PRESIDENT’S LETTER

PROFESSOR JIM MURRAY PRESIDENT, SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY

explore our esteemed journals in greater depth. To commemorate this milestone, we proudly feature brilliant papers contributed by each of the Editors-inChief of our five prestigious journals: Conservation Physiology, The Plant Journal, Biotechnology Journal, Plant Direct and the Journal of Experimental Botany (page 32-36).

Because this issue serves as a prelude to the highly anticipated Centenary Conference, we are delighted to present the profiles of all our esteemed President’s Medalists and highlight our exceptional Plenary Lecturers of 2023. Additionally, we are privileged to share captivating interviews with notable biologists from our vibrant community. Prepare to be inspired by their insightful perspectives and groundbreaking research!

Centenary Meeting

Countdown to the Society’s Most Important Conference Begins

With just a few weeks remaining, the anticipation builds for the Society’s most significant conference of the year. We kindly remind you that registration is still open, and we encourage you to secure your spot promptly. Don’t miss out on this extraordinary event!

For more details and to register, please visit: www.sebiology.org/events/seb-centenaryconference-2023/registration.html

The entire SEB staff is eagerly awaiting your presence at the SEB Centenary Conference. We look forward to welcoming you there!

Welcome to the Spring 2023 newsletter of the SEB in our Centenary Year.

There are many exciting events planned in celebration, which have already kicked off with a new series of Careers and Coffee events. A big thank you to Rebecca Ellerington who has taken the lead on our Centenary events, and to all others who have been involved in helping out. You can catch up with all the events at www.sebiology.org/centenary.html, including the excellent Careers and Coffee series aimed at providing an insight into different careers and career routes in experimental biology, and the Leaders of the Future webinar series which aims to celebrate past SEB awardees and showcase their scientific discoveries and progression. If you are interested in finding out a bit more about the history of the Society for the past 100 years, head to www.sebiology.org/centenary/seb-history/ history-articles-series.html, where you can read a growing series of short articles, including about some of the women who have shaped the SEB.

It’s not long now until our Centenary Conference in Edinburgh on 4–7 July. Check it out on the website now (www.sebiology.org/events/seb-centenaryconference-2023.html). The early bird deadline is 12 May, and the final registration deadline is 9 June—don’t miss it! Paul Nurse, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2001,and Director of the Crick Institute and a leading voice in science today, is a special guest as the President’s Centenary Lecturer. Paul will be speaking on the Thursday evening shortly before the conference dinner. I would particularly like to thank Eniola Alalade and the Events Team for all of their hard work in getting the conference organisation in place and on course. Travel funds are still available for students and early career researchers, including top-up funds for those who need to travel farther, and the closing date is 30 May (www.sebiology. org/grants/apply-for-funding.html).

The theme of this magazine issue is light stress, an often-neglected area of abiotic stress studies but, as you will read, of great importance. How plants protect themselves from the effects of excessive light and the consequential reactive oxygen species is becoming an area of increasing study from both the biological and theoretical standpoints. This provides an excellent example of how the SEB is well placed to support and provide a voice to these kinds of interdisciplinary studies.

With this my last letter as President, I would like to extend my thanks to all of you as members who have continued to support your Society, and of course to the whole SEB office team who work tirelessly to keep the Society running and provide the best possible support to members. We are now emerging from the other side of the difficult process of updating all of the IT systems and supporting structures, and hopefully you will be starting to see the improvements on the website through increased functionality and information. None of this happens without a lot of work behind the scenes, for which I am very grateful.

I am convinced that as we move into our second century, the SEB remains as relevant as when first founded. The broad reach of the SEB across the whole of biology is in tune with the increasingly integrated approaches to biology. Science faces unprecedented challenges today, and the need for a Society which supports and promotes biological science founded in experimental approaches— whether field, laboratory or theoretically based—is an important counterbalance to dogmatic and conspiracy-based pseudo-theories that seem to threaten increasing prevalence over empirical and evidence-based science.

However, another type of threat that faces us today, in many ways more insidious because it threatens the very basis of the evidence-based approach that we champion, is scientific fraud, particularly in publications. From examples that we see being detected in papers submitted to, and occasionally published by, our Society journals, this seems to be an increasing problem. I think this really emphasises the importance of society-based journals run from effective and well-managed editorial offices such as we operate. These are much better placed to invest the resources needed to detect and deal with fraudulent content than the high-throughput commercial operations that are gaining increasing volume and foothold today. It has made me reflect that our journals and our editorial office is an important resource, providing a curated and trusted home for high-quality research, and we should see these as a key asset and not simply a method for the Society to generate revenue.

I hope to see as many of you as possible in Edinburgh to celebrate the centenary in style and to welcome in our new President, Professor Tracy Lawson. Until then, thank you and farewell!

Professor Jim Murray President, Society for Experimental Biology