British & Irish Botanical Conference 2024

Provisional programme

09:30 Doors open for exhibitors

10:30 Exhibition opens

11:20-12:30 Supporting everyone keen to learn more about our wild plants

11.20-11.30 Welcome from Sandy Knapp (NHM botanist & BSBI Trustee)

Chair: Sandy Knapp

11:30 BSBI’s training offer – Prof Paul Ashton (BSBI incoming President)
11:45 How taking a FISC and studying at the Eden Project helped me on my botanical journey - Rebecca Keeling (FISC Level 3 and BSc Horticulture (plant science) student, Eden Project)
12:00 How Identiplant helped kickstart my botanical career - Dr Kiera Chapman (author, Identiplant student 2024 and Research Fellow, University of Oxford)
12:15 Flash talks from exhibitors

12:30-13:45 Herbarium tour 1, Workshop/ demonstration 1 & lunch (refreshments available to purchase at NHM cafes)

13:45-14:30 Resources for botanists across Britain and Ireland

Chair: Nicola Tainton (BSBI trustee)

13:45 New botanical ID guides from the Natural History Museum – Stephanie Holt (UK Biodiversity Training Manager, Centre for UK Nature, Natural History Museum)
14:00 Invasive Plant Species of Britain and Ireland: a new field guide - Phoebe O’Brien (co-author, joint County Recorder for Co. Clare)
14:15 Untangling the urban jungle: a foray into the extraordinary botany of our towns and cities – Dr Trevor Dines (author, BSBI trustee and creator of No Mow May)

14:30-15:30 – Herbarium tour 2, Workshop/ demonstration 2 & tea-break (refreshments available to purchase at NHM cafes)

15:30-16.30 Supporting botanical research to help address biodiversity loss and climate change

Chair: Julia Hanmer (BSBI Chief Executive)

15:30 The Conservation Value of Ireland’s Turloughs – Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington (outgoing BSBI President)
15:45 The importance of herbaria in the 21^st Century – Dr Stuart Desjardins (Early Career Fellow, Plant Biology, University of Leicester & Editor-in-Chief, British & Irish Botany)
16:00 Priority Plants on SSSIs in Wales – Alastair Hotchkiss (BSBI Wales Officer)
16:15 Why botany? Why now? – Dr Sandy Knapp (NHM botanist & BSBI Trustee)

16:30 Meeting closes.