George Kowalchuk

George Kowalchuk is Professor of Ecology and Biodiversity at Utrecht University. He is one of the initiators of the Netherlands Plant Eco-phenotyping Centre (NPEC), which received funding from NWO's National Roadmap for Large-Scale Scientific Infrastructure. At the DTL Communities@Work conference, he will give a keynote lecture about 'Unlocking the power of plants'.

In his keynote lecture, Professor Kowalchuk will take us into the world of multi-scale analytics in ecosystems research, covering a wide range of biological, technical and data challenges. NPEC will enable researchers to unravel the genetics of the interactions between plants and the environment. The facility will allow for systematic, high-throughput measurements of plant characteristics and the precise manipulation of environmental conditions. NPEC will utilise advanced equipment to conduct automated, precise measurements on plants at all possible levels. Professor Kowalchuk will explain how the use of microscopes as well as drones will help build the knowledge base for the next green revolution.