The BOU supported 12 early career ornithologists’ attendance of #IOCongress2018 in Vancouver. Here’s one of their accounts highlighting the take home messages from a truly international conference.
“The best congress
I have attended”
The International Ornithological Congress 2018 (IOCongress2018) in Vancouver was by far the best congress I have attended. Can you imagine having ornithologists from all around the globe, together in a single space? I was surprised at the huge variety of research topics. Until this congress, I did not have a global dimension of ornithology.
Thanks to the help of the BOU (in the form of an ECR Member Travel Award), I was able to present the results of a collaborative work that took us almost seven years, and involved more than 101 biologists and wildlife managers from 76 government agencies and non- governmental conservation organizations. We gathered up-to-date information on threats affecting 192 populations of 96 Neotropical parrot species (63% of Neotropical species) across 21 countries.
Igor presenting is oral paper at IOCongress2018
However, as my intention was to make the most of my presence at the conference, in addition to participating with my oral presentation about the threats affecting Neotropical parrots, I organised a workshop on parrot reintroductions with other researchers. The workshop took place during the IOU Psittaciformes Working Group meeting, which was attended by more than 40 people, and for a full day, we discussed about the main aspects related to the reintroduction of parrots in the world.
Igor’s parrot reintroduction workshop formed part of the IOU Psittaciformes Working Group satellite meeting
The conference allowed me to meet a large number of researchers in person. I was able to establish at least two future collaborations with colleagues, and some others are likely to emerge. In times where the majority of communication is mediated by virtual platforms, it is where one appreciates the real contact. Putting faces on names, sharing ideas in coffee talks and getting to know first-hand the work of other researchers are undoubtedly one of the greatest treasures I found in this conference.
If you want to write about your research in #theBOUblog, then please see here.
