13-14 January 2026, Les Diablerets (VD) Switzerland.

Senior PhD students and postdoc fellows working in a Swiss university are invited to present and discuss their latest findings with peer young researchers in a supportive atmosphere in the Swiss mountains.

Topics cover plant biology from ecology, evolution to molecular mechanisms.

Participants exchange ideas and build collaborative networks with peers.

The meeting addresses PhD students approaching the end of their project and postdoc scholars. A senior member of the community will attend as a mentor.

The Early Career Meeting will consist of talk and poster sessions distributed over the afternoon of January 13th and the morning of January 14th.

Each attendee will present a poster and a short talk.

Attendees are invited to submit an abstract by 12.12.2025. Selection will be based on the submitted abstracts.

Deadline for abstract submission: 12.12.2025.

The meeting is limited to 22 persons.

Information on acceptance/rejection: 19.12.2025.

• Prof. Martina Legris, Laboratory of Plant Developmental Plasticity, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel.
• Prof. Lothar Kalmbach, Laboratory of Plant Cell and Developmental Physiology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel.

Start: Tuesday, 13 January 2026, 14h00

End: Wednesday, 14 January 2026, around 13h00 (after lunch)

Eurotel Victoria, Les Diablerets, http://www.eurotel-victoria.ch

• Each attendee will present a poster AND a short talk. 

• Oral presentation
The length of an oral presentation is limited to 10 minutes, followed by a 5-minute discussion. There will be no parallel sessions.

• Poster contribution
Bring along a A0-portrait size poster. Each poster is allotted one board.

Participation is free of charge and includes accommodation and food. The costs for the Early Career meeting will be covered directly by the Swiss Society of Plant Biology, thanks to a grant from SCNAT. Attendees cover their own travel expenses.

Early Career Meeting participants are also expected to attend the subsequent SwissPLANT26 symposium. Thus, we strongly encourage the PI/senior scientists to register their Early Career Scientist(s) for the SwissPLANT26 symposium (and take care of their associated registration fee for SwissPLANT26).

During the Early Career Meeting, participants will select 2 speakers from among themselves to give a presentation at the following SwissPLANT 2026 symposium (14–16 January 2026, Les Diablerets).

• Submit your abstract by email, i.e., in addition to your registration via the web form.
• The abstract must be submitted in English and may not exceed 220 words nor contain footnotes.
• We prefer plain-text format (txt), or other editable text format. Avoid pdf and images. If you wish, you can use this abstract template.
• Check all information thoroughly before submitting, as all information for selected contributions will be published as submitted.
• File name: ECM2026_abstract_firstname_lastname
• Send your abstract including subject line ‘Abstract SwissPlantECM2026' and author information as an email attachment to Joop Vermeer.

• Please provide complete and accurate information on all contributing authors.
• This includes the full name, institution/organization, location and email address of each (co-)author.
• The person making the submission is responsible for the accuracy of the information.
• The information will be printed as submitted.
• Please use an institute-e-mail address, not a personal one.
• Mark the presenting author's name in bold.

Swiss Society of Plant Biology with financial support by SCNAT.