Education is at the heart of the mission of the Society for Conservation Biology. SCB has always recognized the importance of education to conservation for inspiring future generations, creating a scientifically literate public, maintaining professional skills through advanced degrees and continuing education, and enriching both personal and professional lives through increased appreciation of nature. As such the Education Committee seeks ways of promoting the science and teaching of conservation biology to as wide an audience as possible. The European team is leading on a number of initiatives, which include:
iSCB – 6th International School of Conservation Biology (2rd June-1st July, Croatia) )
In order to continually enhance education and capacity building in the field of scientifically sound biodiversity conservation, the Croatian Biological Society, the European Section of the
Society for Conservation Biology and the Centre for Marine Research of the “Ruder Boškovic” Institute organize the 6th International School of Conservation Biology (iSCB). iSCB is directed at MSc and PhD students from all over Europe who already have basic training in biology/ecology and other related subjects. International lecturers from Europe, USA and Canada will present the latest trends, case studies and state of the art knowledge in this young and fast developing scientific discipline of conservation biology that is considered today as the critical science of the 21st century. iSCB is an intensive 9-day course to be held 23rd June to 1st July in the historic city of Rovinj on the Croatian Adriatic coast. Please visit the school web site for further info and registration www.hbd1885.hr/iscb.
SCB-Greek Summer School on Conservation biology (13-26 June 2010, Greece)
This course is designed under the “Conservation Biology in Europe: building a coherent strategy for the future” and is an intensive two-week programme in the field of natural environment and wildlife conservation. University professors from six University Departments in Greece, Denmark, Germany, Italy and UK combine their expertise to offer a high quality multidisciplinary programme to 15 senior undergraduate students in the rapidly evolving field of conservation biology. The program (100h) accounts for 7 ECTS. It includes a theoretical module of lectures (24h) and seminars (8h). The module will offer participants a wide spectrum of knowledge on biodiversity loss, GMOs, climate change, eco-services, biodiversity assessment and methods for nature conservation in practice as well as socio-economic and policy dimension. Field sessions will be held in the core area of the Pindos National Park, the largest mountainous Park of Greece and will include a two day mountaineering excursion in the alpine zone (2500m). The GSS-2010 is funded by the State Scholarships Foundation - IKY in the frame of Erasmus LLP programme.
Conservation Biology Benchmarks
As conservation policies and legal frameworks develop, there will be a greater need for expertise in the field of conservation science, so as to allow for wider investigations into the extent to which these policies are effective toward conserving natural resources and the means of improving their effectiveness. EC is currently developing a document on the benchmarks in the field of Conservation Biology, presenting the required skills and knowledge for conservation biologists. We hope that this document will important to evaluate the skills of staff that deals with conservation in practice, such as people employed in Natura 2000 network, in environmental NGOs, or in the public domain. We also hope that benchmark document will constitute a good guideline for students to choose among academic institutes the best fulfilling the conditions for good postgraduate studies in conservation biology.
European university curricula of Conservation Biology
EC intends to investigate and gather all university curricula at post graduate level relevant to conservation biology in Europe. A database available on line will be created, so as students could search for conservation classes all over Europe by country and by academic level. This is a very important task calling for contributions from academics and conservation biologists all over Europe.
Scientific publications
The EC currently works on two scientific papers
1. Attempting to identify the key elements of conservation biology literacy in Europe to be developed as a scientific note and also presented as a talk in the ECCB 2009.
2. Reviewing the current state of the art, concerning curricula and courses of Conservation Biology in European Universities.
Internet book on Conservation Biology
The Committee has started a fund-raising procedure in order to develop an internet book on Conservation Biology, targeting the wide audience, including students, scientists, practitioners, NGOs, or local authorities.
The members of the Committee work and live in different countries, so we use email and skype as the main channel for our discussions. We meet once a year in order to agree on the strategic plan and to list the tasks ahead us. The meetings are partially funded by SCB.
If you would like to contribute to the activities of the Education Committee or be involved in the broader consultation group please contact Rob Marrs (calluna@liv.ac.uk).
The Education Committee (EC) of the European Section of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB-Europe) was created in 2006. Prof. Renato Massa from the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy) was the first chair of the Committee and Dr. Vassiliki Kati from the University of Ioannina (Greece) was the chair between 2008-2010.
The Core Committee has many faces: conservation biologists from Greece, The Netherlands, UK, Italy, Malta, Croatia and Sweden. We all work to increase conservation literacy in Europe. We invite scientists and educators from all over Europe to get involved, sharing our commitment for nature protection and education.
