Your support

‘Plants & Us’ is owned by John Innes, registered charity number 223852, and all monies raised will go towards furthering it’s charitable objectives.

If you would like to make a donation to ‘Plants & Us’, please contact Dee Rawsthorne on 01603 251457, dee.rawsthorne@bbsrc.ac.uk or by post at John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Colney, NR4 7UH.

You can also support us by volunteering your time or services; please contact Dee for more details.

Where would we be without plants?

We like to think of ourselves as a nation of gardeners and plant lovers. But our relationship with plants is much more complex than this.

At the most fundamental level, we could not exist without plants. The very air that we breathe is simply a by-product of photosynthesis. Plants feed us, clothe us, provide our fuel and shelter, and even help to keep us healthy.

How plants have shaped our lives

Plants have played their part in history too. They have been responsible, quite literally, for making and breaking nations.

Early America made its wealth from cotton, timber and tobacco. Quinine allowed Europeans to settle in the tropics, but conversely, the potato famine of the 1840s was a contributory factor to mass emigration from Ireland to America. While in the Caribbean, the cultivation and processing of cane sugar was directly responsible for the rise of the slave trade.

And there’s no doubt that plants will shape our future too. How we treat these life-giving resources today will dictate our quality of life in the future.

The initiative

An entertaining new educational initiative

The many and varied ways in which plants have formed our past, enrich our lives now, and will sustain our future is a fascinating subject. Using a variety of different projects and events we will be promoting this message to as wide an audience as possible using collabortions and independent ventures across the country.

John Innes Centre (JIC)

A world-class plant research facility

JIC is part of the Norwich Research Park. Established in 1910, it is Europe’s leading independent research centre for the study of plant and microbial science. JIC is a publicly funded, not-for-profit organisation and its products are knowledge, understanding and know-how.

JIC has strong ties with the University of East Anglia and hosts 150 postgraduate students. Many researchers who have completed their PhDs at JIC are now world leaders in plant and microbial science.

The Plants & Us exhibition

The exhibition is housed at the John Innes Centre and is aimed at non-scientists and school pupils. It is a celebration in words and pictures of the vital role that plants have played in shaping our world and safeguarding our future.

The conference centre at JIC is the ideal venue for this exhibition. Large, modern and airy, it is already host to a number of prestigious events, both scientific and non-scientific. By staging the exhibition here, thousands of people can enjoy it and may even be inspired to arrange to visit other, more science-oriented departments of JIC.

Future projects

Inspiring a new generation of plant scientists

Because the main purpose of the exhibition is to attract more young people to plant science, school education packs will be produced.

About your support

Making a contribution

All contributors to the JIC exhibition ‘Plants & Us’ will be acknowledged. This will of course vary according to the type of contribution, but there will be a range of options available.

For further information, please contact us