The Plant Science Research Network

The PSRN organizes activities such as strategic planning workshops and community listening sessions. Learn more about the PSRN workshops by downloading the white papers.

Decadal Vision

Plant Science Decadal Vision 2020-2030: Reimagining the Potential of Plants for a Healthy Future (2020). The Decadal Vision identifies eight major goals to integrate research, people, and technology over the next decade. Addressing these goals will require unprecedented collaborations within and outside the plant and microbial sciences, new technologies, new training paradigms, new work cultures, and the broadening of participation.

Training

Reinventing Postgraduate Training in the Plant Sciences (2018). The PSRN presents the recommendations that resulted from two workshops held in 2016 and 2017.

Cyberinfrastructure

Plant Systems Cyberinfrastructure 10 Year Strategic Plan (2017). A 10-year strategic plan for cyber infrastructure needs for plant systems research, with goals to advance interdisciplinary training and broadening participation. Recommendations from the 2016 workshop addressing  big data and cyberinfrastructure for plant systems research.

Scenarios for 2035

Imagining Science in 2035 (2016). Scenarios are different than typical projections, in that they offer alternative stories about the future that are used collectively to develop strategies. Describing 20-year scenarios for plant science, Imagining Science in 2035 is intended to provide a broad-based, plant science-oriented resource for planning research, education and training activities. Follow the career path of a fictional plant scientist named Dakota in four distinct future scenarios for the year 2035. The early indicators, strategies, and critical uncertainties for the plant sciences were identified in our 2016 Scenario Development workshop. Additional resources are available in the Plantae collection of resources.

Earlier Visions

Unleashing a Decade of Innovation in Plant Science: A Vision for 2015-2025 (2013). A second meeting, the Plant Summit 2013, consisting of a smaller cohort of plant scientists whose charge was to build upon the foundational work of the first Summit and develop a succinct compilation of recommended plant science research priorities, was convened in January 2013. The 2013 report established a need for the Plant Science Research Network and identified community priorities for plant science research and training over the 10 years (2015 – 2025).

The Green Frontier: A Unified Vision for Plant Research (2011). In September 2011, representatives from the full spectrum of plant science research – from basic to applied and industry to academia – gathered to develop a consensus plan to invigorate and guide plant science research over the next decade. The meeting marked the first time this diverse community assembled to unify their vision for the future.

The Plant Science Research Network (PSRN) was established in August 2015 to further the goals outlined in the 2013  Decadal Vision. Since then, the PSRN has organized strategic workshops around topics such as big data, training, diversity and inclusion, and plant science research. Learn more by downloading the workshop white papers.