EMPHASIS-PREP Deliverable 3.2: Mapping of training activities

Executive Summary

Objectives: Europe is at the forefront of research on plant phenotyping. Some of the best infrastructures for plant phenotyping are based on laboratories and platforms leaded by European institutions. The development of a more structured and interconnected phenotyping community allowing the implementation of the infrastructures, enhancing the access is one of the major objective of EMPHASIS. However, to bridge the gap between crop phenotyping and the rich array of refined genomic already available, we need to train a new generation of researchers who can undertake, develop and exploit phenotyping technologies, interpreting multidimensional phenomic data required to address current and future challenges in agriculture and plant science, namely how to feed the world, sustainably use natural resources, and contribute to the bio economy.

Rationale: A number of education and training activities on phenotyping are currently already performed at European and International level. Nevertheless, these still remain stand-alone and one-off initiatives, which require a further degree of structuring and integration. Mapping of ongoing or foregoing training activities in plant phenotyping is a mandatory exercise to fill the gaps. In 2017, some analysis were performed by WP3 in collaboration with other WPs to map the state-of-the art of plant phenotyping training activities through: i) regional mapping Conferences; ii) the 2017 survey addressed to the plant phenotyping community and iii) internet- based research.

Main Results: From the mapping of training activities, an increased need of training is emerging especially in data management. For this reason, a more coordinated action is necessary to offer all the interested stakeholder adequate training instruments to disseminate the plant phenotyping knowledge among the identified target groups.