International Plant Molecular Biology Congress 2018

The 12th International Plant Molecular Biology meeting (IPMB2018, www.ipmb2018.org) will take place from 5 to 10 August 2018 in Montpellier. This congress, which has been held every 3 years since 1984, brings together researchers from all over the world working in all fields of Plant Sciences. The last edition took place in Iguazu Falls (Brazil) in 2015 and the previous ones in Jeju (South Korea) in 2012 and in Saint-Louis (USA) in 2009.

Montpellier was selected to host the 12th edition of the congress thanks to the quality of its dossier: it is one of the French cities that gathers the largest community of researchers in the field of plant sciences, its location makes it attractive and easy to access for researchers from all over the world, it has a large capacity in hotels and accommodation in the city centre (a partnership with the CROUS has been engaged for the reception of students), and its congress centre in the heart of the city can accommodate up to 2000 people (Le Corum and its Berlioz auditorium).

More than 1500 participants are expected, researchers, students and post-doctoral fellows as well as private partners, for 6 days of congress alternating plenary sessions, parallel conferences, workshops, poster sessions and workshops. The opening lecture will be given by Professor Craig C Mello, Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine 2006.

The organisation of the congress has been entrusted to a local organising committee which includes researchers from the major Montpellier UMRs (BPMP, DIADE, BGPI, AGAP, IPME) supported by thesis students and post-doctoral fellows from their respective laboratories and by an international scientific committee which includes researchers from internationally renowned research units in the field of "Plant Sciences".

The organisers also benefit from logistical support: from the American Society of Plant Biology (ASPB) to develop the congress website (https://www.ipmb2018.org/welcome), to manage registrations and abstracts submissions and to ensure the financial management of the congress and from the Société Francaise de Biologie Végétale (SFBV)

The final budget of the congress should be around 900,000 euros. Requests for subsidies from other supervisory bodies (INRA, CIRAD, IRD, CNRS, UM, SUPAGRO, CGIAR) as well as from local authorities (Region, Metropolis, City) are underway, but no definitive answer has been obtained to date. Active communication on social networks, particularly via twitter ([color=#000080]https://twitter.com/ipmb2018[/color], 250 tweets and 415 subscribers to date), has already made it possible to ensure the promotion of this congress on an international scale and should contribute to its success.