Plant Biology Meeting

Key Dates:

Friday 1 May, 2026

Registration & Abstract Submission Open

Wednesday 24 June, 2026

Abstract Submission Deadline

Friday 17 July, 2026

Early Bird Registration Deadline 4pm

Thursday 20 August, 2026

Registrations close 4pm

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3-4 September 2026

Te Pae, Christchurch, New Zealand

Convenors: Robert Schaffer, Bioeconomy Science Institute and Karine David, University of Auckland

The QRW Plant Satellite will be held at the Te Pae Convention Centre 3-4 September 2026. The meeting will start off with the QRW Plenary on Wednesday evening (2 Sept), followed by two full days of sessions concluding at 5:30 pm on Friday (4 Sept).

This meeting is joined with the New Zealand Society for Plant Biology and will host keynote addresses from the NZSPB Roger Slack Award and the Michael McManus Student Award winners.

The program offers excellent national and international networking opportunities and there will be dedicated slots for student talks and posters.

Registration opens in May.

Current themes covered: New Breeding Technologies, Plant Reproduction, Plant-Microbe Interactions, Genomics &; AI, Plant Development, Cellular Structures, and Secondary Metabolites.

Confirmed Plenary Speakers:
- Prof Andrew Allan - The Bioeconomy Science Institute PFR, The University of Auckland Auckland (Genomics, new breeding technologies).
- Prof George Coupland - Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Germany (Flower development).
- Prof Hong Ma - Pennsylvania State University (Genomics and plant reproduction).
- Prof Jim Whelan - College of Life Science, Zhejiang University (Plant development and energy metabolism).
- Dr Yunliu Zeng - Hangzhou Agricultural University (Secondary metabolism).