Current challenges for plant biology research in the Global South

New Phytol. 2024 Nov;244(4):1168-1174. doi: 10.1111/nph.20083. Epub 2024 Sep 15.

Abstract

In an attempt to address the large inequities faced by the plant biology communities from the Global South (i.e. countries located around the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere) at international conferences, this Viewpoint is the reflexive thinking arising from the concurrent session titled 'Arabidopsis and its translational research in the Global South' organized at the International Conference of Arabidopsis Research 2023 (ICAR 2023) in Chiba, Japan in June 2023. Here, we highlight the main obstacles plant biology communities in the Global South face in terms of knowledge production, as measured by the unequal production and citation of publications, investigating and advancing local plant genomics and biodiversity, combating disparities in gender and diversity, and current initiatives to break isolation of scientists.

Keywords: Arabidopsis; Global South; decolonization; diversity; representation; translational research; unconscious bias.

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / genetics
  • Arabidopsis / physiology
  • Biodiversity
  • Botany
  • Plants / genetics
  • Research*