Category: Inspire4Nature Meetings

The 2nd Training Session – “Theory and practice of identifying globally important sites for biodiversity conservation” – was dedicated to training fellows on the process of identifying Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), using the Global Standard for the identification of KBAs.

Besides the 15 fellows, the session brought together external scientists specialised in different taxonomic groups of the Greek biota as well as KBA experts.  The programme included:

• Criteria for identifying Key Biodiversity Areas, and guidelines for the implementation of the criteria and the delineation of KBA sites;
• Background to the biodiversity, important sites and conservation areas of Greece;
• A visit to a NATURA 2000 site in Rhodes Island;
• A workshop on the practice of identifying KBAs for Greek species;
• Fellows’ joint project work.

The training session took place from the 3-12 April 2019, at the beautiful Hydrobiological station of Rhodes (Greece), a historic landmark and a research unit of our host organisation, the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR).

The Inspire4Nature training sessions are cross-project opportunities to learn about key concepts related to the science-policy interface in biodiversity conservation, to develop new skills and for establishing collaborations between the fellows. The First Inspire4Nature Training Session took place from the 31^st October to the 7^th November 2018. The agenda covered:

• The international biodiversity conservation organisations of Inspire4Nature
• International biodiversity conservation: global and local perspectives
• Two global conservation standards: Red List of Threatened Species and Key Biodiversity Areas
• What does it actually mean to be an Inspire4Nature Fellow?
• Webdesign in WordPress
• Gender issues in research and in Inspire4Nature
• Fellows’ project work

The meeting took place in Montpellier, France, hosted by the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, a research unit of the CNRS and the University of Montpellier.

The Inspire4Nature General Assembly brings together all the fellows and senior researchers. The first General Assembly took place on the 30^th October 2018, with each fellow presenting him/herself and their individual PhD project.

The meeting took place in Montpellier, France, hosted by the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, a research unit of the CNRS and the University of Montpellier.

The Supervisory Board is the decision-making body governing the Inspire4Nature Consortium, responsible for the overall management and monitoring of the project. Its first meeting took place on the 29 October 2018 in Montpellier.

The Supervisory Board is composed of one member of each participant organisation, as well as two representatives of the fellows as observers. The agenda of the first meeting covered: progress on recruitment, data management plan, financial management, discussion of the future training sessions and future management meetings, upcoming project deliverables.

The meeting took place in Montpellier, France, hosted by the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, a research unit of the CNRS and the University of Montpellier.

Our first project meeting took place on March 20-21, Cambridge, UK. Great discussions about project governance, the ongoing recruitment of 15 PhD students, and the project’s ambitious training programme. Next meeting: France, in October.