The IPPC Secretariat meets University of Florence students for the third year in a row

Florence, 9 December 2021– The IPPC Secretariat lectured the class of plant pathology at the University of Florence, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Science and Technology (DAGRI), Plant pathology and Entomology section. Hosted by Prof. Laura Mugnai, Professor in Plant Pathology and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Phytopathologia Mediterranea, IPPC Secretariat members Arop Deng, John Gilmore and Riccardo Mazzucchelli addressed the students of the master’s class in Natural Resources Management for Tropical Rural Development in a three-hour lecture that took place virtually while trying to engage the students. The lecture introduced the IPPC to the students as well as its activities and then stimulated the students in a real-life simulation with a hypothetical scenario of pest detection. The collaboration between the IPPC Secretariat and the University of Florence has reached its third consecutive edition and the students demonstrated a great interest by filling the classroom and connecting from home. Several Prof. Mugnai’s pupils engaged Deng and Gilmore in trying to respond to a possible pest risk after learning about the IPPC and its Standards. The IPPC Secretariat invited the students to learn more about the many opportunities at the IPPC Secretariat, especially after the International Year of Plant Health and its legacies. Prof. Mugnai thanked the IPPC Secretariat and extended an invitation for next year.