Calling all botanical student societies

We talk a lot about how to inspire the next generation of plant scientists. But how do our students inspire us?

Last week, I met one of our undergraduate students, who is the President of our student-led Botanical Society. She told me about all the activities that they have planned for the next year:  interactive botany activities at our University family science event, a stall at Freshers’ Fair, a creative picture competition for the whole University…

I left feeling so inspired by her energy and passion, and the way she talked about their plans to engage children, visitors and other students with plants and plant science. The reason that I kept this text very vague is that I invited the students to write for Botany One about their society, their motivations, and their plans for the future.

I then wondered how many other student botany/plant science societies there are, and what they are up to.

So, if your department or institute has a Plant Science/Botany Society, run by undergraduate or postgraduate students, please ask them to contact us, on Twitter, in Facebook comments, or by email. We would love to hear from them, and if we get enough entries, we will run a special student society week!