Workshops

We are delighted to offer the following five workshops, covering a breadth of topics at UTE2019. These workshops are free for all delegates to attend and no pre-booking is required, just turn up on the day.

All workshops will take place from 14:00 – 16:00 on Thursday 11 April.

Strengthen collaborations, communication, engagement and outreach between ecologists working in Africa and other ecologists from across the globe
Edu Effiom & Yadvinder Malhi (ATBC African Chapter)

This workshop is being hosted by the nascent Africa Chapter of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC). The ATBC Africa Chapter aims to facilitate scientific networking and capacity building across the African continent. The workshop will give researchers and conservation biologists (both from Africa or working in Africa) a chance to meet colleagues, network and use the experience of ATBC to contribute towards a strategic plan for an African Chapter.

The workshop will begin with an introduction and question and answer session on ATBC and the Africa Chapter, followed by a structured brainstorming session on the challenges of working in Africa and how international scientific societies can help overcome these challenges.

All who have an interest in African ecology and conservation, or would simply like to share their experience from other tropical regions, are welcome to attend.

Future directions in spatial point process modelling in tropical ecology
Lindsay Banin (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), Janine Illian (University of St Andrews) & David Burslem (University of Aberdeen)

There have been major developments in statistical approaches to analysing spatial point pattern data, especially with regard to computational efficiency, allowing us to fit realistically complex models. Simultaneously, new technologies are allowing us to collect ever larger and more detailed datasets, potentially containing more refined information on ecological processes. These developments provide opportunities as well as challenges for both ecologists and statisticians and call for interdisciplinary research and communication that will benefit both disciplines. This workshop will initiate this critical interdisciplinary link, particularly benefitting those who hold or intend to collect spatial point data and want to find out more about the opportunities and challenges for analysis.

The workshop will first introduce the concepts in spatial point process data analysis, using several motivating examples from tropical ecology that describe the distribution of both plants and animals in space. This will be followed by an interactive panel discussion on key aspects of the modelling process which require decisions by the user and reflect on how these decisions may be communicated to non-specialists.

How can we better understand Europe’s ecological footprint in the tropics?
Cristina Banks-Leite (Imperial College London) & Brendan Costelloe (BES Policy Manager)

We live in a globalised world and decisions made at local scales can have large and irreversible consequences for the entire world. One such issue that links people and environmental issues across the planet is consumption. Many tropical developing countries are key suppliers of food and natural resources to international markets, however tropical countries also hold more than 75% of all species described to science and the protection of their environment is increasingly at risk. It is thus imperative that we understand how our local actions can affect biodiversity and environmental protection in the tropics, and find solutions to minimise the impacts.

In this workshop, we aim to attract the widest range of expertise and background possible to answer the following questions:

• What is the extent of the EU/UK’s ecological footprint in the tropics?
• How can society, third sector and governments in non-tropical countries help to reduce the ecological footprints of their country within the tropics?

We will divide the audience into groups to discuss their ideas and a potential plan forward (40-60 minutes).  Interested participants will be given the opportunity to write a publication summarising the discussion and feed into a BES policy report and CBD-themed Parliamentary reception.

Journal publishing for tropical ecologists – the essentials
Kirsty Lucas (BES Assistant Editor), James Ross (BES Assistant Editor) & Jennifer Powers (Editor in Chief, Biotropica)

From finding the right place to submit your manuscript to navigating the peer review process, this workshop, from the BES and ATBC, will provide early career researchers with an introduction to publishing in tropical ecology.

During the two-hour session, you will have a chance to discuss where the right home for different articles might be and to ask a panel of journal editors from several high-profile tropical ecology journals your most pressing questions. . We’ll also help you make sense of exactly what happens during peer review and shed some light on commonly used terms you’re likely to come across today (what does ‘open access’ actually mean?).

This session is open to anyone who would like to learn more about the publishing process but may be particularly useful to early career researchers or those with limited publishing experience.

Build your own ecological data-collection app with Coreo
Dave Kilbey (Founder & CEO, Natural Apptitude) & Jamie Forsyth (Business Operations / App Design & Development, Natural Apptitude)

Effective field-based data collection is critical to many areas of ecological study.  This interactive workshop will guide you through using an exciting new product, Coreo that enables you to build and run your own geospatial data-collection projects with ease (and no coding!).  It’s ideally suited setting up and running both private and citizen-science based projects.

You will be guided through building a fully functional app within the workshop and you’ll also be given an overview of the entire Coreo platform.  The app will:

• Enable users to record taxa in the field using your phone’s GPS
• Feature a detailed ID guide including image and sound files
• Show all records submitted to the project
• Feature an interactive map of all records

Apps built using Coreo can be used anywhere in the world, therefore representing a good opportunity for researchers and professional ecologists to run collaborative projects spanning international boundaries.  The apps also feature various social features to enable you to build a community around your project if you want to.

Please note that each participant will need a laptop with WiFi and a modern browser to take part in this workshop.

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