Student animators tell the story behind new plant health film
4th June 2020
Julia Vaccina Makar and Kye Ottley are second year BA (Hons) Animation students at The University of The West of England (UWE). As part of the course, students have the opportunity to become involved in a ‘live brief’ – working with actual clients…
New animated film marks International Year of Plant Health 2020
21st May 2020
Diseases that devastate African communities are the focus of a brand new short animated film launched by The CONNECTED Virus Network, based at The Universities of Bristol and Newcastle, UK. The network’s focus is bringing together world-class researchers to find ways of tackling…
Reflections on a bioinformatics training course funded by CONNECTED
14th May 2020
Rose Tafadzwa Masekesa is a CONNECTED network member who wrote this blog having successfully applied for CONNECTED funding to attend a bioinformatics course which began in January 2020 at The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. As an avid molecular virologist, my passions lie…
Innovative science communication coaching by video conference
16th March 2020
19 early career researcher network members in 10 countries have taken part in, or been awarded places to, innovative science communication coaching sessions delivered by video-conference. The CONNECTED Network piloted the sessions in January 2020 and, following positive feedback from participants (see below),…
Network members funded to attend bioinformatics training
27th February 2020
Meet two of our network members who successfully applied for CONNECTED funding to attend a leading bioinformatics course at The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala: • Rose Tafadzwa Masekesa from The University of Zimbabwe, and• Leke Walter Nkeabeng from The Institute of Agricultural Research…
The case for renewal of CONNECTED: network members speak
3rd February 2020
CONNECTED is a fixed-term project, funded by the UK government until December 2020. If the growing 1,400-plus member network is going to continue to extend its influence, renewal of the project into 2021 and beyond is vital. The network’s members are its greatest…
Reflecting on 2019 … looking ahead to 2020
16th December 2019
As we head towards the end of 2019, the CONNECTED Network is reflecting on some of the highlights of the year, and looking ahead to the next 12 months. Here are a few 2019 highlights in numbers: 1,300 network members & counting 3…
Maize lethal necrosis: Assessing virus diversity and identifying uncharacterised viruses
12th December 2019
This is one of a series of articles about the 20 research projects for which CONNECTED provided pump-prime funding. A full set of articles about all 20 projects can be found here. Tracking genetic diversity and development of diagnostic tools for maize lethal…
Skills boost for over 600 follows ‘amazingly successful’ vector and virus diagnostics training
5th December 2019
Early career researchers have declared a five-day introductory level vector and virus diagnostics course a resounding success. 18 delegates from 12 countries were awarded places on ‘The application of molecular diagnostics for plant virus surveillance,’ organised by the CONNECTED Network in partnership with…
Young African scientists can make an impact: reflections on The 2019 Grand Challenges meeting
25th November 2019
Two African early career researchers who attended the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in Ethiopia in late October 2019, have been reflecting on their experiences and learning from the event. Richard Wyatt, CONNECTED Communications Officer, caught up with them soon after their return from…