2019 Scottish Botanists' Conference
Sat 2 Nov 2019 9:15 am - 8:00 pm
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, EH3 5LR
Description
Everyone with an interest in Scottish botany is very welcome to the Scottish Botanists’ Conference – the new name for the BSBI / BSS Scottish Annual Meeting – that is intended to appeal to all botanists in Scotland and beyond, whether members or not.
We are delighted to announce that our special guest speaker is Professor Robert Crawford of The University of St Andrews, who will give a very timely and interesting talk on ‘Plants at the Margin in a Changing Climate’. We also have a full programme of interesting short botanical talks, exhibits, posters, an Identification Helpdesk, the BSBI Photographic Competition and the botanical bookshop, Summerfield Books.
Last year’s selection of mini-workshops on a variety of plant ID topics proved very popular and successful so this year, we plan to offer a similar choice of workshops for beginners, intermediates and more experienced botanists.
Everyone is very welcome to join us for the Conference dinner which is very informal and convivial and follows on after the conference in the same venue.
Bookings for the Scottish Botanists' Conference are essential and MUST be made before the 27th October.
PROGRAMME
08.45 Exhibitors Arrival
09.30 General Arrival & tea & coffee
10.15 Welcome - Simon Milne, RBGE Regius Keeper & Chris Metherell, BSBI President
10.25 The BSBI Scottish Year - Jim McIntosh, BSBI Scottish Officer
10.40 The BSS Report – Julia Wilson, BSS President
10.50 Urban Flora of Scotland: Notable finds 2015-2019 – John Grace
11.00 Morning coffee & tea
11.30 Atlas 2020 – the final steps – Pete Stroh, BSBI English Officer
12.00 BSBI Annual General Meeting - Ian Strachan, Chair BSBI Committee for Scotland - or Lunch and view exhibits
12.15 Lunch and view exhibits
13.30 Mini-workshops – First Session - or lunch and view exhibition
14.30 Mini-workshops – Second Session - or view exhibition
15.30 Afternoon tea/coffee
15.45 Afternoon short talks
15.45 Twinflower Research & Conservation Project - Diana Gilbert
16.00 The North Face Survey – Ian Strachan
16.15 Blue Sow-thistle (Cicerbita alpina) in Scotland - Aline Finger, RBGE
16.30 Question & Answer session – a chance to have your say!
17.00 Plants at the Margin in a changing climate – Prof Robert Crawford
18.00 BSBI Photographic Competition Results; Awards & Close
18.30 Conference Dinner at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Charges
A flat £20 fee will be charged to cover organisation costs, workshops, speakers' expenses and teas and coffees. The RBGE staff canteen will be open for lunch - but the cost of lunch is NOT included. Everyone is most welcome to join us for a three course Conference Dinner, followed by tea or coffee at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh after the main talk, for £30 per person.
Exhibitors
We rely on exhibitors to generate botanical interest and would encourage all participating botanists to put their interesting botanical findings on display. Please give the title of your exhibit or poster and how much space you require when booking. Due to limited space large requests may have to be reduced. Please also email an abstract of your exhibit or poster of no more than 225 words to Liz Lavery by the 26th October.
ID Mini-workshops
We have the following workshops:
An introduction to grasses, with Jay Mackinnon
An introduction to ferns, with Heather McHaffie
An introduction to The Vegetative Key, with Polly Spencer-Vellacot
An introduction to the BSBI Database, Chris Metherell
Firs (Abies) with Matt Parratt
Duckweeds with Helena Crouch & Fred Rumsey
Difficult species-pairs in the herbarium, Ian Strachan
Make your own grapnel, with Jeff Waddell
Space is limited on all the ID Mini-workshops and booking is essential. We ask for up to two choices when booking. As workshops become full I'll remove them as options. First come - first served! Last year everyone got on the workshops they booked - or that they were able to book.
Note that the Introduction to grasses, ferns and the BSBI database workshops are likely to be too basic for VC Recorders. Remember the Mini-workshops, like all the talks are entirely optional, and you may choose to take time out at any point to have an extended lunch break with friends, to view the exhibition and posters, or to visit Summerfield Books or get out into the gardens for a breath of fresh air.
Photographic Exhibition
If you are planning to enter the BSBI Photographic Competition, remember to send your entries to Natalie Harmsworth by Friday 18th Oct 2019. Full details of the competition are on the BSBI website here. To recap briefly; the 2019 competition has two categories: simply 1) Native and 2) Alien. Photographs should be taken in Britain or Ireland, but don't have to be taken during 2019 and you don't have to enter both categories. However, there is a limit of two images per category per entrant.
Winners will be selected by a popular vote by those attending the Scottish Botanists' Conference.
Personal details
When you book you will be asked for your name, hometown and organisation / position. This information will be appear on your name badge and on the list of participants, which will be distributed to fellow participants beforehand, to help you get to know one another. Your email address will not be shared with third parties (other than Ticket Tailor, the operators of this booking page) and will only be used to keep you posted about this event and to let you know about next year's.
Refunds
Sorry we are unable to refund due to cancellation with 7 days of the event.