IFS Ken Haynes Travel award 2024 Awardee Report: Luke Quill.
The second Ken Haynes travel award winner from 2024 was Luke Quill from Trinity College Dublin. 
Luke used his travel grant to travel to the 12th International Conference on Mycorrhiza (ICOM-12) in Manchester, which was held in August 2024. To read about his experience at the conference, click here.
You can read about the experience of fellow 2024 awardee Joy Clarke by clicking here, and view the 2023 travel award recipients by clicking here.
IFS 2024: another successful IFS conference!
The 2024 IFS conference in Queen's University Belfast was a wonderful success. Some photographs and content are available here, to submit your own content please get in touch via the contact page.
Above: some of the Irish Fungal Society attendees at the dinner in the Ulster Museum. Photo credit: Steve Patmore.
Above: The Irish Fungal Society welcomes a new president: Professor Kevin Kavanagh steps down as IFS President and is replaced by Professor Johannes Wagener. From left: Professor Kevin Kavanagh, Dr Rebecca Owens, Dr Edel Hyland, Professor Johannes Wagener and Mr James Powell, IFS Committee at the IFS conference 2024, missing from photo: Luke Quill.
Ken Haynes Travel Award
IFS Ken Haynes Travel award 2024: First Awardee Report.
We have had an amazing response to the 2024 Ken Haynes travel award, thank you to all of the entrants.
The first award goes to Joy Clarke of Maynooth University. To read about her experience at the 20th International Society of Mushroom Science (ISMS) congress in Nevada, USA, click here.
To see the awardees of the 2023 travel award, click here.
Free mycology course at Institute Pasteur
This course provides a general overview starting from the basic concepts of fungal taxonomy & ecology. It will guide you through the different approaches for identification of fungi. You will hear about major trends in invasive fungal diseases as well as subcutaneous mycoses epidemiology, about new populations at risk, and emerging factors involved in the development of diseases. It will also cover topics related to antifungal drugs, and finally you will have an insight into the natural history of superficial and invasive fungal diseases, with a part dedicated to the HIV-associated infections.See here for details.
Gilead UK and Ireland 2023 invasive fungal disease fellowship program
The Gilead UK and Ireland 2023 invasive fungal disease fellowship program is now open. Application deadline is Saturday May 20th 2023. Details of the scheme can be found here.
The Gilead Fellowship and Medical Grants Programme supports local innovation and best practices in caring for people living with:
- HIV
- Cancer
- Invasive fungal disease
- Viral hepatitis
Since 2008, the programme has supported over 300 projects, leaving an important legacy in these areas. Applications are invited from healthcare and third sector organisations who are seeking funding for a project that aligns with the goals of the programme.
IFS Online 2022
The annual conference and AGM of the Irish Fungal Society took place online on June 22nd 2022.
Speakers included:
Dr. Aleeza Gerstein 'The evolution of antifungal/stress resistance in Candida spp.'
Dr Helen Grogan ‘Tackling mushroom disease control in an environmentally conscious world’
Prof. Nancy Keller 'Ecologically relevant secondary metabolites in fungal-bacterial communication'
Prof Martin Hoenigl ‘Covid associated fungal infections’
Dr. Jorge Amich‘Antifungal persistence in Aspergillus fumigatus"
Dr Tihana Bicanic ‘Aspergillosis in patients with severe influenza (AspiFlu)’
IFS Online 2021
The annual conference and AGM of the Irish Fungal Society took place online, on June 22nd 2021.
Speakers included:
Prof Liz Johnston: ‘Impact of increasing antifungal drug resistance on diagnostic and treatment strategies'.
Prof. Carol Munroe: ‘Targeting the fungal cell wall’
Prof. Fiona Doohan: ‘Molecular dissection of interactions between phytopathogenic fungi and barley’
Prof. Malcolm Richardson: ‘Pulmonary aspergillosis: community or hospital acquired?’
Irish Fungal Society 2019 meeting:
The 2019 meeting of the Irish Fungal Society took place on April 11th 2019 at the Belfast Waterfront.
The event took place as part of the 2019 Microbiology Society conference, which ran from Monday 8th to Thursday 11th April.
Eoin O’Connor wins the Journal of Fungi Prize:
Congratulations to Eoin O’Connor who won the Journal of Fungi prize for the best oral presentation at the Irish Fungal Society Annual Meeting. Eoin’s PhD is involves researchers from Maynooth University, Teagasc and Swansea University and is entitled “Visualisation of MVX RNA in the mycelium of Agaricus bisposus by fluorescence in situ hybridization”.
Journal of Fungi to sponsor prize at IFS2018:
The Journal of Fungi have generously offered to sponsor a prize for the best student or postdoc presentation at IFS 2018. There will be a prize of CHF200 for the best oral presentation.
Please send your abstracts to irishfungalsoc@gmail.com to enter.
The Journal of Fungi is a PubMed indexed open access journal.
The journal publishes all aspects of fungal research in a quarterly mode http://www.mdpi.com/journal/jof.
The Irish Fungal Society has been granted Charitable Status:
IFS has been granted Charitable status by the Irish Charities regulator, and the details of the Society are now publicly viewable on the Charities regulator website: https://charitiesregister.ie/.
Our Registered Charity Number (RCN) is 20154295.