Jan Engels concluded his appointment as AEGIS Coordinator by 31 December 2016. Many thanks and congratulations to Jan for his excellent contribution throughout several years dedicated to ECPGR! The AEGIS coordinating tasks will be absorbed by the Secretariat staff under the Secretary’s guidance.

In January 2017, the Secretariat welcomed Imke Thormannn as part–time research assistant until July 2017. She will be in charge of the organization of a workshop dedicated to "Increasing ECPGR knowledge and opportunities on Private Public Partnerships for the use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture" to be held in June 2017.