PhD student Svenja Augustin from the Cluster of Excellence in Plant Sciences (CEPLAS) at Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany, will be awarded with the Prize for Science Communication (in short: SciComm-Award) of our Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology Section (SPPMB) within the German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG) this year. The biologist communicates complex scientific findings about genes, former and modern genome editing techniques in dialogue settings. “We are amazed, how much Augustin cares to address the needs and concerns of her audiences and to pick up and answer their questions”, Professor Dr. Stefan Rensing, SPPMB’s speaker, says. Augustin, who does basic research on plant stem cells in Arabidopsis, profits from her former experiences in unions. With her communication style and expertise she has not only reached politicians from her federal state but also in Berlin and Brussels. In the give genes a chance movement, which she launched together with Sci-Comm awardee David Spencer in 2021, she collected several hundred signatures from researchers who are all in favour of science-based regulation of genome-edited crops.

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Dr. Tegan Armarego-Marriott and Joram Schwartzmann receive this year’s SciComm–Award for founding the web-based platform Plants and Pipettes, where they blog and podcast about current results in molecular plant science in a witty and informative way. As Schwartzmann puts it; “We like to shed light on scientific publications that we find interesting and that are or were not part of our own, more narrow research focus”. Articles on the blog for example include: “My bees bring all the sugar to the flower” or “The Algae Expert who helped Crack Code in WWII”. The scientists of our Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology Section (SPPMB) want to award their science communication (in short: SciComm) and their talent to explain complicated facts in clear sentences, without over-simplifying the contents. In one of their recent podcasts, “Party of Pokers” they for example introduced underground orchids, microplastics in phytotelmata and bioaerosols over the amazon, and underlay this – as in other podcasts - with acoustic backings.

Armarego-Marriott and Schwartzman became close friends while studying at the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam. As early career scientists they founded the Plants and Pipettes platform as part of their desire to go beyond their PhD student ‘day jobs’, to read, write and talk about the wide and fascinating range of plant science, and practice their creative skills in blogging, designing, drawing and podcasting. Ultimately, they hope that Plants and Pipettes can help highlight plants’ role as “an absolute requirement for our continued survival”, and encourage people’s interest in plant science, while also discussing other topics relevant to plant science, such as the need to consider biases and to value diversity.

Armarego-Marriott studied conservation biology and biochemistry before she moved to Potsdam and now works as an editor for a scientific publishing house. Schwartzmann also worked in Potsdam, became a father of two, worked for PLANT 2030, a BMBF-funded agency that covers applied plant research in Germany, and now is working for the Prototype Fund, a BMBF-funded NGO to support open-source software development. In 2019 he won a price for his German video explaining gene editing with the CRISPR-Cas9 technology in the online-competition Fast Forward Science.

Both received the Section's third award for excellent science communication on 8^th February 2023 during the Conference Molecular Biology of Plants (MBP2023) of our Section Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology (SPPMB) of the German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG).

-> photos of the awarding ceremony

For his entertaining and creative formats in which he explains plant sciences and genetic engineering for a sustainable future plant scientist David Spencer received the Section's second award for excellent science communication on 15^th February 2022 during the online Conference Molecular Biology of Plants of our Section Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology (SPPMB) of the German Society for Plant Sciences (DBG).  

Sorry, further details available in German only.

Für seine humorvolle wie kreative Art, Pflanzenforschung und Grüne Gentechnik allgemeinverständlich zu veranschaulichen, erhält der Pflanzenwissenschaftler David Spencer den diesjährigen Scicomm-Preis für Wissenschaftskommunikation. Spencer wird bald seine Doktorarbeit an der RWTH Aachen abgegeben, in der er den Cumarin-Stoffwechsel in Sojapflanzen gentechnisch so verändert hat, dass sie resistenter gegen Schadpilze werden. Das hilft Spritzmittel ui reduzieren. Da Grüne Gentechnik so ein schlechtes Image hat, wollte er schon früh die Vorteile seiner Forschung erklären. Um das Potential der Pflanzenforschung für eine nachhaltige Zukunft zu veranschaulichen, entwickelte Spencer verschiedene Beiträge: er gewann nicht nur seinen ersten Science Slam, betitelt als "Warum der Mops schlecht atmen kann - und was das mit Gentechnik zu tun hat", sondern auch spätere, die schon mal auf dem Parkplatz des Uni-Rektors in Aachen oder in der Hamburger U-Bahn stattfinden können. Darüber hinaus produzierte er die 20teilige Podcast-Serie Krautnah mit Folgen wie “Pflanzen zähmen leicht gemacht”, „die Retter der Kokosnuss“ oder der „Pflug der Karibik“. Spencer engagiert sich in der Initiative Progressive Agrarwende des Umweltvereins Öko-Progressives Netzwerk e.V., die sich für mehr Nachhaltigkeit in der Landwirtschaft einsetzt ohne “früher war alles besser”-Tenor. Im April wird sein erstes Buch "Alles bio-logisch?!" erscheinen. Spencer wünscht sich noch häufiger öffentliche Dialogformate, um mehr Menschen zu informieren, dass mehr „Natürlichkeit“ nicht automatisch mehr Nachhaltigkeit bedeute. Beispielsweise sei Braunkohle zwar natürlich, eine unnatürlich aussehende Solarzelle produziere jedoch wesentlich nachhaltiger Energie, veranschaulicht  Spencer. Über diesen Preis von einer wissenschaftlichen Organisation freut er sich sehr, „weil ich mir nach der Doktorarbeit auch einen Beruf in der Wissenschaftskommunikation vorstellen kann“.
„Mit dem diesjährigen Scicom-Award würdigt unsere Sektion die viele kreativen Formate von David Spencer und wie er darin mit Humor, anschaulichen Vergleichen und auf erfrischend unterhaltsame Art Menschen an komplexe Forschung heranführt, die sich sonst vielleicht nie auf dieses Thema eingelassen hätten,“ sagt Professorin Andrea Bräutigam von der Uni Bielefeld, Stellvertretende Sprecherin der SPPMB, die auch die Laudatio hielt, als Spencer die Auszeichnung während der virtuell veranstalteten Konferenz Molecular Biology of Plants am 15. Januar empfing.