NOVA course: Evolutionary Plant Pathology – effects on genes, individuals, populations and species

The arms race between pathogens and plant hosts drives rapid population differentiation and adaptation. Eventually, the evolutionary history of a species will leave its mark on genome structure and function. In this course, the nature of evolutionary processes and their impacts on genes, individuals, populations and species within the area of plant pathology will be discussed.
Full course description can be found here.

Entry requirements

This course is aimed at doctoral students working within plant and forest pathology and related fields. Advanced master students and post-docs who recently defended their thesis may also register for the course. Applicants must be admitted to PhD studies within natural sciences. Places are limited, and priority will be given to students accepted at a university that is part of the NOVA and BOVA networks. MSc students and post-docs at NOVA and BOVA network universities can be admitted, if space allows. PhD students from other universities can be admitted if space allows but must pay a fee of 1000 SEK. 

Apply to the course here before March 1, 2026.

Course outline

The course includes a weekly on-line journal club running online for two months before the physical one-week course, which will be held on June 1-5 at Älvkarleö Herrgård, Sweden. During the course, lectures by two international and several Nordic teachers are mixed with exercises, discussions and individual assignments that will help participants to integrate acquired knowledge into their own research projects. Students will present their own work orally or with a poster. The students will benefit from lectures by our two distinguished international teachers, Professor Daniel Croll, Switzerland, and Professor Irina Druzhinina, UK. 

Daniel Croll is a Professor of Evolutionary Genetics and Director of the Institute of Biology at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Daniel has a broad range of interests ranging from population genetics, microbiology, bioinformatics and conservation genomics.
Read more about Daniel Croll.

Irina Druzhinina is a Professor and Senior Research Leader in Fungal Diversity and Systematics at Royal Botanic Garden Kew, UK. She combines applied microbiology and biotechnology with knowledge in fungal systematics and evolution for the acceleration of our understanding of fungal biology.

Read more about Irina Druzhinina 

Venue

The course will take place at Älvkarleö Herrgård (https://www.alvkarleoherrgard.se), 90 km north from Uppsala. The venue can easily be reached by train from Uppsala or Arlanda airport. Tickets can be bought at SJ (www.sj.se), station: Älvkarleby Station.

Fees and costs

The course is free of charge for students from NOVA and BOVA universities. Students from other universities can be admitted if space allows but must pay a fee of 1000 SEK. All students must cover travel costs, accommodation and meals themselves.

Accommodation in a shared double room and meals will be approximately 6300 SEK in total. Students from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences can get their expenses covered by the university. See more information and apply here.

Similar support may be available at the other NOVA and BOVA universities, ask your local administration.

About NOVA

The Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University Network (NOVA) is a university cooperation aimed at supporting the understanding of major global challenges in a Nordic context. Together we provide high quality PhD-level courses in subjects related to agricultural, forestry and veterinary sciences, and support PhD and post-graduate veterinarian specialisation students and NOVA’s scientists in building international scientific networks. See more info here.