Summer school Imaging & Phenotyping in Wageningen

The Summer School on Image analysis for plant phenotyping was held at the Wageningen University & Research Campus with great succes.

Twenty-nine participants from all over the world travelled to Wageningen to learn more about phenotyping. The programme consisted of lectures, demonstrations, tours & hands-on training for researchers working on automatic phenotyping and technical experts in breeding companies who use, or plan to use, image analysis.

The course leaders Gerrit Polder, Gert Kootstra and Rick van de Zedde together with colleagues from Wageningen University & Research and guest speakers from industry and research institutes provided a diverse programme regarding the following subjects:

• Images and image quality
• Noise and image enhancement
• Segmentation
• Multi- and hyperspectral imaging
• Deep learning, convolutional neural networks
• Lab session 3D data analysis / interpretation
• Lab segmentation
• Open session and case studies

During the course there was ample time for discussion with the experts and each other and of course also time for socializing and networking.
Participant experiences are displayed on the right. Course leader Gerrit Polder was also asked to describe his experience: “What inspires me most are the interactive sessions; new and refreshing insights emerge, because of the different disciplines of the participants and teachers from industry and academia. Our aim this year was to create a good balance between participants from industry and academia to stimulate the interaction between these two ‘worlds’. By discussing challenges for their own projects, we’ve set the foundation for new collaborations.”

The participants rated this years edition with an overall score of 4.4, on a scale from 1 to 5.