Over the past month a few of us ICON scientists have had the pleasure of attending, and presenting at multiple conferences, both located at Monash University in Clayton, Melbourne.
First up, the Victorian Biodiversity Conference 2020 on the 6th-7th of February was yet again a fantastic opportunity to network and learn more about the exciting local research and conservation work going on in Victoria. Congratulations to the organising committee (including ICON members, Katherine, Marco, Roshan, Emily, Freya and Matthew) for a great few days. Highlights included Dr Jen Martin‘s plenary on her journey to science communication, Amos Atkinson and Mick Bourke’s plenary on First Nation peoples’ perspectives on land and fire management, and seeing our fellow ICON members presenting their research!
In the Climate Change & Species Resilience session, Matthew presented on Landholder perceptions of climate change and its implications for biodiversity management on private lands.
In the Environmental Policy & Decision Making session, Mat presented on Identifying the role and capacity of local government to support private land conservation. Marco presented on Biodiversity and ecosystem services in strategic environmental assessment: A review of six Australian cases, and Roshan presented on Evaluating the impact of private protected areas (as well as a poster in the poster session!).
@Roshan_Sharmaa from @ICON_Science, @RMIT explains how we can estimate the impact of private protected areas in Victoria #VicBioCon20 pic.twitter.com/oEp77ThC3I
— VicBioCon 2020 (@VicBioCon) February 6, 2020
In the Science Communication & Community Engagement session, Emily presented on whether common names influence willingness to conserve threatened species, and Alex presented Five lessons for more effective biodiversity conservation message framing (as well as a poster!).
Last but not least, in the Urban Ecology & Conservation session, Katherine presented on Plant-insect dating in urban squares: exploring the influence of design on interactions.
@CityKat75 from @ICON_Science studies how green space design and context influence plant-insect interactions through time and across space in cities like Melbourne and Munich #VicBioCon20 pic.twitter.com/zVnlnS4Mep
— VicBioCon 2020 (@VicBioCon) February 7, 2020
Emily was also lucky enough to spend the following week at the Australian Science Communicators Conference 2020. Highlights included networking with a wide range of science communicators, Stephen Oliver’s plenary on broadcasting for impact, and Anthony Boxshall’s presentation on making impact with science in the Board and Executive rooms!
Emily also again presented her research on whether common names influence willingness to conserve threatened species.
Loving listening to our PhD student @SciEms talking about her research into the influence of common names on willingness to conserve species. A fantastic experimental approach to an important question. The answer? It’s complicated! #scicomm #ASC2020 @ICON_Science pic.twitter.com/lCXUQ4obA7
— Dr Jen Martin (@scidocmartin) February 17, 2020
Well done to all presenters and thank you to everyone who made these two conferences such a joy to attend!
