8:59 a.m.
Dear IUFRO 2.09.02 and Division 2 Colleagues and Friends,
We are absolutely delighted to announce that the Proceedings of our 6th International
Conference in Rotorua (March 2024) are now finalised and released! As mentioned in the
Foreword, reaching this milestone has been a long and challenging journey, taking over two
years instead of our usual one. Thank you for your patience, and we hope you will take
great pleasure in reading this volume. Seeing this work finally come to fruition brings us
immense satisfaction :).
A huge thank you to all the authors of the thirty or so contributions, which include full
articles, extended abstracts, and short abstracts. We hope that this permanent
publication, now carrying an ISBN, will best highlight the work you presented in Rotorua.
The Proceedings will soon be permanently available on the IUFRO 2.09.02 webpage
(link<https://www.iufro.org/events/6th-iufro-20902-conference-the-might-o…)
once the web moderators process our request.
In the meantime, you can download the full PDF document via this secure temporary INRAE
link<https://filesender.renater.fr/?s=download&token=0619430f-5155-4a11-857b-7cef3915efe0>
until 20 August 2026.
This achievement would simply not have been possible without an extraordinary collective
effort. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the highly professional team who
made these Proceedings a reality: Alison Slade (Forest Growers Research), Ruth Falshaw
(Mahana Editing Services), and Nick Lambert (Scion/BSI) for their outstanding and highly
motivated work on English corrections, layout, design, and securing the ISBN. We also take
this opportunity to thank again Henri Baillères (General Manager, Forests to Timber
Products at Scion/BSI), who was instrumental as a member of the Organising Committee in
mobilising the Scion teams to so warmly welcome us in New Zealand.
Furthermore, we extend our heartfelt thanks to our fellow Editorial Committee
members-Paloma, Sandra & Sandra, Jorge, and Hailong. Although distance and various
constraints limited the participation of some during this specific edition, their
unwavering support and the collegiate and friendly spirit we share remain the bedrock of
our Working Party.
For the two of us, these Proceedings also symbolise a long-standing friendship and
collaboration that began in the early days of the IUFRO 2.09.02 Working Party. From the
organisation of the Brno 2012 conference to the unforgettable hospitality and flawless
moral and technical support Jana and her wonderful team provided in Rotorua for local
arrangements, our shared journey has been a true privilege.
As we celebrate this milestone for our community, we must also look to the immediate
future. We strongly encourage you to participate in the 7th IUFRO 2.09.02 Conference,
which will be hosted by the Northeast Forestry University in wonderful Harbin, China, from
22 to 28 August 2026 (follow this IUFRO
link<https://www.iufro.org/events/bottleneck-breakthrough-for-tree-somat…
to find more information, or visit the conference
website<https://iufro2-09-02-2026conference.web.app/> directly). The theme,
"Bottleneck breakthrough for tree somatic embryogenesis and other vegetative
propagation in the era of omics and nanotechnology", promises to be fascinating.
Please note that the deadline for abstract submission and early bird registration is 30
July 2026. Let us all support our colleague Pr. Hailong Shen, who has worked tirelessly to
bring us to Harbin after our initial 2020 plans were unfortunately thwarted by the
pandemic.
Finally, we would like to wish the very best to the excellent new Coordination Team
(Paloma, Jorge, Junhui) and to all of you as strong supporters of the IUFRO 2.09.02
community. May we continue to champion excellent R&D and impactful Innovation in the
vegetative propagation of trees within this wonderful IUFRO framework, serving the
preservation and sustainable management of our vital forest socio-ecosystems.
With our warmest regards,
Jana & Jean-François
On behalf of the Editorial Committee of the Rotorua 2024 Proceedings
IUFRO 2.09.02 Working Party
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On a personal note from Jean-François:
These Proceedings mark my very last official action for the Working Party after stepping
down as Coordinator in June 2024. Regretfully, I will not be able to join you in Harbin. I
will be taking some much-needed time off with my family this August to rest and recharge,
before devoting my full energy to the development of the IN-SYLVA Europe Research
Infrastructure (RI). It is an ambitious initiative dedicated to forest ecosystem
adaptation to global change (europe.in-sylva.com<http://europe.in-sylva.com/>)
which has just been accepted onto the ESFRI
roadmap<https://www.esfri.eu/latest-esfri-news/six-new-project-proposals-selected-inclusion-esfri-roadmap-2026>,
the European landscape of large RIs. The development of IN-SYLVA Europe is already
supported by 50 organisations from 22 countries, including IUFRO, which is part of the
Consortium and will facilitate internationalisation beyond Europe.
Although I will deeply miss seeing so many long-time friends at a IUFRO 2.09.02 event for
the very first time, I am confident that the development of IN-SYLVA Europe-ultimately a
permanent infrastructure offering field experimentation-related services to forest
researchers and stakeholders worldwide)-will provide us with wonderful new opportunities
to cross paths :). Of course, I am ensuring that tree reproduction, and vegetative
propagation technologies in particular, feature prominently in our IN-SYLVA Europe
development plan!
