The 2nd Asian Genetics Consortium Conference 2025 (AGCC 2025).

The 14th African Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG) Morocco Meeting and 2nd International Congress of the Moroccan Society of Genomics and Human Genetics (SM2GH), held in Rabat, Morocco, from December 12 through 17, 2022, brought together 298 attendees from 23 countries, organized by the AfSHG in collaboration with the SM2GH. The conference's overarching theme was "Applications of Genomics Medicine in Africa," covering a wide range of topics, including population genetics, genetics of infectious diseases, hereditary disorders, cancer genetics, and translational genetics. The conference aimed to address the lag in the field of genetics in Africa and highlight the potential for genetic research and personalized medicine on the continent. The goal was to improve the health of African populations and global communities while nurturing the careers of young African scientists in the field. Distinguished scientists from around the world shared their recent findings in genetics, immunogenetics, genomics, genome editing, immunotherapy, and ethics genomics. Precongress activities included a 2-day bioinformatics workshop, "NGS Analysis for Monogenic Disease in African Populations," and a Young Investigators Forum, providing opportunities for young African researchers to showcase their work. The vast genetic diversity of the African continent poses a significant challenge in investigating and characterizing public health issues at the genetic and functional levels. Training, research, and the development of expertise in genetics, immunology, genomics, and bioinformatics are vital for addressing these challenges and advancing genetics in Africa. The AfSHG is committed to leading efforts to enhance genetic research, coordinate training, and foster research collaborations on the continent.

Germany to host World Health Summit

Event Abstract Back to Event A lack of new permanent positions threatens the future of neuroscience Mario Bonato1* and Esperanza Jubera-Garcia2 1 Ghent University, Belgium 2 Free University of Brussels, (ULB), Belgium In this contribution we will discuss the drop in the number of new permanent positions available in academia and public research centers which is affecting several European countries. Our reasoning builds upon the data we mentioned in a recent letter to a leading neuroscientific journal [1]. While this problem is very well known by young researchers we have the feeling that, overall, the scientific and political communities are not fully aware of the current situation and of the dramatic long-term consequences this "downsizing" in the recruitment process will have. The duration of this severe recruitment freeze has been so long that we think it is posing a serious threat for young neuroscientists: those who are the future of neuroscience. Where does this situation come from ? Several players are involved, some of which are doing their duties and some of which are not. The good ones first: local and European institutions are regularly funding the best research projects in Europe and universities are doing their job in preparing new researchers. The responsibility of the situation can be then attributed to those countries which, by prioritizing budget over people, regrettably started to neglect their crucial role: regularly hiring new scientists with permanent or tenure track positions. The presence of funding for research in the absence of new permanent positions is resulting in a perfect storm. More and more (over)qualified researchers cannot obtain any security for their future after having contributed to several, often successful, scientific projects. This is especially worrisome for the domain of neuroscience due to its high number of temporary jobs (i.e., research projects usually involving several doctoral students and postdocs). The reduction in the offer for permanent positions is very short-sighted. It temporarily allows research activities to continue but worsens the problems on the long term. We maintain that the updated societal long-term investment in Neuroscience is better mirrored by the number of new positions opened every year rather than by the overall funding. This number plummeted, in the last years, in at least three main European countries (Italy, France and Spain). -Italy- Recruitment for new personnel in Italy (tenure-track research positions in public universities) across all disciplines decreased from more than 1500 per year between 2005 and 2010, [2] to less than 300 per year after 2010 [3]. With a retirement age at 70, the average age of a full professor in Italy is now about 60 years. In several countries there is a limit (either explicit or implicit) on the number of years a researcher can spend as a postdoc and therefore for many the only option left is to leave the country. The outcome of the Marie Curie mobility fellowships [4] confirms this trend. Between 2007 and 2014, 615 Italian researchers moved to another European country to start their research projects, while only 147 foreign researchers moved to Italy. The best index of the ever increasing number of young Italian researchers leaving the country is probably the fact that two thirds of the young Italian researchers obtaining the prestigious starting grant from the European Research Council (ERC) are already operating abroad or in the process of moving their research abroad [5]. -Spain- Also worrisome is the fact that 703 Spanish researchers moved to another country after gaining Intra European Fellowships, while only 277 foreign researchers decided to undertake their research in Spain. Spain has lost about 14 000 researchers from 2010–2014, and 3000 in 2014 alone [6,7]. Moreover, the research and development funding in the Spanish national budget for 2016 has been reduced by 34% in comparison to 2009. As a result Spain became the European country with the major descent within the OECD [8]. Only 11% of the planned hiring of CSIC researchers between 2010 and 2013 has been fulfilled [9]. The speed by which Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the major public conjoint of Spanish research centers, is getting old has never been so dramatic (e.g. average age of researchers is more than 53 years) [9]. -France- Also the number of entry-level permanent positions in France (Maître de conférences) significantly decreased from a rather stable average of 2000/year (2004-2010), [10] to 1444 in 2014 and to 1299 in 2015, [11] when the minimum number of new openings in the last fifteen years has been reached. Candidates for the positions are increasing: only in 2016 the number of researchers with a PhD who qualified for participating (qualification requires a competitive CV and lasts for several years) was as high as 6000. In a nutshell, in the last few years at least three major European countries have dramatically reduced the number of researchers hired every year with permanent jobs in universities and research centers. This means that fewer and fewer young researchers have the possibility to start an independent lab and to focus on long-term achievements. This also means that these researchers will be unharmed in case of potential further cuts while society will not benefit from the professional skills they acquired thanks to past public expenditure. This situation is relevant for the Belgian context for at least two reasons. First, many foreigners researchers are now applying for scientific positions (permanent and non-permanent) in Belgium. While the advantages of an international research environment are clear this new scenario is posing a number of new challenges because foreigners do not always master French or Dutch sufficiently well to teach, help with paperwork or perform clinical activities. Second, due to the lack of positions before mentioned a Belgian researcher will regrettably have difficulties in finding a job in academia in several European countries. Finally, it would be interesting to compare the high number of temporary contracts in Belgium with the comparatively limited opportunities offered by universities and research institutions. Acknowledgements SUMMARY Science is made for people and by people. Due to dramatic budget cuts young researchers from Italy, France and Spain are not being hired by universities & public research centers with permanent contracts but only with temporary ones. The almost total absence of possibility to secure a permanent position in Academia before the age of 40 made many young and promising researchers leave their country or look for another job. It is important to raise awareness on this problem References [1]. Bonato, M., Jubera-Garcia, E. (in press). The sharp drop in the number of academic positions is compromising the future of neuroscience. Lancet Neurology. [2]. Italian Ministry for University and Research. http://bandi.miur.it/ (accessed July 26, 2016). [3]. Italian Ministry for University and Research. http://bandi.miur.it/index.php (accessed July 26, 2016). [4]. European Commission. Statistics: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions research fellowships. http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/funded-projects/statistics/index_en.htm (accessed July 26, 2016). [5]. European Research Council. ERC starting grants 2014 outcome: indicative statistics. https://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/erc_2014_stg_statistics_update.pdf (accessed July 26, 2016). [6]. Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology. http://icono.fecyt.es/informesypublicaciones/Documents/Indicadores%20SECTI%202015.pdf (accessed Aug 5, 2016). [7]. Spanish National Institute of Statistics.Statistics on R&D activities final results. Year 2014. http://www.ine.es/en/prensa/np943_en.pdf (accessed Aug 5, 2016). [8]. Confederation of Spanish Research Societies Analysis of the Public Budget invested in R&D. Nó & Molero, 2016. http://www.cosce.org/pdf/InformeCOSCEPGE2016Aprobados.pdf. (accessed Aug 25, 2016). [9]. Spanish National Research Council. Plan de Actuación del CSIC 2014–2017.http://www.csic.es/ web/guest/plan-de-actuacion-2014-2017 [10]. French Ministry for Research and Higher Education. http://cache.media.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/file/statistiques/78/1/Bilan_recrutement_2012_277781.pdf [11]. French Ministry for Research and Higher Education. http://cache.media.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/file/statistiques/21/9/Note_DGRH_n5_Juin_2016_Bilan_de_la_campagne_de_recrutement_2015_604219.pdf Keywords: Research Policy, budget impact, Neuroscience, Science, Academies and Institutes, Universities, Research Conference: 6th Belgian Brain Congress, MONS, Belgium, 8 Oct - 8 Oct, 2016. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Brain and brain diseases: between heredity and environment Citation: Bonato M and Jubera-Garcia E (2016). A lack of new permanent positions threatens the future of neuroscience. Conference Abstract: 6th Belgian Brain Congress. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnagi.2016.03.00092 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 26 Aug 2016; Published Online: 27 Aug 2016. * Correspondence: Dr. Mario Bonato, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium, mario.bonato@unipd.it Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Mario Bonato Esperanza Jubera-Garcia Google Mario Bonato Esperanza Jubera-Garcia Google Scholar Mario Bonato Esperanza Jubera-Garcia PubMed Mario Bonato Esperanza Jubera-Garcia Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

This special issue contains selected papers presented at the Second International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Optimization: Theory, Methods, Applications and Technology Transfer (NAOII2011) held during the period January 3-6, 2011 at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Muscat, Oman. The conference was sponsored by SQU, The Research Council (TRC) of Oman, The International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) of Italy, Microsoft (Middle East and Africa Division); and the local sponsors the British Council (Oman), Bank Muscat, the Al-Anan Press, and Al-Roya Newspaper.Following on from the success of the previous conference on Numerical Analysis and Optimization (NAO2008) also held at SQU during the period April 6-8, 2008, the second conference brought again together prominent mathematicians, worldwide experts and active researchers from Oman, USA, South America, UK, Europe, Asia and Arab countries to meet at SQU. It was a great opportunity for researchers to share knowledge and to stimulate the communication of new ideas, scientific exchange and to discuss possibilities of further cooperation, networking and mobility of senior and young researchers and research students. NAOII2011 was inaugurated by HE Dr. Hilal bin Ali Al-Hinai, the Secretary General of TRC and HE Dr. Ali bin Saud Bemani, the Vice Chancellor of SQU. Fourteen world leading researchers gave keynote lectures in fourteen Technical Sessions of the conference. In total, fourty international participants gave contributed talks. More information is available at: http://www.squ.edu.om/Portals/87/Conference/Conference2011/index.htm.Twenty of the conference papers were selected for two special issues 17(1) and 17(2) of the SQU Journal for Science highlighting the two themes of the conference Numerical Optimization and Numerical Analysis; eleven papers were selected for issue 17(1) on Numerical Optimization, and nine papers were selected for issue 17(2) on Numerical Analysis. We wish to express our gratitude to all contributors. We are also indebted to many anonymous referees for the care taken in reviewing the papers submitted for publication.

Conferences Series LLC take great pleasure in inviting the scientific community across the globe to the 6th International Conference on Physics during June 15-16, 2020. This meeting will explore advances in the Clinical Research. The conference will serve as a platform to bring together young scientist, leading scientists, researchers, organizations and all representatives of company sectors with different specialities such as Physics. This event is an open forum specifically dedicated for young investigators (i.e. students, PhD candidates and early stage postdocs) working in all fields in the broader area of Physics. This forum will not only discuss state-of-the-art science to broaden the scientific knowledge of the participants but allow the young researchers to benefit as well from several specifically designed interactive sessions to advance their own career/ research. In particular, the forum aims to foster the spirit of teamwork among the participants, providing the opportunity to network globally and to establish own professional networks

The conference will serve as a platform to bring together young scientist, leading scientists, researchers, organizations and all representatives of company sectors with different specialities such as Neurologists and students from Academia. This event is an open forum specifically dedicated for young investigators (i.e. students, PhD candidates and early stage postdocs) working in all fields in the broader area of Neurology. This forum will not only discuss state-of-the-art science to broaden the scientific knowledge of the participants but allow the young researchers to benefit as well from several specifically designed interactive sessions to advance their own career/ research. In particular, the forum aims to foster the spirit of teamwork among the participants, providing the opportunity to network globally and to establish own professional networks.

membership corner ISSN 1948‐6596 from the society Getting to know IBS Early Career Members The International Biogeography Society (IBS), founded just 10 years ago, is fast growing both in terms of members and activities offered (Field and Heaney 2011). Students and early‐career bio‐ geographers are also becoming increasingly in‐ volved within the IBS. From 2002 to 2010, the pro‐ portion of new members who are students joining the IBS each year has increased from 23% to 48%. Currently, student members comprise 35% of IBS’s 740 members. The IBS, aware of the rising importance of these younger members, has been trying to increase the benefits available for them. In addition to the student travel grants, poster awards and discussion groups held at the IBS meetings, the IBS is trying to foster interaction among students and postdocs, which recently cul‐ minated in the first IBS Early Career conference that was held at Oxford University from 23 to 25 September 2011 (http://www.biogeography.org/ html/Meetings/index.html). With the intention of getting to know its early‐career members (herein ECM) and learning their opinions on the services provided by the IBS and on how these can be improved, the IBS in‐ vited ECM to participate in a survey that was held in June 2011. Of the 48 ECM that completed this survey, 11% were Junior Postdocs, 75% were PhD students, 8% were Masters students, and 6% were undergraduate students. Around 17% were aged between 20‐25 years, 49% were 26‐30 years, 23% were 31‐35 years, and 11% were more than 35 years young; 56% were female and 44% were male. Although most ECM are currently affiliated either with North American or European institu‐ tions (50% and 33% respectively; total of 42 an‐ swers), they represent a total of 24 nationalities; 26% are from North America, 17% from Central and South America, 15% from Northern Europe, 28% from Southern Europe, and the other 12% from Australia/New Zealand, the Middle East, Af‐ rica and Asia. ECM work on a very broad range of topics, from species distribution patterns (the most mentioned topic), to evolutionary biogeog‐ raphy, dispersal and colonization, biogeography of species’ traits, island biogeography, phylogeogra‐ phy, global change biology, marine biogeography, or paleobiogeography, among others. Their broad interests are also reflected in the fact that most ECM are also affiliated with societies focusing on diverse topics, including ecology, evolution, con‐ servation, paleontology, geography, botany, mam‐ malogy, entomology, etc. These are indeed very encouraging results that show the IBS is reaching young researchers from a wide variety of research topics and geographic locations. In general terms, the IBS is meeting ECM needs (25% responded that the IBS is doing this “very well”, 60% “fairly well”). However, there is room for improvement (15% responded “not very well”), and several suggestions were made; re‐ sponses to open‐ended questions emphasized the need for more off‐year meetings (regional meet‐ ings, workshops, etc.), more jobs/grant announce‐ ments, more travel grants, online teaching re‐ sources, more talks at the IBS meetings by younger researchers and more opportunities to meet other researchers. The IBS is already work‐ ing towards improving the services it provides to all its members, and new actions are being made to adopt suggestions. The first action was to support the IBS Early Career conference (for students and biogeogra‐ phers who have finished their PhDs in the past five years). Almost ninety young researchers partici‐ pated and had the chance to present their work, and to interact with each other and with the IBS board members. This conference was organized into ten different sessions that covered several aspects of macroecology, island biogeography, phylogeography, paleobiogeography, evolutionary biogeography and conservation biogeography. Second, we are also working towards in‐ creasing regular communication among IBS mem‐ bers. One way of doing this is through online so‐ cial networks, such as Facebook, and other web‐ based platforms (e.g. the IBS blog; http:// biogeography.blogspot.com/). Currently, the IBS has a Facebook group with ~590 members, where frontiers of biogeography 3.3, 2011 — © 2011 the authors; journal compilation © 2011 The International Biogeography Society

The International Conference on Heteroatom Chemistry (ICHAC) is an established international forum for the presentation and discussion of research results in the diverse fields of heteroatom chemistry. Previous ICHAC meetings have been held in different countries: 1987 (Kobe, Japan); 1989 (Albany, NY, USA); 1992 (Riccione, Italy); 1995 (Seoul, Korea); 1998 (London, Ontario, Canada); 2001 (Łódź, Poland); 2004 (Shanghai, China); 2007 (Riverside, CA, USA); and 2009 (Oviedo, Spain). To celebrate its 10th anniversary, ICHAC returned to Japan, the first ICHAC host country. The ICHAC series has been organized mostly every three years, but now is a biennial event beginning with ICHAC-9 in Spain.Continuing the successful ICHAC series, ICHAC-10 covered many areas around the central topic of heteroatom chemistry. Following the long tradition of these conferences, ICHAC-10 was a major scientific event, bringing together organic and inorganic chemists all over the world to share their interests in the different areas of heteroatom chemistry. As usual, this conference served as a professional forum to disseminate scientific knowledge. Synthesis, structure, and reactivity, including catalysis, theoretical methods, and material aspects, constituted the major themes of ICHAC-10. This issue of Pure and Applied Chemistry presents the selected plenary, invited, and commemorative lectures at ICHAC-10.ICHAC-10 was held 20-25 May 2012 at Uji Obaku Plaza, Kyoto University, and the conference program consisted of 7 plenary and 17 invited lectures, 3 memorial lectures celebrating the 10th event in the ICHAC series, as well as 43 short communications and 154 poster presentations. We had 371 participants (92 from abroad) from 28 countries. All the participants may have found a fruitful environment at ICHAC-10 for personal contact and scientific exchange, and experienced useful interactions between chemists of different areas. As for the poster presentations by students, the organizing committee selected 9 posters for the student poster awards, and the best 3 of them were awarded as IUPAC poster awards in ICHAC-10.Although ICHAC-10 was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2011, we postponed it to 2012 owing to the effects of the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011 and the following accident in the Fukushima nuclear power plant. On this occasion, I would like to express our sincere thanks for the worldwide support and sympathy given to the victims of this unprecedented disaster and also for the patience and cooperation concerning the postponing of ICHAC-10.As a chair of ICHAC-10, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the kind support by IUPAC, the Chemical Society of Japan, the Society of Silicon Chemistry Japan, the Kinki Chemical Society Japan, and the Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, and also the great assistance and contribution from many foundations and companies related to heteroatom chemistry.ICHAC-11 will be held in Caen (France) in June 2014 and will be hosted by Prof. Annie-Claude Gaumont of ENSICAEN-Université de Caen Basse-Normandie.Norihiro TokitohConference Editor

The Joint Meeting of the Japanese Society of Biological Psychiatry (JSBP) and the Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology (JSNP) was held at Osaka International Center, July 6–8, 2005, where more than 1,500 colleagues gathered to discuss the recent findings in this field. The total of 481 papers were presented in the Meeting, which was, of course, the largest number of presentations in the history of both JSBP and JSNP. The logo of the Joint Meeting was ‘Science of Mind’, in which the organizing committee aimed for the goal of 1) integration of basic and clinical science in this field, 2) interaction with Asian countries, 3) dispatching message from Japan. We were honored to have 12 distinguished scientists in this field from European, American and Asian countries; Prof. Steven R. Hirsh (Imperial College, London), Prof. Peter-Gebicke-Haerter (Central Institute for Mental Health, Manheim), Prof. Paul M. Grasby (MRC Clinical Science Center, Hammersmith Hospital), Prof. Douglas Blackwood (Royal Edinburgh Hospital), Hans-Juergen Moehler (Ludwig-Maximilians University), Prof George Grossberg (St. Luise University), Prof Nancy A. Andreasen (University of Iowa), Prof. Ramon Cacabelos (Euroespes Medical Center, La Coruna), Prof. Mark S. Gold (University of Florida), Prof Onyou Hwang (University of Ulsan), Prof Stephen R. Marder (UCLA), and Prof. Wolfgang Fleischhacker (Medical University Innsbruck). The program of the Joint Meeting was composed of 9 plenary lectures, 12 symposia, 6 educational lectures, 16 satellite seminars, and 388 free communications, including 40 English oral and 80 Japanese oral and 268 poster presentations. The special feature of the Joint Meeting was Travel Award Program, through which we extended invitation to 100 participants from Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Asian countries. It was our regret that the 20 selected colleagues from Mainland China could not come to the Meeting because of the delayed paper work for seeking visa. However, more than 85 colleagues from Asian countries gathered to the Meeting, which was certainly the fruitful opportunity of active interaction among young researchers in Asian countries. Since we had this number of scientists from oversea countries, we had a session in which official language was English throughout the three-day meeting period. As the pre-meeting activity, we opened Site Visit Program for participants from abroad to show them the actual clinical and research settings in this country, in which 35 colleagues visited eight research/ clinical institutions in Osaka area. In the last day of the Meeting, we had Public Seminar opened to Osaka citizen and the Seminar for the pharmacists in this area. Both seminars were well attended and the organizer was so glad to tell you that the affiliated activity of JSBP and JSNP Joint Meeting had a great impact to the public in Osaka area. This supplement issue of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience was edited by the core program committee of the Joint Meeting. This issue was opened to the awardee of the best presentation award of the Meeting. The program committee selected 18 presentations listed in the table below. Unfortunately some of the awardees had already published their work in other journals or ready to submit their papers in other journals. We are grateful Dr. Ryota Hashimoto, Dr. Shinya Kasai, Dr. Francisco Diaz-Corrales, Dr. Begun Nurun Nessa for their contribution. Since the number of contribution was much less than we expected, the editor asked contribution of papers to this issue and compiled seven papers in this issue. The latter half of this issue was the collection of abstracts presented in the Joint Meeting. We hope this issue will be welcomed by participants to the Joint Meeting of JSBP and JSNP, BPNP2005OSAKA, and this publication will help to communicate our scientific contribution to colleagues all over the world. Lastly the editors would like to express our cordial thanks to all participants as well as many people who helped BPNP2005OSAKA because without their help, we could not have great success of BPNP2005OSAKA. Guest Editor Masatoshi Takeda, Norio Ogawa, Masao Iwase, Masato Asanuma

Mary Frances Lyon

A Bold Step Toward 2012

The Catalysis Society of Japan (CATSJ): History and Activities

The 18th General Congress of the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding (EUCARPIA) took place from September 9 to 12 in Valencia, Spain. Previous meetings were held in Austria (Tulln, 2004) and in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh, 2001), and the next EUCARPIA General Congress will take place in Hungary (Budapest, 2012). General Congresses are the most important scientific events of EUCARPIA and, in this case, more than 420 participants registered for the 18th EUCARPIA General Congress. Participants represented breeders and breeding researchers from 44 European and overseas countries and joined the 4 days programme, which included four invited conferences, 32 plenary lectures, and 286 poster presentations. The topic of this 18th General Congress was ‘‘Modern variety breeding for present and future needs’’, stressing the importance of using modern approaches for developing new varieties adapted to the present, but also to the foreseeable needs. The logo of the Congress was a cornucopia (horn of abundance) representing the success of the past and present (and hopefully future) breeders in delivering cultivars that have allowed obtaining abundant supplies of plant products for human needs even though human population has increased dramatically in the last century. Because the objectives and tools of breeding and the methods used are very diverse, the topics addressed were divided into four plenary sessions: (1) ‘‘Conservation of genetic resources and prebreeding’’, (2) ‘‘Breeding for yield and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses’’, (3) ‘‘Breeding for quality’’, and (4) ‘‘Evaluation and release of breeding material and new breeding objectives’’. The conveners of the Congress, Prof. J. Prohens (President of EUCARPIA) and Dr. M. L. Badenes (Secretary General of EUCARPIA), together with the Rector of the Polytechnical University Valencia and the Secretary of the Agricultural Ministry of the Regional Government opened the Congress on September 9 afternoon in the Congress hall, which was situated in the Polytechnical University of Valencia. In the following first session, entitled ‘‘Conservation of genetic resources and prebreeding’’, which was chaired by A. Borner and B. Boller, A. Borner, from the Leibniz Institut of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research of Gatersleben, gave an invited conference on ‘‘Plant genetic resources for future breeding’’ in which he presented the status and challenges of ex situ plant genetic resources conservation, as well as the strategies for maintenance and management of germplasm. Subsequently, there were several presentations on the status, gaps and challenges in wild relatives of lettuce and their relevance for breeding (A. Lebeda), the demonstration that selected ecotypes of Italian ryegrass can outperform J. Prohens (&) Instituto de Conservacion y Mejora de la Agrodiversidad Valenciana, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera 14, 46022 Valencia, Spain e-mail: jprohens@btc.upv.es

Development characteristics, models and strategies for overseas oil and gas fields

Towards a re-conceptualization of firm internationalization: Heterogeneous process, subsidiary roles and knowledge flow