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Members:
Our mission: to increase the level of conservation literacy in Europe at all levels
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:
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The development of an education strategy for undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education.
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Develop and launch European educational initiatives which address the regions need for undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education capacity.
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Create continuing-education and professional-development opportunities for conservation scientists and practitioners at European meetings.
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Develop and build partnerships with selected European organizations to enhance educational opportunities.
On going & future activities
iSCB – International School of Conservation Biology (15-23 June 2009, 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 Center for Marine Research of the “Ruđer Bošković” Institute organize the 5th 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 15 – 23 June 2009 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 (August 2009, Greece)
Planning and fund-raising for the 2nd Greek Summer School on conservation biology is under way. The SCB-GSS is planned to be held in Papingo, the first week of August 2009, targeting mainly senior undergraduate students, provided that funds will be raised. Please consult the web page of the SCB-GSS school for information to come (http://www.cbcd.eu/gss).
Training course - ECCB 2009
EC plans to organize a one-day pre-conference training course, under the title “Curriculum Design in Conservation Biology”, just before the 2nd European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB 2009, Prague 1-5 September). The course is designed as an introduction to the design of conservation biology courses, on the basis of a successful course that ran at the SCB Tennessee global meeting. The course will be offered in English, a range of current curricula and relevant materials will be supplied. For further info and subscription, please visit the Conference website http://www.eccb2009.org/
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
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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.
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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.
Past activities
SCB-Greek Summer School 2008
The Greek summer school on conservation biology (http://www.cbcd.eu/gss) was organized by the SCB-Europe in collaboration with the University of Ioannina and the Center of Biological and Cultural Diversity (NG). It was held in Papingo from 31 August to 7 September 2008, located in the core area of Pindos National Park, the largest mountainous national park in Greece. The course was entitled “Introduction to Conservation Biology: an international summer school to promote conservation science”. The highly successful School brought together an international team of conservation biology instructors from Greece, Germany, Italy, Malta and UK and 15 undergraduate and postgraduate students from all over Europe. Besides the ten lectures that focused on current conservation issues, linking also biological sciences to social science and policy-related questions, five field sessions contributed to the rich program of the school. The school was funded by the Greek Ministry of Environment and Public Works.
How we work?
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.
Communication
If you would like to join the Education Committee or to contribute to its activities, please contact Dr Vassiliki Kati (info@cbcd.eu, or vkati@cc.uoi.gr).
History
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) is the chair since 2008.
Who we are
The Committee has many faces: conservation biologists from Greece, Germany, 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.
Chair: Dr. Vassiliki Kati
University of Ioannina, Greece
Kiki (Ph.D. Université Cathollique de Louvain, Belgium) is a lecturer of Biodiversity Conservation in the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management at the University of Ioannina. Her teaching interests include biodiversity conservation, wildlife and protected areas management, while she teaches also in a postgraduate course regarding national parks. She studies the biodiversity of Greek mountains and she focuses on reserve design, biodiversity indicators as well as conservation management of several animal groups, such as insects, herpetofauna and birds. Kiki believes that in our biodiversity crisis era we do not have the luxury to do science without implementation and vice versa. She also argues that local conservation experience should inform global decision and vice versa. In this context, she writes articles for local newspapers, she is an active member of several NGOs at local and national scale, member of the Policy Committee and of the Board of Directors of the SCB-ES. Since 2008 she is chair of the Education Committee of SCB-ES.
Dr. Martin Dieterich
University of Hohenheim/ILN Singen, Germany
Martin is a lecturer at the University of Hohenheim and Director of the Institute of Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation (ILN Singen), an applied research facility closely cooperating with NGOs. Main research interests in strategies and adaptations to cope with disturbance (desiccating streams and ponds), and conservation issues relating to cultural landscapes (management of grasslands). Martin strongly advocates the need for conservation scientists to be involved with management and policy issues. Since 2009 he is president of the European Section of the Society for Conservation Biology.
Dr. Peter Gilchrist
Jacobs Ltd, U.K.
Peter is a Divisional Director and the ecology discipline lead for Jacobs UK Ltd. He is responsible for over 80 ecologists and an international project portfolio. He is a technical advisor to the Welsh Assembly Government, the Scottish Government, and a chartered environmentalist. Before joining Jacobs, Peter held a research fellowship in ecology at Canterbury Christ Church University and was a senior lecturer in ecology at the University of Central Lancashire. Peter had course leadership responsibilities for Ecology and Conservation and supervised a number of PhD students in this role. Peter has also worked for the Open University in the UK. Peter’s education background and commercial experience bridges the education and commercial sphere, and therefore, he has a unique perspective on education in the conservation biology arena. He is a systems plant ecologist with expertise in successional vegetation dynamics and also faunal and floral protected species which includes EcIA and Appropriate Assessment.
Dr. Bojan Lazar
Department of Zoology, Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb, Croatia
Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, Veli Losinj, Croatia
Bojan is a marine conservation biologist and a visiting lecturer in conservation biology and in biology of reptiles at the University of Zagreb. His research mostly focuses on conservation biology of large marine vertebrates, and includes studies on ecology, movements and habitat utilization of sea turtles and demersal shark species in the Adriatic Sea, and fishery impact on marine megafauna. He is actively involved in marine conservation, acting as an expert consultant of several state institutions in Croatia and a member of international expert groups of IUCN and UNEP. An important part of his work also includes science outreach and capacity building in the field of science based conservation. In this role he actively promotes problems of biodiversity loss through media, participates in public workshops and discussions, and serves as a chair of the International School of Conservation Biology (www.hbd1885.hr/iscb) which is co-organized by the European Section of the Society for Conservation Biology.
Dr. Renato Massa
University of Milan Bicocca, Italy
Renato Massa is a professor of Conservation Biology in the Department of Environmental and Landscape Sciences at the University of Milan Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza, 1, 20126 Milano, Italy. His research interests focus on animal ecology and on conservation planning. His professional experience extends over 25 years in assisting regional government and Park boards for practical conservation planning. Renato was the chair of Education Committee of SCB-ES during the period 2006-2007.web page: www.disat.unimib.it/biodiversity/
Dr. Andrew Ramsey
University of Cumbria, UK
Andrew Ramsey [BSc (Manchester) MSc (Birmingham) PhD (Birmingham)] is a principal lecturer in the Centre for Wildlife Conservation, University of Cumbria, Penrith, Cumbria, UK (www.cumbria.ac.uk). He has taught ecology and conservation since 1988. His teaching interests include invertebrate biodiversity, conservation genetics, conservation strategies, conservation in aquatic ecosystems and landscape ecology. Current research interests include strategies to maintain and enhance biodiversity in oil palm plantations, based in Sahah, Malaysia and modelling red squirrel population viability under a range of landscape scenarios. Andrew has also been the lead staff member of a number of relevant course developments including BSc’s in ‘Animal Conservation Science’ and ‘Conservation Biology’, a BA in ‘Wildlife and Media’ and an MSc in ‘Conservation Biology’.
Dr. Per. Sjogren-Gulve
Dr. Adriana Vella
University of Malta, Malta
Adriana is a senior lecturer and researcher at the Department of Biology, University of Malta, since 1995. She also had exposure to conservation genetics at the conservation science centre in Virginia, USA under the headship of Steve O’Brian. She was instrumental in starting the course of Conservation Biology at the University of Malta as part of B.Sc. (Hons) and Master courses since 1996, and has supervised B.Sc. (Hons) and Post-graduate research in this area too. Her research interests include conservation of animals and habitats, with particular focus on marine mammal (cetacean) and organisms’ conservation biology, including conservation genetics. Bluefin tuna ecology and genetics is one of her long-term research projects together with cetaceans and turtles conservation field research in the central Mediterranean region. Her research group is also looking at conservation and genetics of other vulnerable species among which sharks and groupers. She has supervised research work in connection with conservation areas and areas of ecotourism potential. She is currently a steering committee member of the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS). She has also founded a local NGO, BICREF, toward promoting conservation biology research and awareness in the Maltese Islands.
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