!!! Semi-final version – only minor changes expected !!!

Version: 2025-10-03, 17:45 (GMT+7)

Along with the 8th International Symposium on Plant Growth Modelling, Simulation, Visualization, and Applications conference (PMA25, modeldata2025.casconf.cn) held during the first week of November 2025 in Nanchang, China, a two-day beginner tutorial on Functional-Structural Plant Modelling (FSPM) using GroIMP will be hosted at the same location right before the conference starts.

The event is intended as a ‘beginner tutorial’ requiring no specific previous knowledge on modelling while basic Java skills are highly welcome for some small practical parts! It will cover a wide range of topics as a general introduction into FSPM, L-Systems and modelling, provide an introduction to the platform, and continue with specific aspects of FSPM and special features of GroIMP.

The tutorial is open for those who would like to learn how to work with GroIMP – Growth-grammar related Interactive Modelling Platform – and to write models in the rule-based programming language XL. Particularly, we target M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in Applied Computer Science, Botany, Agriculture, Horticulture or Forest Science with focus on information processing and modelling, but also interested guests from other disciplines.

Date: November 1st & 2nd, 2025

The tutorial will take place at the Jiangxi Agricultural University, located in the northern suburbs of Nanchang city. Details will follow as soon as they are confirmed.

Nanchang, the capital city of Jiangxi Province in Eastern China, is a vibrant and historically rich city that offers a blend of traditional charm and modern development. With a history dating back over 2,200 years, Nanchang boasts a plethora of cultural and historical landmarks, making it a fascinating destination for travellers seeking to immerse themselves in Chinese history and culture.

We are thrilled to announce that a distinguished international team of renowned plant‑modelling experts will be delivering lectures at this workshop. Their extensive experience and insight will offer tremendous value to every participant.

List of tutors in alphabetical order:

• Gerhard Buck-Sorlin, Professor at Institut Agro Rennes-Angers, France (joining online)

He is teaching horticultural engineers and is doing research on functional-structural plant modelling on fruit trees, glasshouse crops, and digital twins. During his career, he was working as Lecturer at Zhejiang University, and senior scientist at Wageningen University. He has about 20 years of experiences in FSPM using GroIMP and other tools.

• Gaëtan Heidsieck, Ph.D., University of Goettingne, Germany (joining in person)

Full-time developer of GroIMP. Currently working on the extension and improvement of all kind of aspects of the GroIMP modelling platform.

• Michael Henke, Senior Scientist at Yazhouwan National Laboratory, Sanya, China and Appointed Professor for Smart Agriculture at Hunan Agricultural University, China (joining in person)

He is working highly interdisciplinary between plant phenotyping and plant modelling. He is an expert in plant phenotyping and in developing phenotyping facilities and algorithms. His current focus is integrating phenotypic data into plant‑modelling frameworks, including digital‑twin models. As a member of the GroIMP development team for more than 15 years, he has contributed to numerous projects throughout that time.

• Tim Oberländer, Ph.D. student, University of Goettingne, Germany (joining in person)

His is a developer of several new GroIMP plugins and currently working on the evolutionary adaption of graph transformation rules.

• Katarína Smoleňová, Ph.D., Research Associate, Horticulture & Product Physiology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands (joining in person)

Katarína has profound expertise in FSPM using GroIMP and other tools for more than 15 years. During her career, she had the chance to work on a very wide range of models, e.g., whole park and tree model, light simulation and sensitivity analysis. Her current research focus is the development of digital twins of horticultural crops at the Wageningen University.

• Yue Zhang, Associate Professor at Shanxi Datong University, China

Experienced GoIMP user in modelling Chinese solar greenhouses and tomato. Optimized plating patterns, plant architecture, and greenhouse shapes in extensive simulations. Further integrated energy balance models into FSPM of tomato greenhouse production systems.

• Junqi Zhu, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science Limited, New Zealand (joining in person)

After his Ph.D., he obtained from Wageningen University on FSP modelling wheat and maize, he moved to a Postdoc position at INRA Bordeaux, France, to model grapevine and fruits before he switched to Plant & Food Research in New Zealand to continue his work work on grapevine and fruit modelling. As expert in plant architectural development and their response to environmental conditions and neighbouring plants, his main interest is understanding and modelling the effects of the environment and the source / sink relationships.

The workshop language will be English but Chinese assistance will be available.

The training will be provided free of charge (you even do not need to be registered to the PMA to be allowed to participate); however, expenses related to food, beverages, accommodation, and any required learning materials shall not be covered.

To help us with the planning of the event, please register early.

The event will be held on spot only, without the possibility to participate online.

The program will be updated.

The two days will consist mainly of short lectures and interactive tutorials with exercises.

Since we will provide sessions where we put the learned things into practice, it is strongly recommended to have the latest version of GroIMP already installed, so we can start right away with the presentations. If you encounter any issues with the installation of the requirements please reach out to us so we can help you.

Please make sure you have version 2.2 of GroIMP installed. You can find instructions for Windows, Mac and Linux on https://wiki.grogra.de/doku.php?id=user-manual:ch01#requirements.

Please make sure that everything works by following the steps shown here: https://wiki.grogra.de/doku.php?id=user-manual:ch01#testing_groimp_for_the_first_time.

Note: GroIMP 2.2 requires the installation of a Java runtime environment of version 21. This can be obtained, e.g., from Oracle or Eclipse Adoptium.

Some features of GroIMP, most importantly the full spectral ray tracer (GPUFlux), require access to a Graphics Card and OpenCL. To test if GroIMP can access OpenCL, please go to the GroIMP main Menu on “Help/System Info.” Under Libraries OpenCL you can see if your library is loaded, in some cases, you have to scroll to the right to see the actual text.

If GroIMP can not find a native OpenCL library and your computer has a graphics card, please install the OpenCL version provided by your Graphics card maintainer.

If you do not have a graphics card or cannot install the drivers you can try to install POCL(https://portablecl.org/) which works like a “fake graphics card”, simulated on your CPU.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us: