The Council of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP) is excited to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the American Phytopathological Society (APS) effective from July 2020 to June 2024. The MOU signed between Prof. Wijnand Swart and Dr. Lindsey du Toit, current Presidents of the SASPP and APS respectively, will facilitate mutually beneficial interaction through scientific exchange via joint membership and professional collaboration. SASPP students will benefit from this through a 50% discount in their APS membership. More details of the benefits of APS membership can be viewed at https://www.apsnet.org/members/community/join/Pages/default.aspx. SASPP student members who join the APS will also have access to student travel awards. To view more details visit https://www.apsnet.org/members/give-awards/foundation/apply/Pages/default.aspx.

By means of the MOU, early- to mid-career international APS members can access the International Travel Award that provides support to participate in an APS Annual Meeting. The SASPP council would like to encourage our student members to join the APS through the following sponsorship.

SASPP student sponsorship to join the APS for 2021:

• SASPP will sponsor the discounted APS Student Membership of 10 registered postgraduate students in Plant Pathology to join the APS for 2021;
• Students must be subscribed SASPP members;
• Students will be refunded once proof of their APS membership and payment is provided via email to the SASPP secretary (BenderCM@ufs.ac.za);
• SASPP will consider two students per Institution, this need to be co-ordinated between student supervisors at Institution level.