Reports which may be of interest:

Africa: Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition (2018)
A joint UN report showing that hunger in Africa continues to rise, with new data indicating 237 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are suffering from chronic undernutrition

Strategic work of FAO for Sustainable Food and Agriculture (2017)
A 28-page document outlining the work of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

State of the World’s Plants (2020)
This annual report uses databases, published literature, policy documents, reports and satellite imagery to provide an overview of current knowledge on the world’s plants. Produced by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Report (2016)
The inaugural report on the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report analyses selected indicators from the global indicator framework to highlight some critical gaps and challenges.

The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library (TEEAL)
A digital collection of research journals for agriculture and related sciences

AgriKnowledge
Key documents on agricultural development

Aphids on the World’s Plants
Online identification and information guide

A career in research: tips for running your own research group (Wellcome Foundation, 2018)
A booklet to support senior postdocs and newly appointed group leaders as they switch from being a member of someone else’s group to running their own. And for those who are at an earlier stage in their career it could be useful in helping decide whether being a researcher is right for you.

White paper: Foundational and Translational Research Opportunities to Improve Plant Health
Published in Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, this White Paper reports the outcomes of a workshop focused on biotic challenges to plant health, held in the USA in September 2016

Publications which may be of interest:

Applied Plant Virology: Advances, Detection, and Antiviral Strategies (2020, Academic Press)

An overview on recent developments and applications in the field of plant virology. 

Root, Tuber and Banana Food System Innovations (2022, Springer Nature books)

A useful open-access book covering tropical crops such as banana, cassava, sweet potato, and yam, as well as agriculture value creation, crop waste management, digital pest control and citizen science.

CRISPR/Cas-based tools for the targeted control of plant viruses (2022, Molecular Plant Pathology)

This open access review describes recent advances in plant-based CRISPR/Cas systems including inactivation of DNA viruses, inhibition of RNA viruses and editing of host plant factors for virus resistance.

Articles on DNA sequencing

Organisations and Learned Societies


South African Society for Plant Pathology

Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC)
An international treaty that aims to secure coordinated, effective action to prevent and to control the introduction and spread of pests of plants and plant products.

Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI)
CABI provides information and applies expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment.

Crop Wild Relatives
A project to prioritise, collect and conserve crop wild relatives

Global Plant Council
A coalition of national and international societies and affiliates representing plant, crop and agricultural and environmental sciences

Plantae
A plant science community hub

Plant Village
An online resource aimed at helping smallholder farmers grow more food.

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Funders

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding

Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20210901101306/https://bbsrc.ukri.org/research/international/funding/gcrf/

Global Food Security programme (GFS)
www.foodsecurity.ac.uk

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
www.gatesfoundation.org

The Carnegie Trust
www.carnegie-trust.org

Gatsby Charitable Foundation
www.gatsby.org.uk/plant-science

Related GCRF networks

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) funded nine new Networks including CONNECTED. Our members are welcome to work with people across these Networks.

Vector-borne Disease Networks

  • CONNECTED:Community Network for African Vector-Borne Plant Viruses
  • ANTI-VeC: Application of Novel Transgenic technology & Inherited symbionts to Vector Control
  • BOVA: Building Out Vector-borne diseases in sub-Saharan Africa
  • The gnatwork: building capacity for research on neglected tropical vectors

You can read more about these networks on the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council website here

Vaccine Networks

  • HIC-VAC: Human Challenge Model Network
  • VALIDATE: Vaccine deveLopment for complex Intracellular neglecteD pAThogEns
  • IMPRINT: IMmunising PRegnant women and INfants network
  • BactiVac: The Bacterial Vaccines network
  • IVVN: International Veterinary Vaccinology Network

News

Ask your network

22nd March 2023

We are launching a new online feature via our website and enewsletter to make it easier for members to ask questions of the wider CONNECTED Network. Read more

Training Trainers: Building confidence

22nd March 2023

In March we ran the second half of our training programme in Kenya, bringing together expertise from Biosciences for Africa (B4A) Hub and UK experts to equip participants to pass on Vector and Virus Diagnostics skills within their own institutions. Read more

Training representatives of agricultural institutes in 11 African countries

10th March 2023

Press Release: As part of a joint programme co-delivered by Biosciences for Africa at the B4A-ILRI Hub, the University of Bristol’s CONNECTED Network has trained 21 plant scientists from 11 countries in ‘Vector and Virus Diagnostics’ Read more