Dear readers,

This time we don’t have a field or laboratory on the cover, but the European Parliament. Alessia Cogliandro, Manager of Governmental Affairs, champions KWS in Brussels. As our contact person, she is committed to ensuring that our interests and concerns from research are heard in the European Union. It’s an exciting field of work that requires a great deal of sensitivity and expertise.

From Einbeck to across the pond: Ronja Zeidler from Cell Biology spent a year as an expat at our Gateway Research Center in the U.S. She not only gained insights into doubled haploid research there, but also forged important contacts, explored the U.S. and promoted exchange between the two locations.

Vegetables straight from the field to your plate? Every September, our colleagues from PopVriend Seeds organize their PopFest in Andijk where – in addition to spinach, beans and red beet – visitors can discover a very individual concept tailored to them. They can smell, touch and taste the vegetables with all their senses – because the vegetables from PopVriend Seeds are served up directly for lunch.

How did you actually come to work in your current position? In our new series “My KWS Journey,” colleagues talk about their different career paths at KWS. Ulrike Marienhagen and Etiéne Rodrigues from Berlin kick it off. Ulrike joined us from the breeding station in Wetze and, among other things, is now in charge of the ticketing system at the Global Transaction Center, while Etiéne came to us during the pandemic and moved from Brazil to Berlin, where she now works in Compensation and Benefits.

We hope you enjoy reading this edition of insideKWS!