Feedback by ADELAIDE THERAROZ, INRAE-UMR

The 1st F-4 Symposium – Future Pds For Future Forests was held at the Georg August Univesität Göttingen, Germany between the 28th to 30th September 2022. The aim of this Symposium was to encourage PhDs students in the field of forest genetics and molecular ecology to present their topics and engage in discussions. About 22 PhDs students from many different Universities attented this Symposium, with topics covering the differents fiels: Population genetics, Functional genomics and Phylogenomics. Four brilliant keynote speakers attented the Symposium and gave us very interesting presentations: Prof. Dr. Scholten (University of Göttingen) - Hybrid vigor: antagonistic action of small RNAs. Dr. Natascha Wagner (University of Göttingen) - They are species rich, hybridizing and polyploid – using radseq to disentangle the complex phylogenetic relationships of willows (Salix l.) Dr. Deborah Leigh (WSL) - Population genomics and forest management. Dr. Niels Müller (Thünen-Institute) - Elucidating the genetic basis of natural variation in forest trees. I had the opportunity to present a part of my PhD work “Exploration of correlations between genetic indicators of evolutionary potential and indices of marginality at the population level for Pinus pinaster Aiton”, my presentation engaged discussion and comments useful for my future analysis. After the Symposium, a social event was organized and allowed me to meet and interact with the other PhD students and researchers who presented during the symposium. I am very grateful that the EVOLTREE committee supported me financially to present my work at the F-4 Symposium. Attending this conference gave me the opportunity to discuss my work with many scientists and PhDs students from all over the world. The F-4 Symposium was my first conference “in person” and it was an extremely rewarding experience.