On October 9 and 10, we will host the annual CropXR Conference at Kontakt der Kontinenten in Soesterberg, open to everyone involved in the CropXR program. This will be the perfect moment to come together to share progress, experiences and knowledge, and to strengthen collaboration across the entire CropXR program.
Program
We will kick off Thursday morning with research updates, where PhD candidates and postdocs highlight their work. In the afternoon, they will take you deeper into their projects through parallel sessions and poster presentations, offering plenty of room for discussion and exchange.
After a full day of science, we’ll wind down with a walking dinner, followed by a party with music, drinks, and good vibes.
On Friday, the program continues with inspiring talks from:
- Kathy Roberts Munkvold, Scientific Program Director – Next Generation Crops at the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), on the importance of collaboration between academia and industry, as well as key approaches FFAR sees as crucial for making agriculture more innovative and future-proof.
- Elysa Overdijk, Lecturer in Plant Physiology at Wageningen University, who will present the new CropXR minor launched this year. In the follow-up workshop, we’ll collect input for the second course, which will focus on business cases. Input from companies is especially welcome to ensure strong alignment between education and practice.
- Monica Garcia Gomez, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, on translating an Arabidopsis root model to maize.
- Marcel van Verk, Vice-President Crop Data Science at KeyGene, on data-driven breeding and the use of AI and models.
- Genetwister, on data-driven breeding, comparative genomics, and pangenomes.
- Atoesa Farokhi, Coordinator External Collaboration at Amsterdam Green Campus, on collaboration between universities of applied sciences and CropXR.
Parallell sessions and workshops
The parallel sessions on Thursday and Friday will address overarching themes across the work packages. They provide a space to share results and encourage dialogue between teams, supporting stronger alignment across the program.
Thursday afternoon
- Drought stress – Gerard van der Linden & Francesca Giaume
- Trade-offs & immunity – Ronald Pierik & Julia Ruiz Capella
- Root responses, nitrogen, and microbiome – Anneke Horstman & Stijn Nagelkerke
- Computational I: Research – Monica Garcia Gomez & Eva Eleonora Ferradosa
Friday morning
- Temperature stress – Martijn van Zanten & Ivo Rieu
- Technologies – Rob Schuurink & Mark Roosjen
- Minor EduXR, course two – Mariana Silva Artur & Koen Beumer
- Computational II, Bayesian methodologies & approaches – Digital Connection team
Overnight stay
Do you want the full experience? Join the evening program and let science blend into celebration. Overnight stay at the venue is available.
Registration
This is a closed event, open only to those working within the CropXR program. For registration, contact events@cropxr.org. In spring, we will host another event where interested parties are very welcome to join!
The program is subject to change.