In 2026, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) elected Stéphanie as a lifelong member, a prestigious honour recognizing her contributions to the life sciences. Read more in this UPSC news article and in the official EMBO press release!

In 2024, Stéphanie and her team of three co-researchers were awarded the prestigious European Research Council Synergy grant of 10 million euro, to map the auxin signature in plant cells, starting in 2025. Read about the project plans here!

In 2024, Stéphanie’s promotion to professor was celebrated with an official inauguration by the president of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Maria Knutson Wedel.

In 2024, Vinod Kumar was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie grant to work for two years as a postdoc in our group. The ranking got an impressive score of 99.2 and we celebrated with a cake!

In 2023, Stéphanie and her team of four co-researchers were awarded a large research grant of over 32 million Swedish crowns by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, with the aim to investigate plant cell identity. Read more about the project plans here!

In 2023, Stéphanie was honoured with an invitation from SLU’s vice-chancellor to give an inspirational talk at the doctoral award ceremony in Uppsala. Professor Malcolm Bennett of Nottingham University received an honorary doctorate at the same ceremony.

In 2022, our staff scientist Sara Raggi was awarded the the Agrisera Prize for her significant scientific contributions and her commitment to create a positive and collaborative work environment at UPSC.

In 2019, Stéphanie was awarded the The Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Foundation award for her outstanding research, which she received from Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien (“The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences”) at a ceremony in Stockholm.

In 2019, we hosted Professor Natasha Raikhel when she received an honorary doctorate at our university, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), at doctoral award ceremony in Uppsala.

In 2016, our staff scientist Siamsa Doyle was awarded the Agrisera Prize for her scientific excellence and her outstanding contribution to improving the UPSC work environment.

In 2024, Stéphanie gave a popular science interview and lecture arranged by SLU as part of the celebration of her promotion to professor. Click here to watch – it starts at about 14.30 into the recording.

We have participated in several “Fascination of Plants Day” events, during which the public can take part in fun and educational live demonstrations and experiments based on plant science. We are proud to instill curiosity for plant science in our visitors!

In 2017, Stéphanie gave an interview for a popular science article about plant research in the August 21^st 2017 edition, pages 6-7, of Folkbladet (“The People’s Newspaper”).

In 2017, Siamsa gave a popular science talk entitled Using Chemicals to Dissect Plants, which was filmed by Utbildningsradio and shown on the TV channel Kunskapskanalen (“The Knowledge Channel”).

Our group is highly engaged in exchanges with the international research community. This includes establishing mutually beneficial collaborations, sharing our results with our peers and both giving and receiving feedback with the aim to improve research quality. We therefore send all group members to present their work at approximately one international conference per year.

Together with our colleagues, we also enjoyed organizing the 8th International Symposium on Root Development in Umeå in 2017, the Umeå Cell Biology Symposium in 2018, the first Hormone, Cell Wall and Morphogenesis Workshop in Umeå in 2022 and the Auxentric meeting in Umeå in 2024.

Stéphanie has also had the honour of being invited as a speaker or keynote/plenary speaker at meetings, workshops and conferences. She has been invited to speak at the following events over the past 10 years:

2027 – invited speaker at the International Symposium on Auxins and Cytokinins in Plant Development, Prague, Czech Republic.
2027 – invited lecturer at the Max Planck Institute, Potsdam, Germany.
2026 – invited speaker at the Auxin Meeting, Algarve, Portugal.
2026 – invited speaker at the Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium, Cambridge, UK.
2026 – selected speaker at the Plant Apoplastic Diffusion Barriers (PADiBa) symposium, Lausanne, Switzerland.
2026 – plenary speaker at Plant Biology 2026 – the American Society of Plant Biology (ASPB) meeting, Ottawa, Canada.
2025 – invited speaker at the KBC Days, Umeå, Sweden.
2025 – invited speaker at the INUPRAG meeting, Montpellier, France.
2025 – invited speaker at the FASEB Mechanisms in Plant Development Conference, Vermont, USA.
2024 – invited speaker and chair at the International Congress on Plant Molecular Biology, Cairns, Australia.
2023 – speaker at the Ice Lab Lunch Pitch, Umeå, Sweden.
2023 – invited speaker and chair at the 24th International Conference on Plant Growth Substances, Gyeongju, Korea.
2023 – invited speaker (talk given by Sara) at the Auxins and Cytokinins in Plant Development Symposium, Prague, Czech Republic.
2022 – invited speaker at the online Saclay Plant Sciences seminars, Université Paris-Saclay, France – watch the seminar here!
2022 – invited speaker and chair at the IUBMB-FEBS-PABMB Symposium, Lisbon, Portugal,.
2022 – invited speaker at the Auxin Meeting, Cavtat, Croatia.
2019 – invited speaker (talk given by Siamsa) at Small Molecules In Plant Research: Chemistry and Biology Come Together, Valencia, Spain.
2019 – invited plenary speaker at the International Plant Growth Substances Association (IPGSA) Conference, Paris, France.