperial College London, UK.
- Gitta Coaker – UC Davis, California.
- Olaf Czarnecki – KWS.
- Cian Duggan, ResurrectBio, UK.
- Adrian Fox – FERA, UK.
- Sergio de la Fuente van Bentem – ENZA.
- Diane Saunders – John Innes Centre, UK.
- Ryohei Terauchi – Kyoto University, Japan.
- Adriaan Verhage – RijkZwaan.
- Vivianne Vleeshouwers – Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands.
- Rachel Wells – John Innes Centre, UK.
PPATH – Parallel Sessions – Friday
Workshop: Launching ventures: strategy, story and scale
Cian Duggan (chair)
- James Canham – The Sainsbury Laboratory, UK
- Ross Hendron – Wild Bioscience Ltd, Oxford, UK
- Rao Uppalapati – Corteva
- and more…
Green-shielding our food security: Endophyte discovery and applications in plant pathology
Lorena Rangel, David Collinge and Kwasi Adusei-Fosu (chairs)
- Lorena Rangel – The James Hutton Institute, UK
- David Collinge – University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- Kwasi Adusei-Fosu – Bioeconomy Science Institute, New Zealand
- Richard Johnson – Bioeconomy Science Institute, New Zealand
- and more….
Surveillance and improved disease control (in association with the Association of Applied Biology – AAB)
This session is now full – and no longer available when registering
Jon West (chair)
- Kyran Maloney – SAC Consulting, UK
- John Clarkson – The University of Warwick, UK.
- Ross Haffenden – Optigene, UK
- and more….
Early Careers Plant Pathology – ECPP2026 is an informal meeting that provides the opportunity for postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers and early career researchers in industry to present a talk or poster and to connect with other early career researchers. If you are eligible for the P.H. Gregory Competition or J. Colhoun Poster Prize in the main meeting the same poster or presentation can be offered for both ECPP2026 and PPATH2026.
Approved by the Royal Society of Biology for purposes of CPD, this event may be counted as 30 CPD points.
Plant Pathology 2026 – PPATH2026 features offered papers, invited speakers, the P.H. Gregory Competition, poster sessions including the J. Colhoun poster prize, parallel sessions and much more.
Approved by the Royal Society of Biology for purposes of CPD, this event may be counted as 72 CPD points.
The J. Colhoun Poster Prize is open to members who fall into one of the following categories at the time of registration for the conference:
- A student member who is a registered university student.
- A full member, who has been a member for at least a year and who has not previously presented a poster at an academic conference.
- A student member who is a registered university student and who has not previously given a talk at a P H Gregory competition session
- A full member, who has been a member for at least a year and who has not previously presented an oral paper at a learned society meeting.
To be selected for the prize competition session, candidates must have registered for the conference by the abstract submission deadline for oral presentations. If there are more entrants than spaces, BSPP trustees will select speakers. A committee of judges will select the winner.
Registration details
Register for Tuesday (ECPP2026) and/or for the main PPATH2026 meeting Wednesday to Friday.
- Registration for ECPP2026 includes;
- lunch,
- afternoon refreshments
- evening BBQ.
- Registration for PPATH2026 includes;
- Breakfast on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
- Morning and afternoon refreshment breaks on all days
- Lunch on Wednesday and Thursday. Takeaway lunch Friday.
- Conference Dinner Wednesday Evening for early bird registrations only.
- Parking
- Parallel Session attendance
- Poster displays and exhibitors
Attendees will make their own arrangements for their evening meal on Thursday.
All tickets are non-residential, you can book accommodation for the conference here
Early bird rates are available until 31 May, after which standard registration fees will apply.
Final deadline for registration is 23:59 31 July*.
*If the conference capacity has been reached before this date then registration will close earlier.
Register here for ECPP2026 and PPATH2026
If you are not a member – you can become a member of the BSPP and benefit from the reduced registration costs
Participants in BSPP ECCP and Plant Pathology conferences can claim CPD points for Royal Society of Biology professional registration schemes.
Visa applications:
If you require a Visa to travel to the UK we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. The BSPP can provide a letter of invitation to attend the meeting (please contact info@bspp.org.uk) but can not directly sponsor your visit to the UK. Unfortunately if your visa application has not been approved before our deadline for cancellations we can not refund your registration costs.
Please note our cancellation policy: Update
As we have closed registration early due to reaching our capacity, and have a waiting list for those wishing to register, we have extended our cancellation with 100% refund up to 31 July.
- Up to and including 17 July 2026: 100% refund or you can choose to transfer the booking to someone else.
- From 18 July 2026 onwards: No refund, but you can choose to transfer the booking to someone else.
- If you need to cancel or transfer the booking, please contact admin@bspp.org.uk
Abstract submissions
The deadline for abstracts to be considered for an oral presentation is 23:59 BST on 31 May. You must also have registered by this date to be considered for an oral presentation.
Final deadline for abstracts for poster presentations is 23:59 30 June*.
*If the conference capacity has been reached before this date then registration and abstract submissions will close earlier.
