Register for our listserv for more European news, discussion and alerts to upcoming events!

Visit our blog: http://euroconbio.blogspot.com/
The Board of the Europe Section launched its blog: you can read and contribute to the latest news, ES issues and conservation ”hot topics”. Come and join the Europe Section BLOG!

What do members say about the Europe Section? – The Membership Poll

The SCB Europe Section conducted a membership poll to reveal the needs and requirements of the members, their opinion on the Section’s activities and suggestions on how to increase membership. The web-based survey started on 13 May 2008 and ended on 15 June 2008. Ninety-six respondents filled in the questionnaire (approx. 20% of the membership), more than half of them working in research. Only 50% of the respondents were on the European listserv. (Do you know about the listserv? Click here!). Most of them learnt about the SCB-ES via the website/publications. The most important reason to join was to stay informed in conservation issues globally and in the European context and to receive Conservation Biology. For the majority of the respondents, the organization of the ECCB is a very important activity of the Section (72.3%). Developing the science-policy-practice interface (e.g. contacts, communication) is also considered as a very important activity as well as initiating reviews on European conservation topics in the journal Conservation Biology (though it was also marked as “not really important” by 20% of the respondents). SCB meetings and summer schools are also a very important part of the Section’s work by 37.2 %. Most of them indicated to be satisfied with the Section’s work, but according to a large number of answers, the Section should improve its visibility in Europe and more active communication within the membership and between the Board and the members is needed. Click here to read the whole report!

The web-survey was extended to include those SCB members who are residing in Europe but not registered as Europe Section members. According to their responds (13.3 % filled in the questionnaire) joining the Europe Section when registering as an SCB member is not a clear option. The majority of the respondents (59.1 %) didn’t know about the possibility to join the Section when registering, while few of them thought they joined the Section or did not know how to join the Section. Click here to read the results of the non-ES members’ survey!

Expo of Diversity, Bonn, May 2008

Greek Summer School

The first summer school of the SCB-ES was held in Papingo, Greece from 31 August to 7 September 2008 (www.cbcd.eu/gss). The GSS was organised by the Education Committee in collaboration with the University of Ioannina and a local NGO (Center of Biological and Cultural Diversity). The course, entitled “Introduction to Conservation Biology: an international summer school to promote conservation science” was funded by the Greek Ministry of Environment and Public Works.

With fifteen students from all over Europe and seven conservation biologist lecturers of five countries and a wide range of conservation issues covered, the school was a great success according to the participants as one of them said: "The experience was not only useful and interesting from an academic perspective but also life enhancing and uplifting on many other levels.” The scenic surrounding of the GSS contributed to the success, as its location was in the core area of Pindos National Park, the largest mountainous national park in Greece. 

Beside the ten lectures focussing on current conservation issues, linking biological sciences to social science, and policy-related questions, five field sessions contributed to the rich program of the school. During the field sessions, the students got an introduction to bat and bird sampling, investigated the freshwater ecosystem of Voidomatis, experienced the coexistence of nature and human society and did trekking in the mountains of the National Park..

The rector of the University of Ioannina awarded the certificates of attendance to the young conservation biologists, who also received a two-year free subscription to SCB journals and membership of the Society. Encouraged by this success the Education Committee aims to organize the Greek Summer School on an annual basis and the Section Board would like to congratulate all those involved on the success of this project.

Planning and fund-raising for the 2009 summer school is already under way – to help and for further information, please contact the Chair of the Education Committee Vassiliki Kati (info@cbcd.eu).

For further information visit http://www.cbcd.eu/gss/

How the students evaluated the GSS?

The event was rate as a big success by all involved and students the evaluated this initiative very high with an overall score of 9.2 out of 10! 

“I was very impressed with the program, the organisation, the beautiful location and also the enthusiastic and hard-working people who contributed such a lot.
The lecturers and presentations were interesting and the subject matter presented fitted together well and was pitched at a reasonable level. For the more advanced student I'm sure there was benefit in revision of ideas and concepts and for those at an early stage of their studies I'm sure there was much that was new and stimulating. The magnificence of the National Park provided a majestic backdrop in which to meditate and reflect upon the magnitude of the problems presented in lectures…I shall enter my second year of studying Conservation Biology refreshed and reinvigorated with many interesting new threads of enquiry to pursue.”

“The two most important considerations I've got are:

• the behaviour a biologist or a naturalist has to keep in a natural environment: curious and interested on all living beings, because even a microscopical insect is object of study and could be fundamental for the environment.
• to have a critical position about all that concern environmental issues, using our knowledge as weapon to support our battles.”

“Going to Summer School was an amazing experience. Everything was great, the lectures were very interesting, the teachers very friendly. I believe that Papingo was the perfect place for studying Conservation Biology. Furthermore, field sessions gave us the opportunity to get even closer to nature and participate in many activities. Moreover, Summer School offered us a chance to meet other people and other cultures. To sum up, everybody had a great time, so I believe that every student should live the experience of Summer School.”

BOD Meeting in Krakow, 19-21 September

The Board of Directors of the Europe Section held its regular meeting in Krakow, Poland from 19 to 21 September. The members of the Board discussed the achievements and the future tasks in 2008 (see the Committee reports of the first half of 2008 coming here soon!). The members of the Local Organizing Committee of the ECCB2009 were also invited to the meeting. Proposed Symposia, Workshops and Training Sessions for the ECCB2009 were reviewed and a full list of accepted symposia will be available on the congress website (www.eccb2009.org) soon.

Vote for the new members of the Board!

This year there are four positions available on the Board.  Profiles of all the candidates and voting instructions are available on the SCB website (http://www.conbio.org).  All section members are eligible to vote so visit the website and exercise your democratic right! Voting in the section elections is an important element of section membership and we look forward to seeing a much improved level of participation in this year’s election.  To contact the Board with any questions or comments email europe@conservationbiology.org or visit the Section’s website (http://www.conbio.org/Sections/Europe/) for details of committee activities and opportunities to get involved.

ECCB2009 – Call for Abstracts is open

Since the beginning of October the call for abstracts has been open; abstracts should be submitted electronically via the ‘Online Submission Website’ (http://www.eccb2009.org/index.php/callforpapers). Abstracts should be submitted for oral presentations, speed presentations and poster presentations. Abstracts for symposium presentations are by invitation only. All abstracts must be received by 31st January 2009. The local organizing committee will notify all authors by 1st April 2009. Presenting authors must register and pay the registration fee for the meeting prior to 30th June or their presentation will be dropped from the program.  If you cannot submit your abstract via the Web site, please e-mail your abstract to Vendula Ludvíková (Congress Secretariat) at conference@eccb2009.org