agenda annual business meeting, cspb/scbv tuesday, july 15 ... · the 2016 annual conference will...

AGENDA

Annual Business Meeting, CSPB/SCBV Tuesday, July 15th, 2014, 12:00-13:30

Room B117-119, Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon

1. Quorum 2. Accept agenda 3. Receive minutes of the 2013 Annual Business Meeting in Laval (posted on the CSPB website under ‘Documents & Forms’) 4. Reports of Officers

a. President- De Luca b. Past President-Plaxton c. Vice-president – Geitmann d. Treasurer- Weger e. Communications Director - Wasteneys f. Eastern Regional Director- Cholewa g. Western Regional Director - Moorhead h. Education Director- Madoka

5. Business arising a. CSPB logo (Weger) b. CSPB 2014 Awards c. Future CSPB Meetings

6. Election of officers

a. Nominations b. Additional nominations c. Appointment of the officers as directors of the corporation

7. Other Business 8. Announce Incoming Executive meeting. 9. Adjournment

Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting – CSPB/SCBV Tuesday July 15, 2014, 12:00 pm Portland, OR, USA 1) Quorum – 48 members present (attendee list attached) 2) Moved by S. Mahmoud/G. Moorhead to accept the agenda. Carried. 3) Moved by S. Pépin/G. Beaudoin to receive the minutes of the 2013 ABM. Carried. 4) Presentation by Janice Cooke about the 2014 NSERC Discovery Grants competition. Plant Biology (LSB01) is included among the Biological Systems and Functions Evaluation Group (1502). Dr. Cooke pointed out that LSB01 has a slightly higher average grant size than other Research Topics in 1502, but that most funded applicants in EG 1502 received grants of $33k or less. In contrast, LSB01 also had some very large awards that were absent in the other Research Topics in EG 1502. Ecology and Evolution (EG 1503) tended to have a smaller average grant size, with many researchers in the range $20k-$22k per annum. She also pointed out that within EG 1502, 18% of successful applicants were in the Plant Biology Research Topic (LSB01), but that only 9% of the members of EG 1502 were plant biologists. Dr. Cooke suggested that researchers in LSB01 are thus being evaluated by a small group of people that doesn’t represent the breadth of expertise in the CSPB and Canadian plant biology. She concluded that LBS01 deserves greater representation within EG 1502, and that she proposes that the CSPB send a letter to NSERC outlining our concerns. V. De Luca mentioned that Past-president Bill Plaxton had sent such a letter to NSERC last year. There was a discussion about sending another letter to NSERC. Moved by C. Douglas/D. Goring that the CSPB strike an ad hoc committee to compose a letter to NSERC regarding the low representation of plant biologists on EG 1502. Carried. There was general discussion about possible people to invite to join this committee. 5) Janice Cooke provided an overview of a meeting on the morning of July 12, hosted by the ASPB, of the Pacific Rim/International Committee. The meeting was called by ASPB member Jeff Bennetzen, and addressed the state of programs that currently exist to foster plant biology research collaborations among Pacific Rim nations. One impetus for the meeting was to approach the US government for funding that could be used to leverage additional funding from Asian countries. Willi Gruissem represented the Global Plant Council at the meeting. There are limited formal programs for collaboration at present, although the Gates Foundation does have some useful programs in that respect. It was suggested at the meeting that there should be a cross-society working group to push forward this issue. 6) Reports of Officers (reports attached) a) President’s Report (V. De Luca) – President De Luca (VDL) thanked Vice-president A. Geitmann for her major efforts in helping to organize Plant Biology 2014, and also thanked Secretary B. Micallef for

organizing the numerous documents associated with the ABM and the Executive meetings, despite not being able to attend the conference. He also thanked outgoing Student/Post-Doc Representative Michael Stokes for the great job that he did in that position. VDL also welcomed Dr. Glen Uhrig as the new Student/Post-Doc Representative, and gave congratulations to Dr. Darrell Desveaux (2014 C.D. Nelson Award winner), Dr. Shaun Mansfield (2014 Gifford Tree Biology Award winner), Dr. Beverley Green (2013 Society Medal address), Dr. Uwe Hacke (2013 C.D. Nelson Award address) and Gregory Downs (2013 Ibrahim Award). He also thanked Dr. Ingo Ensminger for leading the organizing effort for a superb 2013 Eastern Regional Meeting. VDL described attending a recent Global Plant Council (GPC) workshop in China, which focussed on the biofortification of crop-based foods. He stressed that food quality was a worldwide issue, and not restricted only to the developing world. He also mentioned the discussion at the Outgoing Executive Meeting, in which the Executive discussed whether the expense of maintaining connection with the GPC (annual membership dues plus the cost of sending a delegate to the annual GPC conference); the consensus is that the expense is clearly worthwhile. VDL also mentioned the discussion at the Executive regarding the issue of the logo. The discussion about the logo focussed on tradition versus updating the logo. b) Vice-president’s Report (A. Geitmann) – Vice-president Geitmann mentioned that there are approximately 120 Canadians at Plant Biology 2014. The next annual CSPB conference will be the 2015 Plant Canada conference, held in conjunction with the Botanical Society of America, in Edmonton AB. The CSPB will be organizing symposia for that conference. The 2016 annual conference will be held at Queen’s University (Kingston ON), and the venue for the 2017 conference is not yet decided. The next CSPB-ASPB joint conference will be held in 2018, in Canada. The venue will be either Montreal or Vancouver. The 2019 conference will be a Plant Canada conference. c) Treasurer’s Report (H. Weger) – The Society is in good financial shape, with total non-encumbered funds slightly increasing from year to year. For Plant Biology 2014, a record amount of funding (approximately $15k) was allocated to the Duff Travel Bursaries. H. Weger thanked Canadian Science Publishing for their generous donation of $2000 towards the travel bursaries. Membership levels are at approximately 400. H. Weger asked members to encourage fellow plant scientists to join the Society. The CSPB is the largest constituent society within Plant Canada. d) Communications Director (G. Wastenays) – The CSPB Bulletin serves as a permanent record of the activities of the Society. GW welcomes submissions for the upcoming issue of the Bulletin. e) Western Region Director (G. Moorhead) – Possible options for a Western Regional Meeting are being considered. One option is a joint meeting with the University of Victoria’s Forest and Tree Research Colloquium; this has been done in the past. f) Education Director (M. Gray-Mitsumune) – The Education Committee is looking for ideas for workshops, outreach and education content for the Education section of the CSPB website.

There have been some excellent Education activities at Plant Biology 2014, including a forum on the flipped classroom and an Education mini-symposium. The mini-symposium had excellent representation from the University of British Columbia (three presentations). As well, the ASPB has an Education booth at the conference. It was pointed out by Dr. Santokh Singh that the Canadian Botanical Association (CBA) has already proposed an Education symposium for the 2015 conference. Perhaps it might be worthwhile to hold a joint CBA-CSPB Education symposium? MGM suggested that combining the Education sections of the websites of the two societies might also be worthwhile. S. Singh also suggested that perhaps the CSPB might consider sponsoring a plant biology-related prize at science fairs, as there rarely seems to be any science fair prizes related to plants. H. Weger will look into the possibilities. 7) Business Arising a) Logo – H. Weger briefly outlined the various discussions and suggestions that have been made about the CSPB logo. The current logo includes the sun partially hidden by clouds, a stylized plant, an Erlenmeyer beaker with a radioactivity symbol, and some lines. This logo was designed in the 1960s, and it has been suggested that the logo represents photosynthesis research as practised at that time (with extensive use of 14C); it’s not clear what the line represent. Opinions about the current logo can be categorized into three views: 1) the current logo is fine as is, 2) the current should be simplified, and 3) the logo should re-designed. D. Goring suggested that a logo competition be undertaken. There was a lot of interest in that suggestion. The logo issue will be described in the next issue of the Bulletin. b) CSPB Award Winners – A. Geitmann organized the judging for this conference. As all oral presenters in mini-symposia also presented posters, and relatively few CSPB student members were invited to participate in the mini-symposia , there are two Presidents’ Awards for best poster: 1) a junior award (MSc and first year PhD students), and 2 )a senior award (PhD students past first year). The winner of the junior award is Ainsley Chan (University of Manitoba), and the winner of the senior award is Teagan Quilichini (University of British Columbia). c) Future Meetings – See Vice-president’s Report (above). 8) Election of Officers – Senior Director (J.B. Charron) (nominations attached) a) J-B. Charron presented the report of the Nominating Committee. b) J.-B. Charron asked if there are any nominations from the floor; none were received. Moved by J.-B. Charron/G. Wastenays that the report of the Nominating Committee be accepted. Carried. 9) Adjournment Moved by D. Goring/J.-B. Charron that the meeting be adjourned. Carried.

2014 Annual Business MeetingJuly 1 5'h, 2014, 12:oo-1 3 :30Room: BLIT-I19, Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon

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The Canadian Society of Plant Biologists

Annual Meeting, July 14, 2014

President’s 2014 Report

1. On behalf of CSPB and myself, I would like to thank V-P Anja Geitman for her excellent

preparatory work and significant involvement in organization of our joint ASPB-CSPB

meeting and for coordinating the organization of the outgoing executive, incoming

executive and AGM in Portland. Thanks and appreciation also goes to Barry Micallef

who could not be with us at this meeting and who did an excellent job at organizing the

various agendas and paper work for these meetings.

2. I would also like to officially thank Michael Stokes for his excellent work as

Student/Postdoctoral representative. Michael did a great job representing his colleagues

and also displayed creative initiative by organizing student participation in various

activities at the National and Eastern regional meetings of the CSPB, that were very well

received. Good luck Michael in your new activities and in your future research career.

Also I would like to officially welcome our new Student/Postdoctoral representative,

Glenn Uhrig from the ETH in Zurich to our Executive.

3. On behalf of the CSPB and myself, I would like to congratulate Darrell Desveaux, Shawn

Mansfield and Gregory Downs for their receiving their well-deserved CD Nelson, DG

Gifford and RK Ibrahim awards, respectively. Congratulations go to Hardy C Hall who

received an honorable mention in the RK Ibrahim competition. Congratulations also go to

last year’s Gold Medal award winner (Beverley Green) and CD Nelson award winner

(Uwe Hacke) who will be presenting their seminars at the joint ASPB-CSPB meeting in

Portland Oregon

4. Very successful 2013 Eastern Regional CSPB Meetings were held on the Mississauga

Campus of the University of Toronto. Our Society appreciates and acknowledges the

excellent efforts of Dr. Ingo Ensminger, Chair of the Organizing Committee composed of

Thomas Berleth, George Espie, Herbert Kronzucker, Nick Provart, Rowan Sage, Deep

Saini and numerous student volunteers. The efforts of Ewa Cholewa our ERM director

who coordinated the evaluation of student oral and poster presentations are also greatly

appreciated. Further details relating to the meeting can be found in Ewa’s CSPB Bulletin

draft report for the next newsletter.

5. CSPB has been a founding member of the Global Plant Council since 2009 as part of a

collective of at least 26 plant societies around the planet. CSPB is participating in the

GPC motivated in part to participate in solving the problems associated with growth of

human populations and its consequences. Our society has been keen to be involved in

member activities and Past-President Carl Douglas who has been doing an excellent job

for our Society through his past and continuing participation in GPC meetings that are

usually held at the tail end of different international conferences.

a. Recently the GPC invited participants to attend a workshop on Biofortification of

Crops (July 5-6, 2014) that was held in Xiamen, China at the end of the 3rd

International Conference on Plant metabolism. Since I happened to be attending

the Plant Metabolism Conference, Plant Canada and CSPB recommended that I

participate in this workshop as their representative. The purpose of the workshop

was to focus on developing solutions and positions by the GPC that could solve

the major global problem of malnutrition that has important international impacts

on human societies around the globe.

b. While there are several initiatives by government supported (WHO, FAO) and

private organizations (The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, HarvestPlus,

GoldenRice.org) to improve the nutritional value of staple crops, the GPC sought

to use the workshop to expand and further define the scope of the nutritional

enhancements that need to be addressed. This initiative was based on the

knowledge that in addition to nutritional problems associated with the developing

world, large segments of human population within developed countries are poorly

nourished and that very expensive information campaigns to “educate” the public

on the nutritional value consuming a varied diet have largely failed.

c. The workshop consisted of a number of presentations and breakout sessions

associated with different initiatives to improve: A) the bioavailable Iron and Zinc

content of a range of crops by traditional breeding methods or by genetic

engineering of these traits; B) dietary fiber availability from a broader range of

crops; C) Vitamin A, B, D, Folates and others; D) small molecule antioxidants

(flavonols, isoflavones, stilbenoids and anthocyanins); E) Essential amino acids

and proteins.

d. The workshop also focused on developing mechanisms to promote dialogue and

collaboration between plant scientists, food scientists, nutritionists, biomedical

scientists and clinicians. The major impediments to promote these collaborations

seemed to be on i) the reluctance of scientists to be flexible and to take risks in

collaborations that they could not entirely control; ii) the lack of funding

mechanisms that could promote this interdisciplinary research. Possible solutions

included the development of interdisciplinary research programs that reward

cross-discipline collaborations. This could be stimulated by Universities and

governments who promote interdisciplinary research institutes and links between

research entities within research departments.

e. Some examples were provided of products that could be delivered to for

improving the nutritional quality of food:

i. Super broccoli with high sulforaphane levels were produced by traditional

breeding and are now available in the EU. Consumption of high

sulphoraphane containing vegetables is encouraged by many animal and

few human studies that have shown it to have health benefits through the

through the induction of detoxification pathways and reducing

inflammation pathways. More human studies are being organized to

illustrate the disease preventing properties of super broccoli.

ii. The Harvest Plus Program developed orange sweet potato containing high

levels of Vitamin A for cultivation in 17 African countries. The Program

included funding of communication approaches to convince farming

communities to cultivate these products, together with educational, social

and marketing programs to develop distribution practices that provide high

Vitamin A products to over 2 million African households. This program

was successful in reducing the incidence of Vitamin A deficiency related

diseases in these households. This example sets the stage for the

approaches to introduce a larger range of nutritionally improved products

within developing countries.

f. The outcome of the workshop produced a number of ideas that will be translated

into a policy paper and some publications that will provide recommendations for

the funding of research approaches that will yield improved nutrition crops

combined with evidence based medical studies that support the disease

preventative properties of those crops.I am hopeful that the position paper and

publications will be of use to encourage government organizations in Canada

realize the strategic importance of basic and applied plant research to the well-

being of Canadians and to human populations around the planet so that increased

sustained funding can be generated for both basic and applied collaborative

research programs.

g. The Workshop participants included Acting GPC President Wilhelm Gruissem,

Ececutive director Ruth Bastow, Board Member Zhihong Xu, Cathie Martin,

Barbara Halkier, Geof Fincher, Mark Stitt, Barry Pogson, Richard Mithen, Jan

Low, KN Rai James Stangoulis and others.

6. I would like to express my appreciation to the Executive for facilitating my job as

President over the past year through their enthusiasm and their selfless will to help at

every turn to solve the problems that have appeared. The past year has been very good for

our Society and there have been few serious problems to deal with. One important and

ongoing issue related to the emblems/logos on our Society web site and on the Gold

Medal honors distinguished researchers who have made seminal contributions to Plant

Biology over an entire career. Basically some members of the Executive (including

myself) have suggested that the emblems on the Gold Medal reflect past traditional

research tools used in metabolism and photosynthesis research and that these traditional

emblems are fine representations of our Society. Other members of our Executive have

suggested that it may be valuable to consider some new emblems that reflect modern

plant biological research and that it may be a good idea to have a competition to design

new logos that are representative of the s more modern CSPP. Clearly it is now

important to obtain feedback from our membership in order to proceed to a decision on

the approach on the CSPB logos.

Submitted by: Vincenzo De Luca

Portland, Oregon (14/07/14)

The Canadian Society of Plant Biologists Annual Meeting, July 2014

Vice-President - Report 2014 Portland Meeting - Plant Biology 2014 Meeting Preparation: As the official liaison for this joint conference I participated in two preparatory meetings, the first in September 2013 in Portland (OR), the second in Fort Worth (TX) in March 2014. The first had the purpose to clarify logistics, visit the convention center, and plan the outline of the scientific program. The second focused on the scientific program and selection of submitted abstracts for Mini-Symposia. Because of a record number of abstracts, overall only 20-30% of those wanting to give an oral presentation were given a Mini-Symposium slot, but Canadians are proportionally well represented. Registration: I don't have the latest number of total registrations, but it shapes up to be a record year compared to other ASPB meetings. More than 110 participants are either CSPB members or have indicated to live in Canada. This is excellent representation of our Society. Awards: Two of our 2013 awardees will give presentations during the joint awards symposium on Saturday afternoon.

• 13h30 - Gold Medal 2013, Beverley Green • 13h35 - CD Nelson 2013, Uwe Hacke

This year's awards will be announced at the beginning of this symposium (12h00) together with ASPB awards. These are:

• CD Nelson: Darrell Desveaux (not present at the ceremony, award will be given at the Business meeting)

• David Gifford in Tree Biology: Shawn Mansfield • Ibrahim Award for best student paper published in 2013

CSPB Mixer: To give Canadian participants an opportunity for networking within our own Society framework, I organized an informal get-together of CSPB members similar to the format used in 2010 at the Montreal meeting. Members will receive coupons for one drink each (as agreed to per exec vote). Additional drinks and food are at everyone's own expense. We meet in a reserved downstairs section of the "Brasserie Montmartre" (http://brasseriepdx.com/) on July 14th, starting 6pm. Student Judging: 34 students signed up as candidates for the two CSPB student awards. Some of these students give oral presentations, but since all mini-symposium presenters are supposed to also present posters, the judging will be done on posters only, thus making logistics easier. The students have been informed of this. The following senior Society members have graciously accepted to take over the task of judging: Sherryl Bisgrove, Jean-Benoit Charron, Peter Constabel, Ingo Ensminger, Daphne Goring, Madoka Gray-Mitsumune, Greg Moorhead, Emily Indriolo; Carl Douglas will be available as back-up. The logistics of the judging is challenging since we only have one poster session available (Sunday), as the second one coincides with the mixer. The awards will be given during our Business Meeting on Tuesday at noon, thus hopefully motivating students to show up. Pacific Rim Meeting: Spearheaded by ASPB (and coordinated by Crispin Taylor, Executive Director of the ASPB) a workshop will be organized on July 12, to which we were invited. It is aimed at bolstering connections and collaborations among plant biologists in Pacific Rim countries. The topics currently planned to be discussed include germplasm and data availability; shared platforms for large-scale research; enhanced or joint meetings and communication; and collaborative research projects. Since this workshop coincides with the outgoing exec meeting (as well as the Plant Physiology editorial board meeting which I need to attend at least briefly), Vince de Luca and I were able to recruit Janice Cooke (Edmonton) to represent us; the most important mandate being to report back to the Executive. I also asked her to write a piece for the Bulletin on this meeting.

NEXT Joint Meeting with the ASPB The next joint meeting with ASPB will take place in 2018 should be on Canadian soil. During the program meetings with the ASPB several Canadian cities were considered (Vancouver, Québec, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary). The final decision will largely depend on the type of deals ASPB is able to secure in terms of rental fees for the conference center and hotel prices (their favourites are Montreal and Vancouver for the moment). I have no update on the final decision yet. Plant Canada I have participated in a series of telephone conferences of the Board of Directors of Plant Canada. The most important items are listed below. Minutes of the meetings are available upon request. Edmonton 2015 The Edmonton meeting is a joint meeting of the Plant Canada meeting with the BSA. Since BSA is the larger organization with professional staff, they will handle logistics, but they definitely want input from the Plant Canada side.

-‐ I am the CSPB rep on the Plant Canada committee assigned to liaise with BSA (the chair being John Markham). Since I happen to participate at this year's BSA meeting (Boise, Idaho, end of July), I will take advantage to talk to the BSA people in person, especially with David Spooner (BSA Program Director) and Johanne Stogran (BSA Director of Conferences). I will also have a good look at how their meeting is run. Since I am giving a talk I will be able to report back on how they handle the question of Powerpoint files etc. I anticipate none of the issues that raised concerns at the Halifax meeting (early file upload) since I haven't been asked to upload anything in advance.

-‐ Janice Cooke has been recruited as local CSPB rep. I presume she will rope a couple of her colleagues into this as well.

-‐ Societies can support symposia (typically 6 speakers/symposium) financially to whatever level they wish. However, symposia financing does not go into the overall budgeting for the conference (Societies are not reimbursed for symposia expenses). If more than 12 symposia are proposed a committee of BSA and Plant Canada will be formed to decide on which symposia to run. The criteria will include representing all the societies and diversity of topics and presenters. Societies can sponsor as many symposia as they want. They can also sponsor symposia financially or in name only. There is also the option to run a colloquium instead of a symposium (fewer speakers, shorter talks).

-‐ All other Society specific activities need to be financed by the Societies themselves, e.g. individual banquets etc.

-‐ Societies are supposed to do fundraising to finance their own activities. It seems unclear for now whether PC will organize a committee to do this in a coordinated manner.

-‐ PC will give one travel award (500$) per Society. All other student travel awards need to come from Society coffers.

-‐ Only 2-3 awards per Society can be given during the official awards ceremony, since otherwise the event becomes too long. Other awards (should there be more) need to be given during business meetings or individual Society banquets.

Proposed joint meeting in 2019 The CPS (Canadian Phytopathological Society) has proposed to PC to co-host the International Plant Protection Congress (IPPC) in 2019 to be held in Vancouver. After consulting with out own Executive, our position seems relatively clear being that we don't support this concept of yet another big international meeting replacing what is supposed to be a pancanadian meeting. I sent our opinion to the PC board members (see Annex). The Board will have a teleconference on July 17th to take a decision on this matter. Submitted on July 10th, 2014 Dr. Anja Geitmann

Vice-President CSPB Institut de recherche en biologie végétale Université de Montréal [email protected]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Annex CSPB Position on the proposed IPPC meeting in Vancouver, 2019 For the minutes (hence this text ONLY for Plant Canada internal discussion; please find a diplomatic statement for CSP below) The CSPB appreciates the possible advantages of networking across Society borders, and even national borders (as is the case for the joint meeting with BSA). In fact, our Society holds regular joint meetings with our American counterpart, the ASPB. Given the size of that Society, these meetings typically have 1500-1800 participants. They are organized on a 4-year rhythm, alternating with the Plant Canada meetings. However, we believe that in terms of the mandate of Plant Canada, joint meetings with Societies that are significantly bigger than Plant Canada defy the purpose of the organization that is called Plant Canada. We consider the major advantage of Plant Canada to meet across Society borders, but nevertheless at a scale of a meeting that remains small enough to be conducive to networking. At below 500 participants one regularly encounters acquaintances, the number of parallel sessions is easily overseen, and social events are personal. At >1000 participants this is not the case anymore. And while bigger meetings certainly have their own advantages, we think we will lose the character of a Plant Canada meeting if we conduct each of the widely spaced meetings (every 4 years only) as a joint event with a bigger society. Other concrete concerns can be summarized as follows: - Registration is likely to be more expensive than a standard Plant Canada conference, and thus taking students to the conference becomes more of a drain on lab finances. - The length of the conference is likely longer than a standard Plant Canada conference, which rather than attracting people might put them off. - The scientific focus of the joining society is likely to be too far removed from that of most CSPB members and hence nothing is gained but organizing this as a joint meeting. To summarize, we propose that if one of the Plant Canada member societies wishes to team up with their American counterparts or other potential partners, that they do so during non-PC years, as we do with ASPB. We would prefer Plant Canada meetings to conserve their interdisciplinary yet personal and Canadian character. For CPS: The CSPB appreciates the possible advantages of networking across Society borders. However, we would prefer to conserve the typical character of Plant Canada meetings, which is typically a meeting of 500 participants or less. Importantly, we are rather concerned about possible increased registration rates, increased length of the meeting, and a shift in scientific focus that is not of interest for most of our members, and that would be associated with the proposed joint meeting. We therefore recommend to Plant Canada to thank CPS for their offer but to not entertain this and maintain the scope of the meeting as originally planned, certainly given that the 2015 meeting already is a joint meeting with a big society. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Canadian Society of Plant Biologists Inc. La Société canadienne de biologie végétale incorporée

(CSPB-SCBV Inc.)

(Formerly the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists Inc./ Anciennement la Société canadienne de physiologie végétale incorporée)

Treasurer's Report Portland, OR, USA

July 2014. Name Change The name change of the not-for-profit corporation, and the associated charity, was officially approved by the federal government in April 2012. Thus, in this Treasurer’s Report, the not-for-profit corporation is referred to as “CSPB-SCBV Inc.”, and the charity is referred to as “CSPB-SCBV”, even when referring to events prior to the name change. Function of the Corporation CSPB-SCBV Inc. was originally established in order to facilitate lobbying efforts on behalf of science in Canada (federal government regulations forbid charities, e.g. CSPB-SCBV, to lobby). These efforts were to be carried out in conjunction with the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies (CFBS). Once established, CSPB-SCBV Inc. collected membership dues from Society members (dues had previously been collected by CSPB-SCBV), and forwarded a portion of the dues to CFBS. The remainder of the dues were transferred to CSPB-SCBV. Charitable donations to the Duff Travel Bursaries and/or the Oaks Scholarship Fund were also transferred to CSPB-SCBV. This system was relatively cumbersome, but was necessary in order to carry out lobbying efforts. With the termination of the Society's association with CFBS a number of years ago, the lobbying efforts of the Society have ceased. The bookkeeping system was therefore changed, such that the CSPB-SCBV collected membership dues and charitable donations. CSPB-SCBV Inc. is now relatively inactive and does not currently play a major financial role in the Society. This change in Society bookkeeping was enacted for September 2002, in time for the collection of 2003 membership dues. Assets and Financial Activity Assets of CSPB-SCBV Inc. consist solely of a chequing account and a GIC (see attached table). CSPB-SCBV Inc. had minimal financial activity in fiscal 2014; details are shown in the “Statement of Operations”. Corporation registration procedures for CSPB Inc have recently changed, as we have officially transitioned to the provisions of the federal government’s NFP Act (https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cd-dgc.nsf/eng/h_cs04953.html). We now pay $40 per year

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cd-dgc.nsf/eng/h_cs04953.html�

in corporation registration, and the corporation registration and payment are submitted within 90 days of the “anniversary date” (07-22) of the “certificate of continuance”. Lastly, as our bank now charges $3.00 per paper statement in the mail, we have moved to downloading e-statements from the CIBC website. This saves $36.00 per year. Respectfully submitted by Harold G. Weger Treasurer, CSPB-SCBV Inc. Dept. of Biology University of Regina Regina, SK

Assets and Investments

CSPB-SCBV Inc. Apr. 30/07 Apr. 30/08 Apr. 30/09 Apr. 30/10 Apr. 30/11 Apr. 30/12 Apr. 30/13 Apr. 30/14 CSPB-SCBV Inc. Corporate Chequing Account $4009.06 $907.06 $807.06 $729.06 $651.06 $523.06 $362.43 $269.43 GIC (CIBC) $3000.00 $3,127.50 $3,198.26 $3,211.09 $3,243.29 $3,279.07 $3,308.66 Total Cash and Securities $4,009.06 $3,907.06 $3,934.56 $3,927.32 $3,862.15 $3,766.35 $3,641.50 $3,578.09 Segregated Funds Total Encumbered Funds -- -- -- -- -- -- Total Non-Encumbered Funds

$4,006.06 $3,907.06 $3,934.56 $3,927.32 $3,862.15 $3,766.35 $3,641.50 $3,578.09

Statement of Operations

CSPB-SCBV Inc. For the Year Ended April 30, 2014.

REVENUE Interest on GIC $29.59 Total Revenue $29.59 EXPENSES Bank Fees $90.00 Total Expenses $90.00 Surplus/(Deficit) ($60.41)

Proposed Operating Budget CSPB-SCBV Inc.

Fiscal Year Ending April 30, 2015. REVENUE Interest on GIC $29.86 Total Revenue $29.86 EXPENSES Corporation Registration $40.00 Bank Fees $60.00 Total Expenses $100.00 Surplus/(Deficit) ($70.14)

The Canadian Society of Plant Biologists La Société canadienne de biologie végétale incorporée

(CSPB-SCBV)

(Formerly the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists/ Anciennement la Société canadienne de physiologie végétale)

Treasurer's Report Portland, OR, USA

July 2014.

CSPB-Sponsored Conferences The Society held two scientific conferences in fiscal year 2014: CSPB-SCBV 2013 (held at the Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, in June 2013) and the 2013 Eastern Regional Meeting (ERM; held at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, in December 2013). CSPB-SCBV 2013 had expenditures of approximately $47,000 and revenue of approximately $62,000 (see Statement of Operations). There was one final expense of $900 associated with CSPB-SCBV 2012 (held at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, in June 2012) that was paid directly by the Society. Also, approximately $1000 has been spent to date in the organization of Plant Biology 2014 (joint conference with the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), July 2014, Portland, OR); it is anticipated that substantial additional costs will be forthcoming (the last joint conference, Plant Biology 2010, produced total expenses of approximately $12,000). The CSPB provided $3,000 in seed money to the 2013 ERM. The accounting for the 2013 ERM has not yet arrived, however the organizers are projecting a small profit (including return of the seed money). Lastly, the 2015 annual conference will be a large conference, comprising the six plant biology societies within Plant Canada, the Botanical Society of America (BSA) and two other US-based societies, to be held in Edmonton, AB. The BSA is taking the lead in organizing the conference. As the CSPB has not previously taken part in such a large conference, the financial commitment is unknown. Based on experience with joint conferences with the ASPB, I am projecting a modest financial loss. Global Plant Council (http://www.globalplantcouncil.org/index.htm) The CSPB is a founding member of the Global Plant Council (GPC). Due to miscommunication (growing pains?) of this fledgling organization, the CSPB did not pay membership dues in 2011 or 2012. The GPC had asked all member societies for a one-time payment of 5X membership dues for 2012 (to “kick-start” the operations). Thus, we

forwarded US$3,500 ($3,7818.50 when converted to Canadian dollars and including wire transfer fees) to the GPC as membership dues in fiscal year 2013. The CSPB’s membership dues in the GPC are US$500 annually. The 2014 dues were paid by wire transfer on May 17, 2014, after the end of the 2014 fiscal year. Total payment was Cdn$649.85, which includes conversion to US dollars and also wire transfer fees; this will appear as an expense in the 2015 budget. The CSPB paid $1,334.21 to cover the travel expenses of our representative (the Science Policy Director) to the GPC meeting in Washington, DC. The GPC meets once per year. George Duff Student Travel Fund $295.00 was donated by Society members to the George Duff Travel Fund in fiscal year 2014. A total of $9775.00 was awarded in support of student and post-doc travel to CSPB-SCBV 2013; the difference in funding was supplied by general Society revenues. The total amount awarded was slightly lower than anticipated, as a number of students turned out to be unable to attend the conference. Ann Oaks Scholarship Fund The purpose of the Ann Oaks Scholarship Fund is to provide for the financial support of a PhD student in plant biology at a level comparable to an NSERC PGS Doctoral (PGS D) scholarship. The Oaks Scholarship Fund was established by a donation from long-time CSPB-SCBV member the late Dr. Ann Oaks FRSC; Dr. Oaks also made subsequent donations to the Fund. As well, CSPB-SCBV was the beneficiary of a life insurance policy by Dr. Oaks and was also included in Dr. Oaks’ will. Additional donations have been made by the Society membership; these donations are forwarded once per year to the Society’s investment advisor at IPC Securities. $700.00 was donated by Society members to the Oaks Scholarship Fund in fiscal year 2014. The Dr. Ann Oaks Doctoral Scholarship has been supporting graduate research since 2008 (fiscal year 2009), and $21,000 was used to support the PhD work of a graduate student in plant biology in fiscal 2014. The initial holder of the scholarship held the award for the maximum duration of three years. With NSERC’s help, the Oaks Board of Trustees identified the second holder of the Oaks Scholarship, who began their doctoral studies in plant biology in September 2011. Their studies are continuing, and they received their last payment in April 2014 (for a total of three years of support, at $21,000 per year). The Oaks Board of Trustees again enlisted the help of NSERC to help in identifying the next holder of the Oaks Scholarship; this was arranged in the fall of 2013. However, in spring 2014 NSERC informed the Board that the number of plant biology PGS D applicants was low this year. Unfortunately, the only highly ranked PGS D applicants that NSERC was able to forward for consideration for the scholarship did not meet the

scholarship criteria. The Board was thus unable to identify a new scholarship holder, and will try again next year (again, with NSERC’s help). The Fund is managed by the Society’s investment advisor at IPC Securities. The Fund had a good year in fiscal 2014, generating $56,239.18 while paying out $21,000 (the Fund occasionally loses money, but the overall trend is strongly upwards). The Oaks Scholarship is paid twice per year (two cheques for $10,500 each). I anticipate one payment of $10,500 to the new Oaks Scholarship holder in fiscal 2015 (the second cheque for $10,500 would be in fiscal 2016). The Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE; http://www.pagse.org/) The CSPB is a member organization of PAGSE. Annual membership dues are $750. On-line Membership Renewals The move to on-line membership renewals (via PayPal), instituted in late 2011, has been a success. Greater than 80% of membership renewals are now processed via the on-line system. Society (Gold) Medal The last Society Medal that is on hand will be presented at Plant Biology 2014. The CSPB will need to order additional medals in the near future. The medals are produced by Mississauga Mint; six medals will cost approximately $6,400. The medals have not yet been ordered (awaiting a decision about the possible redesign of the CSPB logo). Miscellaneous The funds for the Ibrahim Award for Best Student Paper (value is $350) are managed as part of the CSPB-SCBV investments with IPC; this is a separate account from the much larger Oaks Fund account which is also managed by IPC. The Ibrahim Award funds are considered to be segregated funds, while the remainder of the Society investments with IPC are not. The Ibrahim Award was established by a generous donation from long-time CSPB member Dr. Ragai Ibrahim. The CSPB paid for the professional translation of the new By-laws into French ($830.00). The Society had adopted a new set of By-laws (and a new Charter) as part of the transition process directed by the NFP Act. Accounting fees are predicted to go up for fiscal year 2015, as we have arranged for a review engagement to be done on the finances for the 2014 fiscal year.

The CSPB also maintains a small account with the University of Regina, used for paying for postage, courier and duplicating. Overall State of the Finances of the Society The Society posted a net gain, for non-encumbered funds, of approximately $11,000 in fiscal 2014; this was mainly due to the unexpectedly large profit from CSPB-SCBV 2013 (see Statement of Operations). However, the next two annual conferences (Plant Biology 2014 in Portland, OR, and Plant Canada 2015/BSA in 2015 in Edmonton, AB) may represent future financial losses. Overall, I believe that the Society is in good financial health (see financial history in the Assets and Investments table below). CSPB-SCBV Membership Annual membership trends are shown in an attached table (page 14). Respectfully submitted by Harold G. Weger Treasurer, CSPB-SCBV Dept. of Biology University of Regina Regina, SK

Assets and Investments (continued next page) CSPB-SCBV

Apr. 30/02 Apr. 30/03 Apr. 30/04 Apr. 30/05 Apr. 30/06 CSPP-SCPV Chequing Account $4,497.65 $14,468.67 $7,984.31 $37,682.86 $55,037.39 Money Market Fund (CIBC) $16,136.53 $16,453.62 $16,760.23 $16,905.54 $17,270.14 GIC (CIBC) -- -- -- -- -- BMO Nesbitt Burns (CSPP-SCPV) $41,027.65 $43,180.88 $46,345.78 $47,518.26 $60,499.67 BMO Nesbitt Burns (Oaks Fund) $54,232.98 $39,776.94 $43,529.28 $44,401.43 $315,631.95 Univ. of Regina CSPB Account -- $570.62 $151.91 $104.15 $127.29 Total Cash & Securities $115,894.81 $114,450.73 $114,771.51 $146,612.24 $448,566.44 Gold Medals (estimate) $1,050.00 -- $5,086.51 $5,086.51 $4,238.76 Total CSPB-SCBV Assets $116,944.81 $114,450.73 $119,858.02 $151,698.75 $452,805.20 Segregated Funds Ann Oaks Scholarship Fund $54,232.98 $39,776.94 $43,529.28 $44,401.43 $315,631.95 Duff Bursary Fund in Cheq Account $4,198.00 $1,396.00 $1,050.00 $1,593.57 $1,117.30 Oaks Donations in Cheq Account -- $1,367.00 $1,250.44 $1,255.00 $1,506.00 Oaks Scholarship in Cheq Account -- -- -- -- -- Gold Medals (estimate) $1,050.00 -- $5,086.51 $5,086.51 $4,238.76 Ibrahim Award Fund (CSPB IPC Acc’t) -- -- -- -- $10,000.00 CSPP-SCPV 2008 -- -- -- -- -- Total Encumbered Funds $58,430.98 $42,539.94 $50,916.23 $52,336.51 $332,494.01 Total Non-Encumbered Funds $58,513.83 $71,910.79 $68,941.52 $99,362.24 $120,311.19

Assets and Investments (continued next page) CSPB-SCBV

Apr. 30/07 Apr. 30/08 Apr. 30/09 Apr. 30/10 Apr. 30/11 Apr. 30/12 CSPB-SCBV

Chequing Account $18,041.34 $19,363.15 $74,457.19 $70,743.43 $77,919.87 $60,061.91 GIC (CIBC) $48,250.00 $49,963.28 $50,192.84 $51,397.47 $51,474.99 $51,732.36 BMO Nesbitt Burns (CSPB-SCBV) $61,648.55 $59,532.38 $56,920.01 -- -- -- BMO Nesbitt Burns (Oaks Fund) $432,487.20 $439,360.00 $421,990.77 -- $10.01 -- IPC (CSPB-SCBV) -- -- -- $59,321.26 $62,819.27 $63,729.40 IPC (Oaks Fund) -- -- -- $489,012.35 $518,458.03 $528,793.16 Univ. of Regina CSPB Account $692.03 $258.41 $851.64 $366.93 $40.95 $241.30 PayPal Account -- -- -- -- -- $2027.96 Total Cash & Securities $552,119.12 $568,477.22 $604,412.45 $670,841.44 $710,723.12 $706,586.09 Gold Medals (estimate) $4,238.76 $4,238.76 $3,391.00 $3,391.00 $2,543.24 $1,695.48 Total CSPB-SCBV Assets $565,357.88 $572,715.98 $607,803.45 $674,232.44 $713,266.36 $708,281.57

Segregated Funds

Ann Oaks Scholarship Fund $432,487.20 $439,360.00 $421,990.77 $489,012.35 $518,458.03 $528,793.16 Duff Bursary Fund in Cheq Account $700.00 $1,020.00 $595.00 $991.32 $1,165.00 $1,270.00 Oaks Donations in Cheq Account $1,009.09 $1,285.00 $1,290.00 $810.00 $910.00 $2,063.71 Oaks Scholarship in Cheq Account -- -- $10,500.00 $10,500.00 $10,500.00 -- Gold Medals (estimate) $4,238.76 $4,238.76 $3,390.99 $3,391.00 $2,543.24 $1,695.48 Ibrahim Award Fund (CSPB IPC Acc’t) $10,189.90 $9,840.12 $9,408.32 $9,455.22 $9,662.77 $9,450.77 CSPP-SCPV 2008 -- $300.00 -- -- --

Plant Development Workshop $3,000.00 $3,000.00 $3,000.00 Total Encumbered Funds $448,624.95 $456,043.88 $447,175.08 $517,159.89 $546,239.04 $546,273.12

Total Non-Encumbered Funds $116,732.93 $116,672.10 $160,628.37 $157,072.55 $166,027.32 $162,008.45

Assets and Investments (continued) CSPB-SCBV

Apr. 30/13 Apr. 30/14 CSPB-SCBV

Chequing Account $72,988.84 $58,898.11 GIC (CIBC) $52,120.35 $52,641.55 IPC (CSPB-SCBV) $67,296.26 $70,547.18 IPC (Oaks Fund) $544,446.12 $601,650.30 Univ. of Regina CSPB Account $168.82 $24.88 PayPal Account $0.00 $173.84 Total Cash & Securities $737,020.39 $783,935.86 Gold Medals (estimate) $847.74 $847.74 Total CSPB-SCBV Assets $737,868.13 $784,783.60 Segregated Funds Ann Oaks Scholarship Fund $544,446.12 $580,650.30 Duff Bursary Fund in Cheq Account $392.76 $295.00 Oaks Donations in Cheq Account $965.00 $700.00 Oaks Scholarship in Cheq Account -- -- Gold Medals (estimate) $847.74 $847.74 Ibrahim Award Fund (CSPB IPC Acc’t) $9,629.72 $9,744.91 Plant Development Workshop -- -- Total Encumbered Funds $556,281.34 $592,237.95

Total Non-Encumbered Funds $181,586.79 $192,545.65

Statement of Operations – CSPB-SCBV

Statement of Operations – CSPB-SCBV

Proposed Operating Budget – CSPB-SCBV

For the year ended April 30, 2013. For the year ending April 30, 2014. For the year ending April 30, 2015. REVENUE REVENUE REVENUE Membership Dues (Individual) $9,390.74 Membership Dues (Individual) $8,725.00 Membership Dues (Individual) $9,000.00

Membership Dues (Corporate) $4,000.00 Membership Dues (Corporate) $3,000.00 Membership Dues (Corporate) $3,500.00

Duff Travel Bursary Donations $392.76 Duff Travel Bursary Donations $295.00 Duff Travel Bursary Donations $250.00

Oaks Scholarship Fund Donations $965.00 Oaks Scholarship Donations $700.00 Oaks Scholarship Fund Donations $700.00

CSPB-SCBV 2012 – Gross Income $42,124.06 CSPB-SCBV 2012 – Gross Income $61,556.49 Eastern Regional Mtng 2011 – Net Profit $3,876.88 Eastern Regional Mtng 2012 - Net Profit $7,826.01 Eastern Regional Mtng 2013 - Net Profit $4,000.00

Plant Canada 2011 – Net Profit $26,462.74

GIC Interest (CIBC) $387.99 GIC Interest (CIBC) $521.20 GIC Interest (CIBC) $421.13

Growth in Oaks Fund investments (IPC) $34,579.24 Growth in Oaks Fund investments (IPC) $56,239.18 Growth in Oaks Fund Investments (IPC) $30,000.00

Growth in CSPB investments (IPC) $3,566.86 Growth in CSPB investments (IPC) $3,250.92 Growth in CSPB Investments (IPC) $2,500.00

Total Revenue $125,746.27 Total Revenue $142,113.80 Total Revenue $50,350.00

EXPENSES EXPENSES EXPENSES

Bank fees $55.16 Bank fees $90.82 Bank Fees $80.00

Credit card fees $764.82 Credit card fees $1,623.51 Credit card fees $1,200.00

PayPal fees $244.48 PayPal fees $219.57 PayPal fees $225.00

Duff Travel Bursaries $10,900.00 Duff Travel Bursaries $9,775.00 Duff Travel Bursaries $12,000.00

Awards $3,600.00 Awards $2,500.00 Awards $3,000.00

Website $521.39 Website $262.79 Website $275.00

Treasurer expenses $1,265.16 Treasurer Expenses $1,601.39 Treasurer Expenses $1,250.00

Secretary expenses $118.37 Secretary Expenses $1,000.00

President expenses $1,330.48 President expenses $747.10 President Expenses $1,000.00

Vice-President Expenses $1,223.17 Vice-President Expenses 850.00 Student/Post-doc rep expenses $$663.33

Gold Medal $847.74 Gold Medal $847.74

Accounting $407.00 Accounting $418.00 Accounting $1,000.00

Auditing $169.27 Auditing $219.98

Society insurance $675.00 Society insurance $675.00 Society Insurance $675.00

Conference seed money (ERM-PDW) $5,000.00 Conference seed money (2013 ERM) $3,000.00 Conference Seed Money (2014 ERM) $3,000.00

Conference seed money (CSPB 2013) $5,000.00

ERM 2012 Expenses $436.21 CSPB-SCBV 2012 Expenses (paid directly) $900.00

CSPB-SCBV 2012 Gross Expenses $33,977.00 CSPB-SCBV 2013 Gross Expenses $45,719.34 CSPB-SCBV 2012 Expenses (paid directly) $594.92

CSPB-SCBV 2013 Expenses (paid directly) $572.48 Plant Canada 2015 Expenses $5,000.00

Plant Biology 2014 Expenses $5,000.00 Plant Biology 2014 Expenses $10,000.00

Oaks Doctoral Scholarship $21,000.00 Oaks Doctoral Scholarship $21,000.00 Oaks Doctoral Scholarship $10,500.00

PAGSE (one year) $750.00 PAGSE (one year) $750.00 PAGSE (one year) $750.00

Global Plant Council (dues) $3,718.50 Global Plant Council (dues) Global Plant Council (dues) $649.85

Global Plant Council (travel for rep) $1,648.18 Global Plant Council (travel for rep) $1,334.21 Global Plant Council (travel for rep) $1,500.00

Postage, duplicating, courier $143.94 Postage, duplicating, courier $125.00

Printing and duplicating $34.30

Postage and courier $38.18

Name change (NUANS searches) $47.10

New cheques (name change) 246.66

Legal fees (NFP Act) $1,546.62 Translation of by-laws $830.00

Total Expenses $96,159.71 Total Expenses $95,198.33 Total Expenses $56,077.59

Surplus/(Deficit) $29,586.56 Surplus/(Deficit) $46,915.47 Surplus/(Deficit ) (-$5,706.46)

Society Membership Year Total Members Full Members Annual Meeting Site 1997 252 102 Vancouver, BC 1998 343 132 Montréal, QC 1999 491 237 Saskatoon, SK 2000 464 216 London, ON 2001 380 199 Providence, RI 2002 439 213 Calgary, AB 2003 348 181 Antigonish, NS 2004 413 180 Guelph, ON 2005 368 171 Edmonton, AB 2006 380 174 Boston, MA 2007 384 171 Saskatoon, SK 2008 458 209 Ottawa, ON 2009 385 176 Burnaby, BC 2010 474 176 Montréal, QC 2011 335 163 Halifax, NS 2012 375 165 Edmonton, AB 2013 464 167 Quebec City, QC 2014 (incomplete) 391 154 Portland, OR

Eastern Regional Director’s report 2014 Annual Business Meeting

Eastern Region Dear CSPB members, I am pleased to announce that the 2014 CSPB Eastern Regional Meeting will be hosted by the University of Guelph. Eastern Regional Meetings are traditionally held each year in early December. However, this year the Eastern Regional Meeting is tentatively scheduled for Friday, November 28th, and Saturday, November 29th, 2014. The organizers are working very hard to provide the best venue, which they tried to book for the following weekend, but were unable due to the start of the exam period at the university. The organizing committee’s chair, Gale Bozzo is working with Barry Shelp to provide the best accommodation for CSPB members to participate. CSPB conferences held in Guelph have been well-attended due to its central location. University of Guelph has hosted a number of successful meetings in the past and organizers have always taken tremendous care of conference participants. A detailed conference program will be posted at a later date on the CSPB web-site. We encourage members to consider oral presentations and posters from all areas of plant biology and of interest to CSPB members. As usual, we especially encourage students to contribute their presentations and compete for the Director’s award for the best oral and poster presentations. In addition, CSPB will provide financial assistance to students and post-doctoral fellows to help with travel expenses. The announcement for submission of applications for the Duff Travel Award will be posted along with detailed information about the Eastern Regional Meeting at the CSPB web-site at a later date. Ewa Cholewa Eastern Regional Director

Report of the CSPB/SCVP Science Policy Director Outgoing Executive meeting July 12, 2014 As Science Policy Director, my major responsibilities have been to represent the CSPB at the Global Plant Council (GPC) and to represent the CSPB at as part of our membership in PAGSE (Partnership Group in Science and Engineering). I was active in both groups over the last year, and with the Executive’s approval will continue over the course of my second year as Science Policy Director 1. GPC I attended the GPC annual meeting in Bethesda, MD (held at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute) October 20–22 2013 on behalf of the CSPB. A report of this meeting was published in the last Bulletin.

• Major developments include” • Hiring of an executive director (Dr. Ruth Bastow) • Search for a high profile President • Monthly GPD Bulletin (June 2104 issue is at

http://campaigns.graphicalhouse.co.uk/t/ViewEmail/t/4945C415149AEFD9/1D71439E8FC3F16C44D0DD5392A9C75A

• Digital Seed Bank initiative spearheaded by Willy Gruissem, interim GPC President

Future activities and issues Next GPC meeting planned in London England October 2-3, 2014. Agenda attached. Budget for Science Policy Director to attend is ~$1500 for airfare. GPC Dues are now invoiced - $US 500 (attached) Plans and initiatives to be tackled before and during the next GPC meeting – any input welcomed! • A half to one page update on the activities and work of your

society/organization over the last 12 months (October 2013–October 2014). This information will be provided as a printout to all GPC members in advance of the meeting.

• Provide five suggestions of organizations that can fund the non-science activities of GPC along with the details for a relevant contact person.

• Provide five ideas of activities that GPC could provide for its member organisations (see meeting programme for further info).

• Provide five ideas of resources that your society/organization would like to see included in the GPC Digital Knowledge Hub (see meeting programme for further info).

• Provide five ideas of resources that your society/organization would be able to submit/provide to the GPC Digital Knowledge Hub (see meeting programme for further info).

• Suggestions for new GPC members. • There will also be the opportunity for members to suggest new GPC

initiatives

2. PAGSE PAGSE holds regular meetings at 7pm on Thursdays, in Ottawa. This is usually centred on is a presentation by and discussion with a scientist or policy maker. Since joining PAGSE as CSPB rep last spring, I was able to join the March and May meetings by teleconference, and missed the June meetings due to a schedule conflict.

• May 2, 2013: Maude Barlow, National Chairperson, Council of Canadians • June 13, 2013: Business meeting • September 26, 2013: Janet Walden, Chief Operating Officer, Natural

Sciences & Engineering Research Council • October 16, 2013: Elizabeth Dowdeswell, President & CEO, Council of

Canadian Academies • December 5, 2013: Ted Hewitt, Executive Vice President, Social

Sciences & Humanities Research Council • January 28, 2014: Business Meeting • March 30, 2014: Marc Saner, Executive Director, Institute for Science

Society and Policy • May 1, 2014: John McDougall, President, National Research Council • June 11, 2014: Business Meeting

In addition PAGSE is working on” Business model for sustainable funding of the organization Policy pieces on: Need for more, longer-term funding for NSERC Discovery funds Federal initiatives be brought to bear to create a seamless research-to-innovation system, focused on furthering Canadian competitiveness in areas where Canada has a distinct international advantage. Our PAGSE dues are $750 per year (based on size of society)

2. Issues for CSPP Science Policy

• Should we continue to contribute to both PAGSE and GPC? In addition to

dues, GPC requires travel funds for the CSPB representative. • Ideas for best ways to communicate PAGSE and GPC acitivities and initiatives

to CSBP membership • Physical presence at at least occaisional PAGSE meeting would be beneficial.

Hard to contribute and be engaged via teleconference

Annual GPC Meeting – London 2–3rd October 2014 Day 1 09:00 – 09:05 Welcome – SEB

09:05 – 09:10 Welcome – Wilhelm Gruissem, GPC Chair Presentation of Annual Reports 09:10 – 09:40 Annual Report from GPC Chair 09:40 – 09:55 Annual Report from GPC Treasurer 09:55 – 10:10 Digital Seed Bank Initiative Report 10:10 – 10:25 Biofortification Initiative Report 10:30 – 11:00 Break 11:00 – 11:15 Stress Resilience Initiative Report 11:15 – 11:30 Advocacy Working Group Report 11:30 – 11:45 Finance Working Group Report 11:45 – 12:15 GPC Strategy and Marketing Plan Presentation 12:15 – 13:00 Lunch 13:00 – 14:30 Breakout Groups – Discussion of GPC Strategy Plan 14:30 – 15:00 Feedback from Breakout Groups 15:00 – 15:30 Coffee Break 15:30 – 16:30 Planning for the Future – Member engagement and involvement discussion, and agreement of future plan of action for GPC including how member organizations can take an active role in helping to meet the goals of the GPC 16:30 – 17:00 GPC President – Discussion of progress on the appointment of a GPC President 17:00 – 18:00 GPC Members and Affiliates – Discussion of possible new GPC members and inclusion of GPC affiliates 19:00 Dinner

Day 2 08:30 – 09:00 Outline of Activities for Day 2 09:00 – 10:30 Breakout Groups – Member Organizations Needs What activities would member organizations like the GPC to undertake? Which would be useful and provide added value to their members? Output of discussions – prioritised list for i) 2015 ii) 2016–2018 Examples might include:

a) GPC help in organizing a regional meeting to bring together plant researchers in a specific geographical area

b) GPC-‐facilitated PhD exchange scheme: GPC member organization would support one PhD student to travel and work for a short period in another GPC member country

c) Help to promote and expand the uptake of the Fascination of Plants Science Day

d) Translation of educational materials from member organization into several different languages.

10:30 – 11:00 Break 11:00 – 11:30 Feedback from Breakout Groups 11:30 – 13:00 Breakout Groups – GPC Digital Knowledge Hub The Digital Knowledge Hub is envisaged as an online platform to promote plant science at the global level. It will provide useful information, tools and resources to:

• Support researchers in their everyday work • Promote awareness and understanding of the value of plant science • Assist in plant education at all levels

GPC members will be able to withdraw and deposit information, and tools and resources, to and from the knowledge hub. This breakout group will focus on what resources member organizations would like to ‘withdraw’ from the Digitial Knowledge Hub, and what resources member organizations would be able to provide or ‘deposit’ to the hub. The output from each breakout group will be a prioritised list for content that would be generated and provided. 13:00 – 14:00 Lunch 14:00 – 14:30 Feedback from Breakout Groups 14:30-‐ 15:30 Presentation of Potential New GPC Initiatives See Requests of GPC Member Representatives and Organizations below.

15:30 – 16:00 – Break 16:00 – 17:00 Discussion and Ranking of New Initiatives At present GPC only has capacity for one more initiative. The discussion during this session will therefore focus on identifying the initiative that GPC should pursue with highest priority. Reflecting discussions at the 2013 GPC Annual Meeting we would very much hope that a number of community-‐driven activities will arise from the proposed initiatives. 17:00 Close of GPC Annual Meeting Requests of GPC Member Representatives and Organizations In advance of the Annual Meeting each GPC representative and member organization is asked to provide the following by the 1st September 2014:

1. A half to one page update on the activities and work of your society/organization over the last 12 months (October 2013–October 2014). This information will be provided as a printout to all GPC members in advance of the meeting.

2. Provide five suggestions of organizations that can fund the non-‐science activities of GPC along with the details for a relevant contact person.

3. Provide five ideas of activities that GPC could provide for its member organizations.

4. Provide five ideas of resources that your society/organization would like to see included in the GPC Digital Knowledge Hub.

5. Provide five ideas of resources that your society/organization would be able to submit/provide to the GPC Digital Knowledge Hub.

6. Suggestions for new GPC members. GPC Initiatives All GPC member organizations are asked, in advance of the annual meeting, if they would like to develop one concept for a new GPC Initiative. Please note that member organizations are not obligated to provide a suggestion, however we want to make sure every member organization has the opportunity to do so. Suggestions for new initiatives should be broad-‐based in order to attract and involve the widest possible number of GPC member organizations. Suggestions for new initiatives must also be centred on bridging the gap between fundamental research and applied solutions to improve agriculture. Member organizations are encouraged to consult other GPC members on new GPC initiatives and propose joint initiatives. For example, GPC member organizations in Asia–Australia, Europe and/or the Americas might consider developing ideas that will address and have a significant impact on current pressing issues in a larger regional or global context.

Suggestions for new initiatives should be provided by 1st September 2014. Suggestions should be up to two pages in length, outlining the current problem that the initiative plans to tackle, why it should be tackled at a larger regional or global level, and a plan of activities for the initiative. It should also include details of an international steering committee of five members who will be the key organizers responsible for driving the initiative forward.

Registered Address Correspondence Address

Global Plant Council Global Plant Council Auwisstrasse 7 3rd Floor, Bow House 8127 Forch 1a Bow Lane Switzerland London EC4M 9EE

Global Plant Council Membership Fees 2014 Receipt 2014 Invoice Number GPC CSPB 02 Member Name Canadian Society of Plant Biologists Member Contact Carl Douglas Invoice Period 1st January – 31st December 2014 Amount 500 USD The Global Plant Council acknowledges and greatly appreciates your prompt payment of membership fees.

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NOMINATIONS FOR 2014 CSPB-SCBV ABM * New members Ø Continuing members (new term) EXECUTIVE Secretary: Ø Barry Micallef (Guelph) 2016 Treasurer: None (call for nominations from the floor) Eastern Regional Director: Ø Ewa Cholewa (Nipissing) 2016 Student/PDF Representative: * R. Glen Uhrig (ETH Zürich) 2016 COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP Ann Oaks Scholarship Committee: Ø Harold Weger (Regina) Chair 2018 Ø Elizabeth Weretilnyk (McMaster) Co-Chair 2018 The new and past Treasurers are automatically members of the Oaks Board of Trustees C.D. Nelson Award Committee: * Mark F. Belmonte (Manitoba) 2017 Communications Committee: Ø Barry Micallef (Guelph) 2016 David J. Gifford Tree Physiology Award Committee: * Hugo Germain (UQTR) 2017 Education Committee: No opening Gleb Krotkov Award Committee: * François Ouellet (UQAM) 2017 Meeting Site Committee: * Daphne Goring (Toronto) 2017

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Nominating Committee: Ø Steeve Pepin (Laval) 2017 Ragai Ibrahim Award Committee: * R. Glen Uhrig (ETH Zürich) 2016 * Danielle Way (Western Ontario) 2017 Society (Gold) Medal Award Committee: Ø Line Lapointe (Laval) 2017 Auditors: We are seeking permission to name auditors from CSPB members once a new Treasurer is named. Respecfully submitted by:

Jean-‐Benoit Charron Senior Director of the CSPB-‐SCBV McGill University Sainte-‐Anne-‐de-‐Bellevue, QC jean-‐[email protected]