Dear colleagues,

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ICAR2020

The International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR) was first
held in 1965 and became an annual meeting in 1995. Over the last decade,
ICARs have had an average attendance of approximately 900 people (1).
ICARs are organized on a volunteer basis by countries with significant
Arabidopsis-related research and have a North
America/Europe/Australasia, Oceania 3-year rotation cycle. ICAR 2017
took place in the US (2); ICAR 2018 is scheduled for Finland (3), and
ICAR 2019 is scheduled for China. ICAR 2020, the subject of this request
for input, is expected to take place in the US.

Mechanistic plant research is broadening its scope and tackling
important questions across a wide range of species, experimental
conditions and scales of organization.  Thus, the function of a
model-organism-centric meeting, like the ICAR, is naturally questioned.
The North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee (NAASC) (4) will
organize ICAR 2020 in the US. NAASC members, which are tasked with
understanding the current plant research landscape and future
opportunities to utilize Arabidopsis as a model system, are interested
in hearing community perspectives on how the ICAR meetings should be
shaped to maintain relevance to the plant community.

NAASC members have reached out to the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering
Committee (MASC) (5) to seek input and perspectives from plant
biologists, including Arabidopsis researchers and those working in other
plant systems, to help inform future ICARs with respect to their
program, structure, topics, and locations.

NAASC has developed a brief online survey and actively seeks input.
Please take a few minutes to give your thoughts on what makes a plant
biology conference valuable and relevant to you. Note that all survey
responses are anonymous; only general demographic data are requested.

ICAR 2020 SURVEY URL: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ICAR2020

References:

  (1)   http://www.arabidopsisresearch.org/index.php/en/icar

  (2)   http://icar2017.arabidopsisresearch.org [1]

  (3)   http://icar2018.arabidopsisresearch.org [2]

  (4)   https://www.araport.org/community/group/naasc

  (5)   http://www.arabidopsisresearch.org/index.php/en/