Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum hosts Botanical University Challenge 2024

In August 2024 Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum hosted Botanical University Challenge (BUC).

BUC is an annual contest of botanical knowledge, founded in 2015 by Professor John Warren, Emeritus Professor of Botany at Aberystwyth University, Dr Jonathan Mitchley, Associate Professor in Field Botany at the University of Reading, and Paul Ashton, Professor of Botany at Edge Hill University. Its aim is to promote the importance of plant awareness and knowledge, and specifically to encourage plant awareness in students, highlighting the urgency of educating future generations in botany and plant science to meet global needs.

In addition to the University Challenge-style contest, BUC incorporates a Student Botany Festival that gives students the opportunity to network, attend careers sessions and enjoy a variety of lectures.

After the success of the Oxford team in the 2023 competition, hosting duties fell to Oxford and OBGA is grateful to The Queen’s College for its support in holding this year’s programme. We were delighted to be joined by keynote speaker Professor Alex Antonelli, Director of Science at Kew, who spoke on botanical dark spots, and were grateful to be joined by representatives from a variety of organisations as part of our Careers Showcase, including BSBI, Annals of Botany, and Plants People Planet.

Careers Outside Academia Session at BUC 2024

The Careers Outside Academia session gave students the opportunity to learn more about careers in ecology, applied plant sciences and agriculture, environmental conservation, citizen science in the charitable sector, and the conservation of rare native British flora. Students also attended four sessions from established plant scientists focusing on key areas: OBGA Deputy Director Dr Chris Thorogood led a session on biomimetics and nature-based solutions, Dr Molly Grace presented on the IUCN Green Status, Professor Jennifer McElwain discussed using palaeobotany to reconstruct the Earth’s atmospheric evolution, and Professor Andy Hector discussed Dipterocarps and biodiversity in Borneo.

There were plenty of practical sessions, too. BSBI led a Field Identification Skills Certificate (FISC) taster session at the Botanic Garden - a FISC is an industry-recognised standard that shows an individual’s skill for botanical identification and surveying. Students also enjoyed a Floral Formula session led by Dr Stephen Harris, where they learned about different flowering plant families, OBGA’s Plant Records Officer Dr Sarah Edwards led several ethnobotany and medicinal plant tours, Alex Mills of Natural England led etymology tours and OBGA’s Dr Lauren Baker and Mark Brent ran tours of the Botanic Garden’s collections. Dr Chris Thorogood drew on his skills as a botanical illustrator and led a botanical illustration workshop, and Harcourt Arboretum curator Ben Jones led a conifer identification masterclass. Alun Salt of Botany One delivered a scientific communication and online writing workshop, and Catriona Bass of Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Restoration Project gave amazing insight into floodplain meadow restoration.

In the competition itself, Dr Lucy Sutherland, Director of Gardd Fotaneg Genedlaethol Cymru/National Botanic Garden of Wales, set questions on everything from heterosis to single nucleotide polymorphism, pitting the University of Cambridge against Kew and the University of York against the University of Reading. A nail-biting final with tough questions from Lindsay Turnbull, Professor of Plant Ecology at Oxford, saw Cambridge narrowly beat York who had led throughout. You can watch the semi-finals and final here.

BUC was designed to inspire and support the next generation of botanists and we have already heard from many students who found this year’s event rewarding and educational, and we are already looking forward to BUC 2025.