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Category Archives: Conference Reviews

Virtual Virtuosi or Vacuous Vassals: The #BES2020 Festival of Ecology Write-Up

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Sam Perrin One comment

Every year after I am finished with Europe’s largest ecology conference I write a summary of my most memorable thoughts and experiences. Truth be told, I didn’t think I’d bother this year. Surely a virtual stand-in for the British Ecological Society’s Annual Meeting can’t be that noteworthy? But here we are.

Let’s get the obvious over with – this year has been a nightmare for most. Fieldwork has been cancelled, offices and campuses have been shut down, and many researchers (including those completing PhDs, a group already disproportionately suffering from a cocktail of stresses, anxieties and other fun stuff) have been wracked with even more stress than usual.

Conference Reviews

The 2020 Oikos Write-Up: Ecology in the Anthropocene

Posted on March 9, 2020 by Sam Perrin Leave a comment

My lord Iceland is gorgeous. There could not have been a better setting for the 2020 Nordic Oikos Society’s Annual Meeting. Driving through deserts of snow that ring of the kind of quiet isolation you’d expect from a town in a depressing British murder mystery was a wonderful experience.

As was the conference itself, of course. So let’s recap some of my highlights from this year’s meeting, titled ‘Ecology in the Anthropocene’.

Conference Reviews

COP25: A Short Review and On-Site Experiences

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Julia Ramsauer Leave a comment

Image Credit: Julia Ramsauer, CC BY 2.0

Last Sunday, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid came to an end. It was a summit that marked the end of a year in which climate change has transformed into a climate emergency and in which society has woken up to the urgency of the situation. Taking into account the pressure from global demonstrations of groups like Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion, and the fact that even scientists have further challenged world leaders on the urgent need to act by striking in September, hopes for the outcomes of this year’s climate summit were big. For a couple of days, I was in Madrid to participate in the part of the COP25 that was open to the public and to march with thousands of others in the biggest demonstration ever held in Spain.

Conference Reviews

Ecology at its Most Hectic: The 2019 BES Write-Up

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Sam Perrin One comment

I am completely exhausted as I write this. I’ve just flown back into Norway after spending the week in Belfast at the British Ecological Society’s annual meeting. And whilst I do love attending conferences, after any mental onslaught of information it’s probably a good idea to take a day or two off to relax and let it soak in.

But before I run off on holidays to do that, let’s have a look at some of the most noteworthy points from BES 2019. I’ll touch on the words of some of the plenary speakers, the general atmosphere and I will try MY ABSOLUTE HARDEST not to talk about British politics.

Conference Reviews

Science in Practice: Highlights from the Ecological Society of Australia’s 2019 Annual Meeting

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Marina Schmoeller Leave a comment

The Cataract Gorge in Launceston, Tasmania, where the 2019 Ecological Society of Australia Annual Meeting was held (Image Credit: Marina Schmoeller, CC BY 2.0)

I just got back from 10 days in Tasmania, Australia. As a temporary visitor in the country, I extended my trip to attend the Ecological Society of Australia’s annual conference (ESAus) as much as I could, so I could explore the surroundings and get to know a little of the place, its people and its unique biodiversity.

The conference was held in Launceston, the second largest city in Tasmania. With about ninety thousand inhabitants, a rich history with deep roots in its eye-catching landscapes, the Tamar River Valley and the Cataract Gorge, Launceston is a charming place with a lot to offer all visitors. But let’s talk about the conference.

Conference Reviews

Inspiring Optimism: Notes from the Conservation Optimism Summit

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Sam Perrin Leave a comment

We can’t all be as happy as this little guy when thinking of the planet, but as Ben Cretois writes, the Conservation Optimism Summit is a good place to start (Image Credit: Sachin Sandhu, CC BY 2.0, Image Cropped)

Guest post by Benjamin Cretois

At the beginning of last month, I attended the 2^nd edition of the Conservation Optimism Summit. In times where bad news for biodiversity seem to come from everywhere, it was somehow refreshing. We need initiatives such as Conservation Optimism to help us not only keep a positive outlook on conservation in general, but also to open our eyes to new ecological solutions that are being found.

Conference Reviews

Thoughts on ESA2019: Inclusion, Biodiversity Data, and Twitter

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Caitlin Mandeville Leave a comment

It was easy to feel inspired about ecology with this view from the conference hotel.

It’s been two weeks since the 2019 Ecological Society of America conference and I’m still collecting all my thoughts about the meeting. My experience at ESA was, as they say, a little like drinking from a firehose: there was an enormous number of exciting talks, sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities, and I inevitably had time to experience only a fraction of them.

Conference Reviews

Modernising Ecological Data Management: Reflections from the Living Norway Seminar

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Sam Perrin Leave a comment

Ecological data is constantly being collected worldwide, but how accessible is it? (Image Credit: GBIF, CC BY 4.0, Image Cropped)

This week Trondheim played host to Living Norway, a Norwegian collective that aims to promote FAIR data use and management. It might sound dry from an ecological perspective, but I was told I’d see my supervisor wearing a suit jacket, an opportunity too preposterous to miss. While the latter opportunity was certainly a highlight, the seminar itself proved fascinating, and underlined just how important FAIR data is for ecology, and science in general. So why is it so important, what can we do to help, and why do I keep capitalising FAIR?

Conference Reviews

Citizen Science and Biodiversity: Thoughts From a Meeting With the European Citizen Science Association

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Caitlin Mandeville Leave a comment

Image Credit: NPS Photo, CC BY-SA 2.0, Image Cropped

A collection of biodiversity researchers from across Europe came together in Brussels for a unique kind of meeting last week. We were connected by two common threads: first, we are all supported by BiodivERsA, a large network of European biodiversity research projects funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program. And second, most importantly, we are all interested in connecting our biodiversity research with citizen science in one form or another.

Conference Reviews

Policy for the Masses: Thoughts from a Day with IPBES

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Sam Perrin Leave a comment

Bill Sutherland was one of two keynote speakers in last week’s seminar on biodiversity and ecosystem services (Image Credit: Øystein Kielland, NTNU University Museum, CC BY 2.0)