Workshops
We have a fabulous lineup of workshops planned for Tuesday, June 10, 2025! These optional workshops offer ways for attendees to engage in hands-on learning and vibrant interactions with fellow conference participants. Note that workshop fees are not included in the general conference registration cost and will be available at an additional charge.
ONE-HOUR WORKSHOPS
Digital Microscopy – The Basics
Workshop Leaders: Tom Shay
Time: 09:00–10:00 AM
Location: PC Classroom - Z120
Attendee Cap: 20
Cost: $20
Workshop Description:
Should we go digital? This question is no doubt being asked in countless research labs who use microscopes. Perhaps you are in one of those labs that have used light microscopes for decades and are wary of new technology, especially it’s apparent complexity and high cost. Digital seems so complicated that it must be difficult to learn, let alone master. Perhaps you have not used a microscope since your college days.
Never fear. In today’s workshop, you will learn the basics of digital microscopy, how it compares with light microscopy and its pros and cons. Hopefully, you will come away with a much better understanding of this “next generation” technology even though you may choose not to use it.
Shifting Ground, shifting plants: An In-Place Diaspora Methods Bazaar
Workshop Leaders: Jeffrey Wall and Lore Van Praag
Time: 09:00–10:00 AM
Location: FTA Herbarium - NFTZ204
Attendee Cap: 15
Cost: $20
Workshop Description:
The fact of ubiquitous and constant environmental change forces landed people into unfamiliar ecological settings whether they've migrated or not. In refugee and otherwise migrated communities, ethnobotany has made progress studying the dynamic plant knowledge and priorities of peoples in diaspora. The in-situ diaspora materializing across Planet Earth calls for the adaptation, amplification, and application of key methods and theories of this diaspora ethnobotany. Among many other urgent phenomena, such novel approaches can play a major role in understanding the interplay between omnipresent environmental weirding and intentions to migrate, particularly within the context of global rural exodus.
In this workshop, we will call for participants to pool and describe their divergent skills of observation, perception, and analysis which have successfully accounted for the shifting ground underneath landed communities, with a special call for methodologies which engage and grasp migration ideation. Our time will be spent sharing stories of how in-situ diaspora moved into our frames of observation and analysis. Participants will be asked to narrate the background, development, and application of their novel approaches. Throughout the workshop, a series of interactive sessions will be conducted where participants can merge case studies, discuss pre-distributed media and documentation, and plan more hands-on collaborations. The goal will be to not only exchange knowledge but also to synergize innovative paradigms and approaches.
Resulting compiled resources will be curated and stored on a secure shared server and select access disseminated across the Society for Ethnobotany and beyond. Needed innovations and interventions within and beyond the academic spheres will be envisioned and action items assigned to interested parties. Regular follow-up meetings will be scheduled to monitor the progress of the action items and gather feedback from participants. This iterative process will ensure progress and dissemination of the advances developed during and after the workshop.
Exploring Ethnobotany through Creative Technologies
Workshop Leaders: Laura Bystrom
Time: 11:00 AM–12:00 PM
Location: PC Classroom - Z120
Attendee Cap: 24
Cost: $20
Workshop Description:
The use of creative technologies, such as augmented/virtual/extended reality (AR/VR/XR) can inspire people, especially the younger generation, to learn more about ethnobotany. I am a lecturer in Food/Nutrition and Plant Science at Bath Spa University and module leader for the course entitled ‘Plants & People’ for the past 5 years. I am also co-creator of a creative technology project entitled 'The Vaccinium Berry Collective' with T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss an indigenous artist/activist and matriarch of the Skwxwu7mesh, Sto:lo people, along with Joolz Thornton a creative technology technician at Bath Spa University. Together we would like to showcase some of our initial work funded through FUEL, a production company based in London. The session will begin with a short lecture, followed by a demonstration using the VR headset, which will be projected on the screen. At the end, participants will have the chance to try the VR experience for themselves, followed by a short survey to gather their feedback.
Virtual Reality Simulation of Field Ethnobotanical Research
Workshop Leaders: Tomáš Kudera
Time: 12:00–13:00 PM
Location: PC Classroom - Z120
Attendee Cap: 24
Cost: $20
Workshop Description:
Step into the shoes of an ethnobotanist and embark on a thrilling virtual expedition in Alofa, a gamified simulation inspired by real-life fieldwork in Samoa. Designed by Tomáš Kudera, a former Ph.D. student from the Laboratory of Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, and created on the metaverse creation platform VIRTULOC, this immersive VR game combines education, exploration, and engagement. Participants will explore the fictional South Pacific island of Alofa, home to a rich diversity of medicinal and edible plants. As the island’s visiting professor of ethnobotany, your mission is to identify plant species traditionally used by locals to treat common infectious diseases—ranging from skin infections and mycoses to foodborne illnesses, and urinary tract infections. Based on the traditional knowledge acquired through the conversation with local healer using linguistic ethnobotanical techniques, you will be tasked to collect plant samples and voucher specimens. With impressive virtual environments representing various habitats, participants learn to identify plant species by habitat, traditional use, and morphological features—mirroring the real steps of field research, from interview strategies to specimen collection and evaluation. This interactive tool not only introduces core principles of economic botany but also fosters critical thinking and research skills in an engaging way.
TWO-HOUR WORKSHOP
Eye to Plant: The Use of Drawing in Ethnobotany
Workshop Leaders: Lindsay Sekulowicz
Time: 10:00 AM–12:00 PM
Location: FTA Herbarium - NFTZ204
Attendee Cap: 20
Cost: $20
Workshop Description:
The proposed workshop will explore botanical drawing in its widest sense. Participants will look at a wide range of source materials from historical botanical illustrations, to medieval florilegia, plants in contemporary art, and depictions of plants by Indigenous artists. What do all these drawings represent and what information do they hold?
Is drawing a way of seeing, knowing and describing the world, and can an art practice contribute to ethnobotanical knowledge production?
In this session participants will be provided with drawing materials, and taken through guided drawings exercises to draw from a selection of flowers, plants and seeds. At the end of the session we will review work made by the group and have an opportunity for feedback on how these techniques might be relevant for an ethnobotanical community.
The workshop will be organised by Lindsay Sekulowicz, a practice-based PhD student at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the University of Brighton. Her study is 19th century biocultural collections from the Northwest Amazon house at RGB Kew, and she also works with Indigenous communities in the region today. In 2024 she led an eight-day drawing workshop in the community of São Pedro, Rio Tique. In addition to her doctoral study, she is a practising artist and a member of faculty of the Royal Drawing School, London where she teaches drawing at postgraduate level.
THREE-HOUR WORKSHOP
Wild Edible Plants of Prague
Workshop Leaders: Łukasz Łuczaj
Time: 09:00 AM–12:00 PM
Location: FTA Herbarium - NFTZ204
Attendee Cap: 25
Cost: $20
Workshop Description:
Step into the edible wilderness hidden in plain sight. Discover the rich world of wild edible plants of Central Europe during an engaging foraging workshop led by renowned botanist and ethnobotanist, Prof. Łukasz Łuczaj from the neighbouring Poland. With over two decades of experience, dozens of publications, popular YouTube channels, and several books on wild foods of Europe and Asia, Prof. Łuczaj is one of the leading voices in modern ethnobotany. Since 2002, he has introduced countless participants to the flavors and traditions of wild plant use. This workshop will be a guided foraging walk through the streets and parks of Prague surrounding the Czech University of Life Sciences, where we’ll explore the edible plants growing all around us, often overlooked, yet bursting with culinary and cultural value. Special emphasis will be placed on Central European traditions of wild food use.