Biosciences Seminar Speaker 04 October 2018

Biosciences Seminar Series - Autumn 2018
04 October 2018 - 1pm - Zoology Museum

From population modelling to popular science writing

Daniela Rabaiotti

(Zoological Society of London, UK)

Photo by Nick Lyon for #Dynasties - @BBCOne @BBCEarth

It is THAT week again - our Biosciences Seminar Series resumes for the new academic year - 2018/19! We are delighted to start by welcoming Daniela Rabaiotti from the Zoological Society of London and the Center for Biodiversity and Environmental Research at UCL. Dani is an ecologist and conservation biologist, with a strong interest also in policy and science communication. Currently her research focusses on understanding climate change effects on wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) - also called painted dogs - using individual and population level data and combining empirical data and spatial simulations. She has also completed two policy placements, as BES POST Fellow, and a RCUK placement in the Royal Society policy team, and has become a best-selling author with her book 'Does it fart?'. 

Abstract

In this talk I will discuss my research into the impacts of climate change on the African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, an endangered canid species, and how it lead me into the world of science communication. I will begin by discussing the findings of a temperature sensitive individual based model of wild dog population dynamics under climate change, and will lay out how I intend to use it to predict climatic impacts across the species’ range. I will then go on to cover how this work lead me to become a popular science author, via the world of policy, focusing on how social media can be used for science communication. I will discuss my experiences with using social media for science communication  and how it lead to the publication of my book ‘Does It Fart? The definitive field guide to animal flatulence’, as well as other opportunities in popular science writing.

Hope to see many of you - everyone most welcome to attend!


For the list of forthcoming seminars see here

Biosciences Seminar Series 2015/16

The Swan-Talks resume

Biosciences Seminar Series - 2015/16

Venue: Zoology Museum

Time: 1pm

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It is this time of the year - our Bioscience Seminar Series will resume after the summer break! The Autumn Series List of Speakers is complete (programme) and the Winter and Spring ones are filling up with great names (see here and here). 

Prof Carl G Jones (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, UK), a world expert in bringing back endangered species from the brink of extinction (e.g. only four kestrel were left on Mauritius Island some years ago), will be our first speaker, followed by our own Dr Cynthia Froyd (Swansea University, UK), presenting her research on long term ecology and quaternary environmental change. This will be followed by a visit from Dr Tetsu Kudoh (University of Exeter, UK), whose research focusses on the role of genetic mutations and environmental changes in the development of embryos and larvae. From a lab scientist we will get back to a field ecologist, Dr Hanna Nuuttila of the SEACAMS group (Swansea University, UK), an expert in bioacoustics and monitoring of marine mammals, concluded by a talk by a deep sea marine biologist, Dr Kerry Howell (Plymouth University, UK), right before the Christmas break.

So, after last year, where we had decided to counter-balance the still all-too-common male-only list of speakers with the world's first female-only list of speakers (see here), we are aiming for a balanced ratio from now onwards. Most importantly, however, come and listen to the talks! And watch our blog here for the abstracts and more information about the forthcoming seminars. 

Everyone is most welcome, students included. As last year the autumn seminars will be followed by our MRes students, who will produce a video abstract and a blog post about each (e.g. see here).

Looking forward to it!

Biosciences seminars - autumn 2014

The Talks Will Resume... with an important twist  ...

Biosciences Seminar Series - Autumn 2014
Venue: Zoology Museum

Time: 1pm

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Seminars are fantastic. Engaging. Stimulating. Best of all - this week our Biosciences seminar series resumes again after the summer break! And, let's not be modest, we've got a superb line up of speakers (programme). 

Dr Siân Griffiths (Cardiff University, UK), an expert in aquatic ecology (especially fish), will be our first speaker, followed by Dr. Natalie Cooper (Trinity College Dublin, IE), leader of the Macroevolution and Macroecology research group. This will be followed by a visited from Dr. Seirian Sumner (University of Bristol, UK), whose research focusses on social evolution and social behaviour, especially in eusocial insects. It will then be the turn of a plant ecologist, Dr Lindsay Turnbull (University of Oxford, UK), concluded by a talk by a movement ecologist, our own Dr. Emily Shepard (Swansea University, UK), before the Christmas break.

Now, have you noticed a peculiarity in this list of speakers? Well, whilst a male-only list of speakers is still quite common (in fact, this is what happened last year also for our seminar series - see here), we are probably one of the first to have a female-only list of speakers. And a great one, too - which will continue also for the winter (see here) and spring (see here) seminar series. Not least given the recent hullabaloo caused by the latest announcement of the Royal Society University Research Fellowship winners (e.g. see here), just to mention an example, we feel that our initiative may be setting a positive signal.

Most importantly, however, come and listen to the talks! And watch our blog here for the abstracts and more information about the forthcoming seminars. Everyone is most welcome, students included. Actually, this year the seminars will be followed by our MRes students, who will produce a video abstract and a blog post about each.

Looking forward to it!

Biosciences seminars - autumn 2013

The Trouble Will Begin at One O'Clock ...

Biosciences Seminar Series - Autumn 2013
Venue: Zoology Museum

Time: 1pm

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More than troubled we are actually quite excited - it's that time of the year again when a continuous stream of illustrious speakers will travel all their way up to Swansea to tell us about their research. And engaging they will have to be, otherwise the listeners will quickly become distracted by the museum specimen at display in the room ...

 During this autumn term we'll have six speakers from the UK and overseas - starting on October 3rd with Teddy (aka Herbert Read) from Upsala, followed by Jason Chapman from Rothamsted, our own John Griffin from Swansea, Jeanne Mortimer from the Seychelles, Alex Thornton from Exeter and finally Andy Purvis from London. Also the topics will be broad, ranging from insect migration to animal cognition and collective behaviour to biodiversity and ecosystem services.

For an updated calendar of the talks see this page here on our blog. Talks will be held generally every second Thursday at 1pm, but there will be a few time changes, hence we suggest you follow our blog (via email updates, RSS feeds, Google+, ...).

Also, several of the invited speakers will remain in Swansea for the whole day and hence there will be ample possibilities to socialize with the speakers - over a nice drink at the Pub on the Pond overlooking the boating lake:

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... and during dinner later in the evening, most likely overlooking Swansea Bay at this place here. How to find out the exact plans for each date? Easy - just follow our blog! Every week before the talks we will post an outline of the talk, including the details of the social programme.

Ah, and if you are a graduate student in our department (Biosciences), you will get another opportunity - you will be in charge of hosting the invited speaker over lunch (no, don't worry, you won't have to pay for the speaker's meal...) and back in time to the seminar room. Let's see how many talks we will start on time ;-)

Who can attend? Everyone - Biosciences, College of Sciences and other Swansea department. Not from Uni Swansea? Get in touch with me (l.borger at swansea.ac.uk).

Hope to see many of you!