Invited keynote lectures
Presentation title:
50 Years of Weed Research in Europe
PhD in Agronomy by the University of Illinois. Visiting Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, University of California Davis and Oregon State University. FAO consultant with missions in Peru, Ethiopia, Jordania, China and Philippines. President of the Spanish Weed Science Society, Secretary of the Spanish Association for Conservation Agriculture and the European Weed Research Society. Member of the editorial committee of the journals Weed Research and Agronomie. Director of the Center for Environmental Sciences, CSIC, and the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, CSIC. Currently is Emeritus CSIC Professor.
Presentation title:
From site-specific weed management to robotic weeding.
Prof. Roland Gerhards is full professor of Weed Science at the University of Hohenheim. He obtained a Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Bonn in 1993. Now, he is a teacher and researcher in the Agricultural Faculty at the University of Hohenheim. He teaches Weed Biology, Weed Control, Precision Farming and Integrated Crop Protection in several Bachelor- and Master Courses. Within the Erasmus Sokrates Program he gives invited lectures at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague and the other partner University of the Euroleague of Life Sciences (ELLS). Currently, his scientific interests are focused on Integrated Weed Management Systems and Precision Farming in Weed Management. For Precision Weed management he has developed sensor and application technologies for automatic plant species recognition and site-specific weed control. His research has been supported by important Foundations including DFG, EU, Ministries of Education and Research (BMBF) and Food and Agriculture (BMEL). Roland Gerhards is a member of the German Phytomedicine Society (DPG) and the European Weed Research Society (EWRS). He has authored and co-authored more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and has reviewed manuscripts for many international Journals.
Presentation title:
Status, potential, and Challenges in Discovery and Development of a breakthrough bioherbicide.
Dr. Marrone spent her 30+ year career focused on biological products for pest management and plant health, having started and led three previous bioag companies (Entotech, AgraQuest and Marrone Bio Innovations (now called Profarm Group), all of which were sold to larger companies. She is one of only 32 women to have founded a company and taken it public (MBII:NASDAQ). With co-founder Jim Boyd, the former CFO of Marrone Bio, Pam has launched a fourth company, the Invasive Species Corporation, to bring effective, environmentally friendly biological solutions to control destructive invasive species, in water, forestry and agriculture. The company has a microbial natural product discovery platform to find herbicides, algaecides and biological solutions to control invasive crustaceans. She is Chair of the Board of Elicit Plant and advises several other agtech/agbio startups, many founded or led by women. Among her many awards, in 2023 she received the Rosalind Franklin Award from the Biotechnology Industry Organization and in 2022 she was the first woman to receive the American Chemical Society “Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success.” She is a Fellow of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), and in 2024 she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. She holds over 400 patents (82 US). She has a B.S. in entomology with Honors and Distinction from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in entomology from North Carolina State University.
