Breeding Horizons 2025 | ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding

Help shape the future of plant and animal breeding
2025

21–24 July 2025
Brisbane

Global Change Institute & Customs House

 

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Join leading researchers and industry professionals to help shape the future of plant
and animal breeding. This dynamic symposium offers unparalleled opportunities to:

Discover groundbreaking research and visionary expertise

Hear firsthand about cutting-edge advancements from keynote speakers
and leading experts shaping the future
of the field.

Forge invaluable connections

Network with peers, potential collaborators, and industry leaders
from around the globe.

Gain practical insights and enhance your skills

Participate in interactive sessions and workshops designed to elevate
your knowledge and abilities.

Program overview

  Monday 21 July Tuesday 22 July Wednesday 23 July Thursday 24 July
9:00 – 10:30 empty training workshop training workshop showcase
11:00 – 12:30 empty training workshop training workshop showcase
1:30 – 3:00 meeting training workshop training showcase
3:30 – 5:00 meeting training workshop training showcase
Centre Annual Meeting
Next-Gen Breeder Training
Industry Partner Workshops
Showcase

Centre Annual Meeting

The Centre Annual Meeting will bring together members to review the past year’s activities, discuss current progress, and plan for future initiatives. This meeting provides a valuable opportunity for networking, collaboration, and strategic planning amongst researchers, industry partners, and stakeholders.

Next-Gen Breeder Training

The Next-Gen Breeder Training program will offer intensive face-to-face training focused on the critical aspects of experimental design and statistical principles. Participants will gain a solid theoretical foundation and practical skills through hands-on experience with industry-sourced breeding datasets, emphasising model-based design and analysis using the linear mixed model. This training aims to equip attendees with the essential tools to enhance the precision of their experiments and maximise genetic gain in breeding programs.

Industry Partner Workshops

The Industry Partnerships Workshop is designed to foster stronger connections and collaborations between public and private sectors within the plant and animal breeding community. This workshop will facilitate in-depth project discussions, strategic planning around Centre theme priorities, and the development of course priorities. It will also provide a platform to explore new partnering opportunities to drive innovation and advancement in the field.

Showcase

The Predictive Breeding Showcase will feature talks and presentations from leading experts in predictive breeding. This showcase will highlight the latest advancements, research findings, and innovative technologies shaping the future of plant and animal improvement. Attendees can expect to gain valuable insights into cutting-edge research and engage in discussions on the future of the field.

Monday 21 July + Centre Annual Meeting, Global Change Institute
12:00 – 12:30 Arrival and registration
12:30 – 1:30 Networking lunch
1:30 – 1:35 Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country
1:35 – 2:00 Update on Centre Activities
2:00 – 3:00 Networking Activities
3:00 – 3:30 Afternoon tea
3:30 – 5:00 Flash Talk Session: Meet our Rising Stars
5:00 – 8:00 Pizza at Saint Lucy Caffe e Cucina
Tuesday 22 July + Next-Gen Breeder Training, Global Change Institute
8:30 – 9:00 Arrival and registration
9:00 – 10:30 Session 1: Forward Look
Experimental design for achieving reliable plant breeding outcomes
10:30 – 11:00 Morning tea
11:00 – 12:30 Session 2: Single environment selection experiments: some examples
Experimental design for achieving reliable plant breeding outcomes
12:30 – 1:30 Networking lunch
1:30 – 3:00 Session 3: Common examples of inappropriate designs
Experimental design for achieving reliable plant breeding outcomes
3:00 – 3:30 Afternoon tea
3:30 – 5:00 Session 4: Extending our ideas
Experimental design for achieving reliable plant breeding outcomes
Tuesday 22 July + Industry Partnerships Workshop, Global Change Institute
8:30 – 9:00 Arrival and registration
9:00 – 10:30 Building Strategic Partnerships: Capacity, Gaps, and Future Opportunities
10:30 – 11:00 Morning tea
11:00 – 12:30 Aligning Expectations: What Students and Industry Want from Placements
12:30 – 1:30 Networking lunch
1:30 – 3:00 Gap Analysis and Course Planning: Meeting Industry Training Needs
3:00 – 3:30 Afternoon tea
3:30 – 5:00 Research Pitch Session: New Technologies and Partnership Opportunities

 

Wednesday 23 July + Next-Gen Breeder Training, Global Change Institute
8:30 – 9:00 Arrival and registration
9:00 – 10:30 Session 5: Forward Look
Multiple environment selection experiments – a model-based approach
10:30 – 11:00 Morning tea
11:00 – 12:30 Session 6: Multi-phase selection experiments – a model-based approach
Experimental design for achieving reliable plant breeding outcomes
12:30 – 1:30 Networking lunch
1:30 – 2:00 Networking Activity
2:00 – 3:30 Panel Discussion: “The Crossover Roast. From Page to Practice: Multi-omics in the Wild”
 3:30 – 4:00 Early Career Researcher Panel Discussion: How to integrate Multi-omics into Industry
4:00 – 5:00 Drinks Reception
Wednesday 23 July + Industry Partnerships Workshop, Global Change Institute
8:30 – 9:00 Arrival and registration
9:00 – 10:30 Centre Research Theme Priorities and Future Focus
10:30 – 11:00 Morning tea
11:00 – 12:30 Centre Research Project Meetings
12:30 – 1:30 Networking lunch
1:30 – 2:00 Networking activity
2:00 – 3:30 Panel Discussion: “The Crossover Roast. From Page to Practice: Multi-omics in the Wild”
3:30 – 4:00 Early Career Researcher Panel Discussion: How to integrate Multi-omics into Industry
4:00 – 5:00 Drinks Reception

 

Thursday 24 July + Predictive Breeding Showcase, Customs House
8:30 – 9:00 Arrival and registration
9:00 – 10:30 Leveraging global collaboration and multi-omics
to deliver dairy industry outcomes
Dr Iona MacLeod, Agriculture Victoria Research and La Trobe University
Accelerating clonal selection for grapevine using (epi)genomics
Dr Peter Crisp, The University of Queensland
Phenomics technologies for improving efficiency and genetic gain
in sugarcane breeding
Dr Sijesh Natarajan, Sugar Research Australia/The University of Queensland
Predicting complex traits in humans & livestock
Dr Kathryn Kemper, The University of Queensland
10:30 – 11:00 Morning tea
11:00 – 12:30 Making the most of multi-omics for crop improvement
Dr Shannon Dillon, CSIRO
A Multi-disciplinary Approach Towards Barley Head Loss Resistance
Nirmal Raj Rajendran, University of Melbourne
Accurate phenotyping of foliar diseases in barley using a high
throughput machine-learning based image analysis
in sugarcane breeding
Dr Eden Tongson, La Trobe University
AI-guided breeding to sustain crop genetic gain
Dr Eric Dinglasan, The University of Queensland
12:30 – 1:30 Networking lunch
1:30 – 3:00 Predictive Breeding of Blueberries from Florida to the world
A/Prof Patricio Munoz del Valle, University of Florida
Utilising haplotypes to explore genotype by environment interactions
for barley yield
Stephanie Brunner, The University of Queensland
Pig tail biting: genetics, environments, and interactions
Dirk van Winden, University of New England
Advancing Soybean Breeding: Enhancing Predictive Power through
an Ensemble of Diverse Models
Dr Melanie Wilkinson, The University of Queensland
3:00 – 3:30 Afternoon tea
3:30 – 5:00 The transformative power of predictive breeding in practical
crop improvement
Dr Alf Ceplitis, Lantmännen
Trait Introgression Process Optimisation – Combinatorial Approach
Dr Reena Kapoor, CSIRO
Using simulation to judge the value of increased recombination rates
Kira Villiers, The University of Queensland
Use of Phenotypic and Genomic selection to accelerate the
development of new disease resistant chickpea varieties
Dr Ahsan Asif, Chickpea Breeding Australia, New South Wales Department
of Primary Industries and Regional Development
5:00 – 6:00 Poster Session
6:00 – 9:00 Networking Dinner at Customs House

 

2025 speakers

Dr.

Shannon Dillon

Principal Research Scientist and Group Leader, CSIRO

A/Prof

Patricio Muñoz del Valle

Blueberry Breeding and Genomics, University of Florida

Dr.

Alf Ceplitis

Group Manager Population Improvement, Lantmännen

Dr.

Iona MacLeod

Senior Research Scientist (Agriculture Victoria) & Adjunct Senior Research Fellow (LaTrobe University)

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    The ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding acknowledges the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which we work. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past, present and emerging.