WEAVING THE FUTURE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
A new professional-development opportunity for early-career animal behavior scientists
Our goal is to advance the future of animal behavior science by supporting and promoting the efforts of early-career professionals through workshops, symposia, and long-term, multi-level mentoring.
May 17-19, 2019 Symposium:
We begin our initiative with a 2.5-day professional development symposium consisting of panel discussions, activities, and peer mentoring circles. Symposium participants will be early-career animal behavior professionals, including pre-tenure and junior faculty and advanced postdocs. We particularly encourage women and scientists from underrepresented groups in animal behavior to apply. Registration, lodging and travel expenses are covered by an award from the National Science Foundation (IOS-Animal Behavior program #1833455).
July 23-27, 2019 ABS Workshops:
With support from the Animal Behavior Society, we will also host 1-day workshops immediately before the ABS meetings, beginning on July 23 at the Behaviour 2019 conference in Chicago. With funding from both the ABS and NSF, we will be offering also travel awards to cover expenses for some participants.
How to get involved: Consider applying to the 2019 symposium or ABS workshop using the application link below, and please share this announcement with others who might apply. Application deadline is December 7, 2018.
Application Link: https://www.research.net/r/WFAB2018
Please feel free to contact the organizers with questions: [email protected].
DOES THE NAGOYA PROTOCOL AFFECT YOU?
If you do research internationally, you may be affected by the Nagoya Protocol. Effective October 2014, the Nagoya Protocol is a recently enacted suite of rules for the sharing of genetic resources and traditional knowledge among countries. If you use animal tissue (or “any material containing functional units of heredity and of actual or potential value”) from a country that is party to the Protocol, you may therefore be subject to a new set of rules.
The Nagoya Protocol was adopted in 2010 and came into effect in 2014 as a legally binding, supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (https://www.cbd.int). The CBD was convened by the United Nations in 1992, largely as a response to international concerns over biopiracy. The CBD created a “legal instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity,” with the overarching goal that countries receive fair compensation, monetary or non-monetary, for their resources.
Visit the Access and Benefit Sharing Clearing House (https://absch.cbd.int) to determine whether the country in which you conduct research is party to the Nagoya Protocol. Rules vary according to country, and ABSCH will identify a national focal point (a person or email address) to contact for details. We echo the following recommendations of the Ecological Society of America:
• Use the clearing house (https://absch.cbd.int) to identify local requirements
• Contact the national focal point early in research planning
• Involve colleagues in countries where you work to develop ways of providing non- monetary benefits
• Check with your institution or funding source about their rules for Protocol compliance
• Document your efforts to comply
• Document your approach to benefit sharing
The United States is not a party to the Nagoya Protocol, but because we all benefit from the fair sharing of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, researchers at institutions in the United States are urged to comply with the Protocol and follow the recommendations above. Please contact national focal points, your local institutions, and your funding sources for further information.