The Plant Health Student Network:
A community for early career researchers and students working
in plant protection
Who are we?
The Plant Health Student Network (PHSN) is a global community run for students, by students. The network was founded in 2022 in response to the clear need for a community in the plant health, plant pathology, and plant biosecurity space, that could facilitate opportunity sharing and skill development.
The current coordinators of the network are the PBRI 2026 Ritman Scholars (Samantha Whitling, Shimi Jose, Brendan Vouadec, and Jessica Kriticos). After receiving more than 200 expressions of interest from young plant health researchers from around the world, we have happily embraced our growing global community, whilst predominantly based in AU/NZ.
What do we do?
We run regular online forums where guest speakers and specialists in the field share their personal and professional experiences moving through their careers.
We facilitate training on things like communication and presenting, and we share resources such as job opportunities, scholarships, PhD projects, and conferences.
We organise in-person events such as meet-ups at conferences and networking events with industry and field leaders.
Who can join?
If you are a current or prospective student (whether undergraduate, postgraduate, HDR or something else), early-career researcher, or even a supervisor/group leader working in the plant health space (this can be plant pathology, entomology, plant biosecurity, or even plant breeding), then this network is for you!