Overview:
SCCS Hungary - Connecting Eastern and Western Europe in conservation biology
„But the world is as delicate and as complicated as a spider's web. If you touch one thread you send shudders running through all the other threads. We are not just touching the web, we are tearing great holes in it." Gerald Durrell 1925-1995
What do we know about conservation science in different regions of Europe, e.g. about Russia or Portugal? Conservationists have the same goals: to slow down and stop the decrease of biodiversity and fragmentation of natural habitats, and provide research or other evidence for conservation interventions; but such interventions are embedded into socio-economic context, which have to be considered. There is a lack of platforms where young scientists, especially students can share their recent findings and learn about the ecological, economical and sociological challenges of conservation and the range of available knowledges (academic, traditional) from the different approaches that Europe provide.
Do we see the potentiality in different disciplines like ecological economy, sociology? Or what kind of traditional knowledge still exists in extensive parts of Europe, e.g. in Romania? How can we gain with this knowledge and integrate in conservation science?
We aim to connect conservation biologists from all over Europe and beyond, offering them a platform to go deep in getting know the situations, projects, specialities in conservation science of the attending countries focusing on their unique natural values, methods, problems and solutions. To achieve a successful conservational project, scientists have to consider many aspects from the planning phase to the final one, discuss with stakeholders and have to make important decisions. Students and scientist at the early career need to get an insight of these processes and try out how to represent their acquired knowledge.
We aim to give the students the possibility to improve their skills in managing their research, broaden their view on conservation in practice and meet with organisations in conservation science to enrich their contact network.
Preliminary program
Date of conference: 30th August – 2nd September, 2016
3 days conference, optional field trip on the 4th day
Invited keynote speakers will offer plenary lectures every day, which is followed by student talks, workshops, poster session, lunch and coffee breaks, discussion session on conservational problems, special dinners and field trips. The conference programme offered at this special venue will not only give a chance to participants to present their work and get an insight to what is the stand in other countries in conservation science, but will also enable to have free talks, discussions with experts to learn and expand their contact network.
Courses and field trips:
Field trip: On the afternoon of 2 September, as a part of the program a field trip will be organised to Tihany including a 3-4 hour walk, visiting the surrounding area of the venue as it offers many impressive touristic sights. We plan to visit the Benedictine Abbey of Tihany, the Lavender House, the visitor centre of the BalatonUplands National Park, the InnerLake with a restoration of Hungarian grey cattle and European ground squirrel populations and the Golden House geyser cone. The fee of the excursion is included in the conference registration. Recommended clothing: comfortable urban clothes and shoes for walking, rainy weather may occur.
During the conference days on participants demand early morning bird watching will be organized.
Field trip (optional): On the 3rd of September we offer a field trip to the impressive area of the Kis Balaton on the area of the Balaton Uplands National Park, where a wetland reconstruction was conducted and led to a rich avifauna. As an alternative program for rainy days guests can visit a traditional Hungarian farm.
Recommended clothing: comfortable urban clothes and shoes for walking, rainy weather may occur.
Homepage of the BalatonUplandsNational Park: https://www.bfnp.hu/english/home/
Details about the Kis Balaton: https://www.bfnp.hu/english/pages/kis_balaton
Image film of the BalatonUplandsNational Park with English subtitle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY8ardJGHZU
The trip starts after breakfast from Tihany and ends around 3 PM also in Tihany. Another possibility to take the shuttle bus and end the tour in Budapest, around 6 PM.
Workshops
Workshops led by policy experts and conservation scientists with different background will take place to enrich students and young scientists in skills like statistics, network analyses, social and economic approaches used in conservation researches, and policy. Workshops aim to motivate students to think about and discuss the actual problems in conservation science and to familiarize themselves with the role of different disciplines and knowledge systems (e.g. traditional ecological knowledge) in conservation.