In mid-July the Director of FABI, Prof. Bernard Slippers, visited the UK to engage with colleagues in mycology and forestry. The visit started with the Annual Conference of the British Mycological Society, one of the oldest mycological societies in the world and who still play a major role in the world of mycology today. The conference took place at the beautiful campus of Royal Holloway, University of London between 15-17 July. Prof. Slippers delivered an invited lecture on ‘Latent pathogens: The Botryosphaeriaceae in a changing world’. The talk highlighted the rising impact of latent pathogens, such as the Botryosphaeriaceae, in forestry, agricultural and landscapes due to climate change. He also highlighted the current insights and rapidly developing toolbox for the study of these organisms, which can assist in dealing with the threat. A highlight was the mid-conference tour to Kew Gardens and its fungal herbarium. Not only is this the largest fungal herbarium in the world, holding historical samples such as a specimen from Alexander Fleming’s Penicillium culture and from the Irish Potato famine, but they are also doing frontier research on genomics of herbarium specimens that will transform mycology in the coming years.

On 18 July, Prof. Slippers visited Forest Research England at Alice Holt Research Station to meet with forest research colleagues. He delivered two talks on ‘Silent invaders: The hidden threat of asymptomatic phytobiomes to forest biosecurity ‘ and ‘PSHB experiences in South Africa’. The first talk unpacked the topic covered in a recent paper in the New Phytologist on the same topic. The first talk highlights the fact that global trade in live plants is accelerating, and so is the unintentional movement of asymptomatic fungal endophytes and latent pathogens hidden within them. These silent invaders can jump to naïve hosts, shift from harmless to harmful, and trigger devastating outbreaks in natural and planted forests. The paper argues that:

- Endophytes are not always benign - they can become destructive pathogens under stress or in new environments.
- Phytosanitary systems are not keeping pace with our understanding of microbiomes, focusing on visible pests and ignoring the microbial passengers within healthy-looking plants.
- The P4P (plants for planting) pathway is a major conduit for global forest pathogens - and regulations fall short to mitigate the risk.
- We must shift from name-based to gene-based biosecurity, integrating modern -omics and sensor-based approaches, sentinel plantings, and risk-based trade policies, amongst others.

Following the talks, he toured the facilities and met with various researchers to discuss ongoing research, as well as diagnostic, outreach and biological control services.

On 19 July, Prof Slippers had the opportunity to visit the historical Richmond Park forests in London, together with ex South African researchers Dr Sandra Denman, Dr Bridget Crampton, Dr Michael Crampton and park official Gillian Jonusas, to look at research being conducted there on Acute Oak Decline and an emerging disease on Hornbeam trees.

The visit left rich impressions from the excellent mycological and forest pathology science being done in the UK and strengthened networks that would strengthen future research collaboration.