The Global Plant Council (GPC) is a coalition of plant and crop science societies from across the globe. It unites plant scientists around the world to promote collaboration across borders and disciplines, to increase awareness of the role of plant science, and to solve global problems in non-partisan and sustainable ways. The Global Plant Council is made up of 28 member organizations representing over 50,000 scientists on six continents. For more information, please see: www.globalplantcouncil.org

The population is predicted to rise to 9 billion by 2050. As a result, we will need to significantly increase crop production to meet the rising demand for food around the globe. During this period the planet will also experience greater fluctuations in climatic conditions meaning we not only need to generate more nutritious food in a sustainable manner, but also generate crops that can adapt to a changing climate. 

To help meet this challenge, the GPC is currently focusing on its Stress Resilience Initiative. This aims to build strategies for the development of more resilient crops that can generate a stable yield with reduced inputs under fluctuating and stressful environmental conditions.

This first task of the Stress Resilience initiative is to coordinate a scoping study, which aims to gain a better understanding of the work currently being undertaken in this area. We would therefore be very grateful if you could spend a few minutes to tell us about your current research in the area of ‘Stress Resilience’ by 1st December 2014.