British & Irish Botanical Conference 2024
Everyone is welcome at the 2024 British & Irish Botanical Conference (the event formerly known as the BSBI Annual Exhibition Meeting). You don't need to be an expert botanist or a member of the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI).
The event is free to attend and it's also free if you would like to exhibit or to join a Herbarium tour or workshop, although donations towards the cost of organising the event and BSBI’s work are welcomed.
Provisional programme
09:30 Doors open for exhibitors
10:30 Exhibition opens - please enter via the front entrance of the Museum, on Cromwell Road. Go straight to the front of the queue and the NMH Visitor will direct you to the Flett Theatre in the Red Zone, where the Conference is taking place. More details and a map below.
11:20-12:30 Supporting everyone keen to learn more about our wild plants
11.20-11.30 Welcome from Sandy Knapp (NHM botanist & BSBI Trustee)
Chair: Sandy Knapp
- 11:30 BSBI’s training offer – Prof Paul Ashton (BSBI incoming President)
- 11:45 How taking a FISC and studying at the Eden Project helped me on my botanical journey - Rebecca Keeling (FISC Level 3 and BSc Horticulture (plant science) student, Eden Project)
- 12:00 How Identiplant helped kickstart my botanical career - Dr Kiera Chapman (author, Identiplant student 2024 and Research Fellow, University of Oxford)
- 12:15 Flash talks from exhibitors
12:30-13:45 Herbarium tour 1, Workshop/demonstration 1 & lunch (refreshments available to purchase at NHM cafes)
13:45-14:30 Resources for botanists across Britain and Ireland
Chair: Nicola Tainton (BSBI trustee)
- 13:45 New botanical ID guides from the Natural History Museum – Stephanie Holt (UK Biodiversity Training Manager, Centre for UK Nature, Natural History Museum)
- 14:00 Invasive Plant Species of Britain and Ireland: a new field guide - Phoebe O’Brien (co-author, joint County Recorder for Co. Clare)
- 14:15 Untangling the urban jungle: a foray into the extraordinary botany of our towns and cities – Dr Trevor Dines (author, BSBI trustee and creator of No Mow May)
14:30-15:30 – Herbarium tour 2, Workshop/demonstration 2 & tea-break (refreshments available to purchase at NHM cafes)
15:30-16.30 Supporting botanical research to help address biodiversity loss and climate change
Chair: Julia Hanmer (BSBI Chief Executive)
- 15:30 The Conservation Value of Ireland’s Turloughs – Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington (outgoing BSBI President)
- 15:45 The importance of herbaria in the 21st Century – Dr Stuart Desjardins (Early Career Fellow, Plant Biology, University of Leicester & Editor-in-Chief, British & Irish Botany)
- 16:00 Priority Plants on SSSIs in Wales – Alastair Hotchkiss (BSBI Wales Officer)
- 16:15 Why botany? Why now? – Dr Sandy Knapp (NHM botanist & BSBI Trustee)
16:30 Meeting closes.
The Annual General Meeting (AGM): in previous years, the AGM has been held on the same day as the Conference, usually during the lunch-hour. This year the AGM is a separate event; it is being held online on Thursday 21st November and you will need to book separately for it using this link.
Identification Help Table/John Poland’s Vegetative ID Table: please bring along any specimens you find difficult to identify and challenge some of the best botanists in the country!
Getting to the Conference: the Conference is being held in the Flett Lecture Theatre, on Floor 1 of the Red Zone in the Natural History Museum. The nearest Underground station is South Kensington, on the District, Circle and Piccadilly lines. For detailed instructions, please see the museum's website: www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/getting-here.html
Please use the Museum entrance on Exhibition Road, which will be open from 10am onwards. Do not use the Cromwell Road entrance and do not join a queue of people waiting to enter - these queues are for visitors to the rest of the Museum. Instead, make your way straight to the front of the queue on Exhibition Road and once inside the Museum, look for a member of the NHM Visitor Team or a BSBI volunteer. Explain that you are booked in to attend the BSBI Botanical Conference and you will be directed to the Flett which is on Floor 1 of the Red Zone (marked in red on the map here).
Please note that the NHM reserves the right to search visitors' bags at the museum's entrance.
Filming and photographs: We hope to record the talks and upload them later to the BSBI YouTube channel – we would also like to film and/or photograph attendees listening to the talks and viewing the exhibits, so we can use the footage and images for publicity purposes. Please let us know when you book if you are happy/ do not wish to be included in any such footage or photographs. We also encourage you to take photographs at the event and will set up a folder where these can be shared.
Refreshments: Attendees can use the museum’s cafés and restaurants for refreshments or you are welcome to bring your own lunch.
After the meeting we have a private room booked in a nearby pub, the Hoop & Toy, so we can socialise over a drink and a bite to eat before we head home. If you’re planning to join us, and you would be very welcome, then you may want to allow for this when making your travel arrangements.
BSBI Privacy Policy: We hold the information requested from you in order to administer this event, and to suggest future BSBI events that may be of interest to you. We will treat your information as confidential, hold it securely and will never pass it on to third parties.
Our Privacy Policy is available to view or download here:
Location
Natural History Museum, London
Location
Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD