Fundraising Campaign for ISPP Resilience Bursary for Plant Pathologists

National and regional conflicts around the world have unfortunately displaced many plant pathologists in the past and present, creating financial hardships. The International Society for Plant Pathology is establishing a “Resilience Bursary for Plant Pathologists” with immediate effect as per direction of the Executive Committee. The fund will be used to support emergency/refugee situations, specifically for plant pathologists. 

The current urgent need is the plant pathologists from Ukraine, who are reaching Poland and other countries as refugees. It is urgent that ISPP support our fellow plant pathologist refugees and the vital work that they have been doing to reduce plant disease losses and assure food and fiber security in the region.

Thus, to begin, ISPP will provide $6,000 for the Resilience Bursary for Plant Pathologists. We will initially liaise with the Polish Phytopathological Society, but we anticipate working with other societies on this effort.

In addition to this primary investment for the ISPP Resilience Bursary, we are requesting ISPP’s affiliate societies around the world and individual members to contribute to a fund-raising campaign to allow support of additional fellowships through this program.

Every $ that you donate will be set specifically to support this cause and will be disbursed with careful immediate attention and verification. ISPP will establish a process for reviewing support requests.

In addition, the ISPP will collate information from scientists who have current collaborative projects with Ukrainian plant pathologists (or graduate students in plant pathology) to identify additional opportunities for support or linkages. This information will be kept confidential for privacy protection. Submit comments to resilience@isppweb.org. 

If you have any suggestions, questions, or information that you would like to share about colleagues that may need help, please email us at: resilience@isppweb.org.

Credit card payment link for donation to the Fundraising Campaign for ISPP Resilience Bursary is below.

Funds can also be provided as a check or bank wire to ISPP. Please communicate with resilience@isppweb.org to get specific information. The donation will be considered a gift to this program and is tax deductible in the U.S.

Please share this with everyone whom you think would also be interested in supporting and contributing. (Download PDF to share) ISPP is also seeking support from institutional partners.