BES ANNUAL MEETING
3 - 5 SEPTEMBER 2008
IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON, UK
WORKSHOPS AND SPECIAL SESSIONS
Aside from first class science, the BES is planning a wealth of workshops and special events for every delegate. Below is just a list of the events arranged so far:
Wednesday 3 September
19:30 - 20:30
Ecological Speed Dating
When attending annual meetings, there is often a tendency for members who know one another well to group together. To up the rotations in the social mixer, we have decided to offer an ‘ecological speed-dating event’ this year.
The event will provide a fantastic opportunity for facilitated networking between early-career ecologists and experienced professionals in their fields. Five panellists will be selected from amongst the BES membership, representing senior ecologists whom early career researchers would very much like to form links with, and also those people who could offer invaluable careers advice about various options open to younger ecologists. The people available for ‘dating’ are from policy, publishing, teaching and science communication backgrounds.
This event will be open to a maximum of 50 ‘speeddaters’ – whilst other participants at the annual conference can enjoy a glass of wine and socialise with one another in the background. There will be cheesy romantic music along with themed sweets and biscuits, creating a suitable atmosphere to set the tone of the event.
Participants will be allocated speed-dating passes on a first-come first-served basis on the first morning of the conference. The BES staff will then assign participants ‘slots’ at the event.
As well as being a light-hearted and fun event for members to interact, it will provide a serious function in assisting more junior members of the Society, whether it be with queries they may have over future career plans, or just forming useful links with other ecologists.
19:30 - 20:30
Aquatic Ecology Special Interest Group Meeting
Ronnie Edmonds-Brown 
All welcome!
19:30 - 20:30
Invasive Ecology Special Interest Group Meeting
Robert Francis
All welcome!
19:30 - 20:30
Mires Special Interest Group Meeting
Sarah Crowe
All welcome!
19:30 - 20:30
Plant Environmental Physiology Special Interest Group Meeting
Howard Griffiths
All welcome!
Thursday 4 September
08:30 - 10:30
Ecological theories for population and community dynamics: Requirements, Tests and Misconceptions:
David Murrell
The workshop will be based on the idea of ‘Preconceptions; misconceptions and advances in ecological theory’, and will be split into three different ecological themes. Each theme will aim to have one talk to explore some of the finer points of theory; a talk that focuses on some new statistical approaches that are suitable for testing the theory; and a talk with a more experimental/field based emphasis which will highlight where theory needs to be directed. The overarching aim is to explore where theory and empirical studies are currently diverging and where they are converging. More details of the workshop will feature in future editions of the Bulletin.
14:10 - 16:10
Teaching Ecology – the need for some blue-sky thinking
David Slingsby, BES Chair of Education, Training and Careers Committee
To many young people ecology is little more than studying food chains several times over and memorising the Nitrogen Cycle diagram from a text book. The Education session at the 2008 Annual Meeting will take the form of a workshop based meeting devoted extending the BES Starting from Scratch (SfS) process with a focus on Higher Education. The SfS process began with an article in the March Bulletin (Slingsby 2008) which attracted a lot of interest. This emphasised the need for radical re-thinking if we are to attract able young people to become the ecologists of tomorrow, and to provide a positive image of ecology amongst the general public. In May 2008 the Education, Training and Careers Committee organised a meeting of stake-holders to initiate the process with a focus on the school curriculum. In this session the focus will shift to Higher Education. What is the ecological thinking which attracts and motivates A level candidates and prepares them for further study on leaving school? And once they have arrived in Higher Education - what do they need from an ecology course to prepare them for a professional career in research, in consultancy, in conservation or in education?
Part 1: Input
- The Starting from Scratch process: the story so far.
David Slingsby, BES, Chair of ETCC
- The Higher Education perspective: nurturing the ecologists of tomorrow
Malcolm Press: President of the BES and University of Birmingham
- Equipping professional ecologists
Nick Jackson: Institute of Ecological and Environmental Management (IEEM)
- On teaching ecological thinking: the North American perspective.
Bruce Grant, Widener College, Pennsylvania, and Ecological Society of America (ESA)
Part 2: Facilitated discussion in groups.
In answering the question ‘what is ecology’ emphasis is usually made in terms of content, for example, food webs, nitrogen cycle, energy dynamics, niche, selective pressure. In this workshop participants will be invited to lay aside familiar content, however cherished, and attempt to identify the essential concepts and the underlying ecological thinking which forms the core of what we seek to pass on to produce the next generation of ecologists. Each group will have a facilitator who will allow plenty of freedom in open-ended discussion about key aspects of ecological thinking but discourage consideration of specific content, progression and teaching methods. Such things represent the next stage of the SfS process.
Part 3: Plenary session – and where next?
It is intended to produce an interim report based on the outcomes of this workshop, together with those of the previous SfS event in May which defines the essentials of ecological thinking and its conceptual framework. Only when we have achieved this can we rethink the kind of specific content needed to put flesh on the conceptual bones and the pedagogical methods needed to deliver it. We are not trying to produce a single perfect ecology curriculum but to initiate a dynamic process which will mean that the Society is always ready to inform curriculum developers, government and all those who teach ecology with a coherent and well thought-out set of ideas.
14:10 - 16:10
What is Environmental Metabolomics? An introductory workshop on measuring metabolites across many taxa, ecosystems and treatments
Matt Davey , University of Sheffield
Metabolomics is the science of attempting to analyse the entire chemical composition of organisms. This technique allows the screening of potentially 100s of chemical traits without preconceptions or bias over which compounds are important for the organism. Environmental metabolomics is the application of metabolomics to the investigation of both free-living organisms obtained directly from the natural environment or laboratory conditions, where any laboratory experiments specifically serve to mimic scenarios encountered in the natural environment (Morrison et al 2007).
Environmental metabolomics is increasingly being used as a research tool for many ecological and physiological studies. However, the philosophy and technical approach is still new and unclear to the wider community. The objective of this workshop is to explain environmental metabolomics to new audiences and to show how this approach is applicable across many organisms and ecosystems. Open discussion about field sampling, techniques and data analysis among established and newly intrigued scientists in this field will be encouraged.
14:10 - 15:40
How to get into Reviewing
Dr Lindsay Haddon, BES Publications Manager
Voluntary review by peers helps assure the validity and quality of published research across all disciplines, including ecology. But with the power to critically evaluate the work of your fellow ecologists comes great responsibility. Indeed, the peer review process can be mysterious and daunting from the outside - and just how do you start getting papers to review anyway?! This session draws together expertise from new and established referees, associate editors and editorial offices to shed some light on the peer review process in its entirety.
What – in the eyes of an author or journal editor - constitutes a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ review? What can you do to get involved? When should you accept or decline an invitation? How much time should you devote to your ‘community service’ as a referee? What support is available when starting out? Why bother to review other ecologists’ work in the first place?!
There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion after the series of short presentations. All are welcome, although the session is primarily aimed at students and early-career ecologists.
Ecosystem Services – developing scientific relationships and evidence as a basis for policy
Pete Carey, CEH Monks Wood, UK
More details to follow.
14:10 – 16:30
Media Workshop, Jennifer Sneddon,
(With part two on Friday 5 Sep at 13:40 – 14:40)
This module provides scientists with the skills required to prepare a press release, as an example of writing for lay audiences. Before developing their writing skills, trainees are also given an introduction to news values that they can apply in their own press release writing. The module engenders good written communication practices that may be widely applicable, including in a purely research setting, such as a scientific conference. Please bring a laptop to the session.
The workshop will consist of a 40 min lecture by Professor Steve Miller followed by IT activity in a designated computer suite at Imperial. Candidates will work on their submissions over an evening before emailing it to a designated folder for Professor Miller for feedback on the ensuing day.
Expected outcomes:
- Knowledge
- News values
- Media process, from the scientific paper to the newspaper
- Written communication skills
Attitudes
To be aware of the internal working of media in order to build a beneficial relationship with them and to take advantage of their potential.
Skills
- Writing
- Understanding
- Popularising
- Communicating
- Disseminating
14:10 - 17:10
Ecosystem Services - Joint BES and BRAG special session
Ceri Margerison, BES Policy Officer
The BES’s Science Policy Team and the UK Biodiversity Research Advisory Group (UK BRAG) are jointly hosting a Special Session on “Ecosystem Services”. For the “ecosystem approach” to become part of mainstream policy-making it is important that ecologists, economists and policy makers all work together. This is the ideal opportunity to build these relationships! Come along to the session to hear about Defra’s work in considering whole ecosystems in policy development, as well as finding out about current research into ecosystem services across both the terrestrial and marine environment. The session offers a fantastic chance to network with researchers and policy makers already thinking about the ecosystem approach, and to find out how to cultivate a successful interdisciplinary partnership.
Confirmed speakers include: Professor Alastair Fitter, discussing the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services; Professor Edward Maltby, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Water, Integrated Management and Ecosystem Research (SWIMMER), at the University of Liverpool; and Dr Peter Costigan, Science Co-ordinator in Defra’s Natural Environment Group. The session is chaired by Professor Georgina Mace FRS.
UK BRAG
The UK Biodiversity Research Group is made up of UK biodiversity researchers, funders and practitioners, including members from statutory conservation agencies, academia, the collections, research councils and government departments.
The BRAG is not a funding body and does not address specific research needs associated with individual sites.
Its aims are:
- to identify, promote and facilitate biodiversity research to support UK and individual country biodiversity action plan commitments
- to coordinate effective UK engagement with European biodiversity research issues
- to contribute to effective biodiversity research networking in the UK
- to support knowledge transfer activities in relation to biodiversity research
16:30 - 18:30
BES and NERC Grants Workshop
Dominic Burton, BES Grants Officer
Following the success of last years BES and Royal Society grant workshop, the BES and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) will be giving presentations on their funding schemes. The talk will include information on how grant applications are assessed and a general indication of Do's and Don'ts to follow when applying. There will be a brief question and answer session and the chance to meet grant officers from NERC and the BES.
NERC funds world-class science in universities and in their own research centres that increases knowledge and understanding of the natural world.
The BES aims to promote ecological research and training as widely as possible mostly through a wide range of grants.
16:30 - 17:30
Conservation Ecology Special Interest Group Meeting
Mick Green
All welcome!
17:30 - 18:30
Ecological Genetics Special Interest Group Meeting
Barbara Jones
All welcome!
Friday 5 September
13:40 – 14:40
Media Workshop
Jennifer Sneddon
A continuation of the Thursday Media Workshop.
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