Next Step: Equipping volunteer & citizen scientists to future professions

The involvement of citizen scientists, paraecologists and volunteers in ecological monitoring has burgeoned. At the same time, the training of professionals versed in practical conservation is becoming even more recognised and valued by employers. It is timely hence to consider whether the skills and experience obtained by the volunteers could be transferred to their future employment in ecological professions.

This workshop invites contributions to share experience and further discuss around key questions on what are/should be the basic core skills that need to be taught to volunteers; and what resources and platforms have previous programmes used to train their volunteers.

Keynote speakers

The keynote speakers will set the background with an expose of their international experience before an opportunity to share experiences among participants. The outputs are expected to be written up as a report and be shared as resource toolbox in an open-access platform.

Our keynote speakers for the event are:

• Vojtech Novotny (Czech Academy of Sciences and University of Southern Bohemia)
• Ute Schmiedel (Hamburg University)
• Michael K Poulsen (Nordic Agency for Development and Ecology)
• Janice Ansine (The Open University)

Submissions

We invite proposals for short, online presentations and highlights of projects relating to any aspect of citizen science training.

Please email us a 150-word abstract and a short 50-word bio, in one file to BESLearning@britishecologicalsociety.org

Deadline for abstract submission: 23:59 (BST), 5 June 2022

Speakers will be notified: 15 June 2022

Conference Convenors: Alice Mauchline (University of Reading) Rachel Farrow (University of Lincoln) and Yoseph Araya (The Open University)

If you are interested in becoming a BES member to purchase the BES member rate ticket, you can find out more information and join here. Membership starts from £24, or you can get 12 months free membership if you are an undergraduate, masters, or first year PhD student

To view the British Ecological Society’s privacy policy please click here.