About ESOF

The EuroScience Open Forum, ESOF, is well established as the biggest general science conference in Europe. It was organized for the first time in Stockholm in 2004 and has since been held every two years, coming to Munich, Barcelona, Turin and Dublin. Copenhagen will host ESOF in 2014. ESOF is the European meeting place for scientists, science teachers, media, politicians, industry and the public at large, and aims to:

• Presenting scientific and technological developments at the cutting edge from natural sciences to social sciences and humanities
• Stimulating the European public’s awareness of and interest in science and technology
• Fostering a European dialogue on science and technology, society and policy by offering a platform for cross-disciplinary interaction and communication between the public, politicians, policy makers, industry, the media and scientists on current trends and future roads for science and technology, their interaction with society and policy and the role of the public.

About EuroScience

EuroScience is the European grassroots organization of scientists and all those taking an interest in science. It is the voice of European researchers, across disciplines and countries; promoting dialogue with researchers worldwide. Its objectives are

• Engaging with policymakers, business and society to create a stronger Europe through science
• Working convening partnerships to work on careers, rights and responsibilities of scientists and key issues of science policy
• Promoting transparency of, and providing information on European STI policies
• Advancing science for the pursuit of knowledge, prosperity and global development, and for addressing transdisciplinary global challenges.

EuroScience is based in Strasbourg.

The BES summer school is best suited to students at the end of their 1^st year in an English/Welsh/Northern Irish institution and 2^nd Year Scottish institution.

When: 18-22nd July 2016

Where: Malham Tarn Field Centre in North Yorkshire

For full details and how to apply, see the BES website.

The 8 symposia at the 2016 meeting will discuss:

1. Marine spatial planning
2. Food webs at the landscape scale
3. Bat ecology and conservation
4. What practitioners really want: spatial data to detect & measure change at  nature reserves & landscapes
5. A bright future: advances in remote sensing for ecology & conservation
6. Using ‘R’ for spatial analysis
7. Mapping ecosystem services
8. The spatial ecology of invasive species: from early detection to future  distribution scenarios

The GEO BON Open Science Conference on “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Monitoring for the 2020 Targets and beyond” will assess this question. The conference is open to the wide scientific public and is sponsored and co-organized by iDiv, UFZ, SASCAL (others tbc).

The conference will foster scientifically sound biodiversity monitoring by in-situ and remote sensing methodologies, monitoring of ecosystem services, modeling of biodiversity at all scales and in all dimensions and especially encourage interdisciplinary research. It will show ways forward in biodiversity observation and the development of Essential Biodiversity Variables. The conference will accept submissions of abstracts versing any biodiversity monitoring topic, but will prioritize talks associated with the development of monitoring for Essential Biodiversity Variables.

Contributions to the following key topics are invited:

• New monitoring methodologies and technologies and global data standards
• Global data standards and data depositories  – how do they serve the community?
• New visions and pathways for in situ and remote sensing biodiversity monitoring
• Making observations count: Engagements with the policy sector

This conference will include:

• Kick-off and key note presentations
• Oral communications organized into parallel sessions
• A workshop to develop new visions and pathways for biodiversity monitoring

We expect the conference to have a duration of 3 days.

For more details, see the attached PDF file.

Application before April 15th 2016.

Registration form can be downloaded at: http://www.lisode.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/12/registrationform_summerschool_2016.docx.

Participants will be notified of acceptance by April31st 2016.

The number of participants is limited to 20.

Conference themes

• outlook and legal aspects of social development;
• bioadequate methods in education and training;
• socio-ecological basis of production and livelihoods as a mechanism for the territory;
• national interests in the global economy;
• technical and technological aspects of sustainable development(organic farming, waste-free technologies production and livelihoods, renewable energy);
• ecological and childbirth settlements as a model of society the future;
• innovation to corporate sustainable development in production and service organizations;
• social entrepreneurship as forms of innovation activities in the region;
• state support for cooperatives and formation of producers organizations.

To implement the IPBES work programme and to make it relevant also for the regional, national and/or local level, on which many biodiversity-related problems need to be tackled, the global IPBES mechanism needs national and regional structures to build upon. Such structures can spread information about IPBES, enrich IPBES negotiations by feeding in diverse opinions, support the identification of experts relevant to the IPBES assessments, disseminate IPBES products, and help to meet urgent capacity-building and data needs.

In Europe, one example of a regional initiative is the Pan-European IPBES Stakelder Consultation meeting taking place in June 2016 for the third time. This meeting brings together individuals (and organisations) that may contribute to the IPBES process (e.g. through their expertise, knowledge, data), may use its outputs or may be affected by its outcomes (= "IPBES stakeholders" in the IPBES terminology). Mobilizing a diverse and active IBPES stakeholder community across Europe and Central Asia has also been the aim of the Pan-European IPBES Stakeholder Consultation meetings in 2012 (PESC-1 in Leipzig, Germany) and 2013 (PESC-2 in Basel, Switzerland). Following-up these previous meetings, PESC-3 will provide a pan-European forum for discussing current developments in and around IPBES and aims at delivering input to the review of the first draft of the Regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia.

Objectives of the PESC-3 meeting

1. Informing about current developments in and around IPBES, in particular on:

• Regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia (ECA assessment)
• IPBES stakeholder engagement & capacity building

2. Delivering contributions to the IPBES process:

• Comments on the first order draft of the ECA assessment
• Identification of relevant capacity-building needs in the region, and possible means and resources to address them
• Strengthening of existing and initiation of new networks, platforms and other structures fostering the engagement in IPBES across ECA region

2016 marks a turning point for the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) with the launch of the new Strategic Plan implementing the Global Earth Observations System of Systems (GEOSS). Now in its 10th edition, the GEO European Projects Workshop 2016 will present and discuss European initiatives contributing to GEOSS.

The GEO European Projects Workshop will feature:

• Plenary sessions on the opening and closing days,
• Break-out sessions with classic presentations, and
• World Café sessions with flash presentations during which participants will jointly elaborate answers to pertinent questions.

For details, see the link below.

• A poster competition with personal feedback provided by the speakers for all entries – deadline for poster submission is 13 April
• A raffle for individual attendees to win a free lunch with all of the individual speakers.
• A workshop on scientific writing offered to all attendees and organised by the journal Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation editorial team.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Mat Disney, UCL
• Doreen Boyd, Nottingham University
• Gary Geller, Group on Earth Observations
• Lucas Joppa, Microsoft Research
• Emily Nicholson, Deakin University
• Nathalie Pettorelli, Institute of Zoology, ZSL
• Duccio Rocchini, Duccio Rocchini, Fondazione Edmund Mach
• Shovonlol Roy, Reading University
• Emma Tebbs, Kings College London
• Martin Wegmann, Würzburg University

Python is a dynamic, readable language that is a popular platform for all types of bioinformatics work, from simple one-off scripts to large, complex software projects. This workshop is aimed at complete beginners and assumes no prior programming experience. It gives an overview of the language with an emphasis on practical problem-solving, using examples and exercises drawn from various aspects of bioinformatics work. After completing the workshop, students should be in a position to (1) apply the skills they have learned to tackle problems in their own research and (2) continue their Python education in a self-directed way.

Intended audience

This workshop is aimed at all researchers and technical workers with a background in biology who want to learn programming. The syllabus has been planned with complete beginners in mind; people with previous programming experience are welcome to attend as a refresher but may find the pace a bit slow.

First mentioned in the 1970 MIT report, the concept of ecosystem services was popularized by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA, 2005).  It’s now used and claimed by many researchers. But numerous questions are still without answer. The thought needs a disciplinary, methodological and epistemological mixing, from ecology to anthropology and from basic research to its territorial application. This symposium is thus aimed at researchers of all disciplines, knowing that its objective is to question the ecosystem services concept in urban environments, with a particular emphasis on its cultural input.

See symposium website for details:

Participants should have received relevant information via email.

Further information

• How ALTER-Net is organised

Europe's forest ecosystems...

• are often mainly seen only as a provider of wood for the bioeconomy and for energy generation – but provide many more functions and services e.g. carbon capture and storage, erosion protection , drinking water, flood prevention, clean air, biodiversity, and recreation;
• therefore contribute to our health, wellbeing and prosperity in many respects, beyond the production of timber;
• are under stress and are increasingly vulnerable: droughts, storms, fires and pests becomes more frequent and intense as a result of climate change; demand for wood and biomass is on the rise; and habitat changes are an important factor for the continued loss of biodiversity.

This conference…

• focuses on forest ecosystem services and benefits beyond the production of wood;
• is about ensuring balanced approaches, and about preserving and appropriately managing Europe's forest ecosystems and forested landscapes;
• will bring together key players working in these fields;
• will bring the main challenges on the table, raise awareness, showcase good examples and practical solutions;
• will discuss what needs to be done and how EU action can provide support and added value.

IPCC Working Group II (2014) described vulnerability as follows: The propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected. Vulnerability encompasses a variety of concepts and elements including sensitivity or susceptibility to harm and lack of capacity to cope and adapt. Vulnerability results from a combination of three elements:

• Exposure – the extent of adverse climatic changes for a particular object of interest (e.g. how much the climate warms)
• Sensitivity – the intrinsic attributes of a species or ecosystem for it to be harmed by climate change (e.g. how close a species is to its thermal limits)
• Adaptive capacity – the capacity for natural or managed adjustment to offset the adverse impacts of climate change (e.g. capacity of a species to move).

Conservation management can take actions that affect adaptive capacity but in order to do so it needs to understand the other elements of vulnerability.  A wide variety of approaches to vulnerability assessment have been developed, but to date they have rarely been compared and evaluated.  This meeting will seek to open up this topic area, with talks from experts involved in developing scientific methods and those involved in developing practical approaches to inform action.  It will provide a forum for the conservation community to come together to explore which are the most promising approaches; it will be of interest to academic, practitioner and policy communities.

This workshop is for you, if you:

• carry out research on the vulnerability of species and ecosystems to climate change,
• are a conservation scientist involved in policy and practices to conserve species threatened by climate change
• are developing or use climate risk assessments in your research,
• wish to discuss the main climate drivers of species’ vulnerability,
• wish to explore different approaches for identifying vulnerability and conserving species,
• would like to build new collaborations and network with other researchers,
• would like to find out more about the research carried out by ZSL
• would like to present a poster of your research on climate risk assessments

Participants will be taught a wide range of suitable time series models for both discrete and continuous time systems. The course takes a foundational Bayesian approach, which will enable participants to have a deeper understanding of the models being fitted, and to estimate all unknown quantities with uncertainty. Participants are encouraged to bring their own data sets for discussion with the course tutors.