By Shawn J. Stephen, Apiculture, Acoustics and Science Communication, Biodiversity Conservation
From the 21st to the 24th of October, a few members of the Biodiversity unit had attended the 15th edition of the Student Conference on Conservation Sciences held at IISC, Bangalore. We had 4 days packed with inspiring talks, engaging workshops, informative poster presentations, a conservation artists corner and nocturnal species walks peppered in between with breaks-cum-networking opportunities (and good food, of course)!
The plenary talks featured speakers like Dr. Jennifer Powers, Stephen Alter, Pranay Lal and Dr. Madeline Green who covered a broad range of topics from Deep Natural History and what it can tell us about a Climate Change to Building a Collaborative Science of Conservation, Restoration and Ecology.
“Bioacoustics in Conservation”, “Fellowship and Grant Writing in Ecological Sciences”, “Study Design in Ecology & Conservation” and “Across the Shark-verse” were just a few of the large number of workshops on offer for each day!
Here are a couple of reflections from our team on their experience of the 15th edition of SCCS:
“Having been keen to attend the SCCS for several years, it was very inspiring to meet conservation scientists from different backgrounds in India. Along with learning new methods that I could apply for my research, I also had the chance to hear a slender loris call in person!“ – Vandana Kannan
“SCCS was my first ever conference and it was a wonderful experience. I’m grateful to have learned tangible skills in ecology that I will apply to my work and future. Student talks and posters left me feeling excited to peruse a career in conservation. The highlight of the conference was networking and befriending like minded peers!“ – Sophie Bernstein
“It was very informative to learn what was happening in the field of conservation science and the best part was to learn it in an interdisciplinary way. Workshops like socio-economic data collection and human psychology gave me opportunities to explore topics that I wouldn’t have imagined learning on my own. Overall it was a useful conference and a great space for networking with great minds of the country.” – Harshavardhini Angappan
One thing that made us particularly proud was the way people absolutely lit up when we mentioned that we worked for Keystone Foundation!
All in all, SCCS has left us brimming with ideas and newly made connections. Sharing that space with hundreds of passionate fellow conservation practitioners was truly inspiring. We look forward to incorporating some of the things we’ve learned into our own work and collaborating across borders to make our dream of a brighter, more inclusive future in conservation, a reality!
