XIII EEF CONFERENCE JOINTLY HELD WITH THE XXV SITE CONFERENCE ECOLOGY AT THE INTERFACE: SCIENCE BASED SOLUTIONS FOR HUMAN WELL-BEING. The Conference in a nutshell Life is a process occurring and maintained at multiple interfaces through a complex network of interactions at different hierarchical levels of organizations and scales, most of which are in the realm of Ecology. Interacting organisms and populations, land-water-atmosphere, sedimentwater-atmosphere, deep-surface water ecotones, nested within the Biosphere, are just few examples of interfaces where Ecology is specifically called to describe and decode system organization and processes, from the populations to Biosphere. Due to our pervasive effects at the global level, including climate, Ecology is also interested in interfaces among different but potentially interacting fields of knowledge (e.g., sociology, economy, law, technology) concerning daily human life. In this expanded field of interest, Ecology is called to boost the exchanges at the interface of fields of knowledge defining context and thresholds of both development and sustainability. Ecology at the Interface: Science Based Solutions for Human well-being is targeting the former interfaces in the light of these latter. A Multi Stakeholders Approach The Conference is aimed at presenting the most advanced achievements of the ecological research, discussing with scientists from interfaced fields their impacts on the applied problems faced by our societies, and transferring the main ideas stemming from these discussions to the different stakeholders working and interested in services and societal benefits based on ecologically relevant interfaces. The Ecological European Federation and the Società Italiana di Ecologia are interested in promoting a combine effort of Scientific Societies and Institutions from interacting fields of knowledge and Institutional stakeholders in the organisation of the Conference Programme.
The Venue The Conference will be held in Rome E.U.R. at the Rome Palazzo dei Congressi, the Rome Conference Centre. The Palazzo dei Congressi has been built for the Universal Exposition of Rome, from which the name of the area (E.U.R) and represents one of the most celebrated examples of rationalist architecture.it has a Conference Hall with approx. 900 seats, many other smaller Halls of different size, large and versatile spaces, which allow for the rearrangement and tailoring of areas according to any customers need,and a beautiful terrace available as social space and for social events.
The Ground Floor The First Floor The Terrace
How to reach Palazzo dei Congressi. Palazzo dei Congressi (http://www.romaconventiongroup.it/section/en/congress_palace) is located in the heart of EUR district, at Piazza John Kennedy 1 and can be easily reached by all means of transport. Public transport The Palazzo dei Congressi can be reached by taking Line B of the Rome Metro, being at 10 minute walking distance from the Metro station EUR-Fermi. Nearby Bus Stops AMERICA/ARTE bus stop - n 74400 ARTE/AMERICA bus stop - n 70727 PALAZZO CONGRESSI bus stop - n 70974 CIVILTÀ DEL LAVORO/COLOMBO bus stop - n 73183 KENNEDY/MINISTERO SANITÀ bus stop - n 70918 Train At Termini station, take Metro Line B in the direction of Laurentina and get off at the stop EUR-Fermi. Other main train stations in Rome, as Ostiense and Tiburtina stations are connected with the Metro Line B Plane EUR district is close to both Fiumicino Leonardo Da Vinci and Ciampino airports. The venue can be reached from both airports by taxi in approx. 30 minutes, according to the traffic, and with a fare of 40. Both airports are connected by train or bus to the Termini station and Metro Line B (approx. 20 minutes from Termini station to EUR Fermi). Car From the North: Leave the A1 motorway at exit Roma Nord; take the Rome Ring-road (GRA) direction to Fiumicino-Civitavecchia; exit the GRA at the white junction (not the blue one!) 26 Pontina-Roma Centro; stay on this road and we are located along Via Cristoforo Colombo. From the West: turn off the GRA at the white junction (not the blue one!) 26 Pontina-Roma Centro; proceed as indicated above. From the East: From the A24 motorway, take the GRA towards Naples; turn off the GRA at the white exit (not the blue one!) 26 Pontina-Roma Centro; proceed as indicated above. From the South: Leave the A1 motorway at exit Roma Sud; take the feeder road for around 20 Km; when you reach the GRA, follow directions for Fiumicino-Civitavecchia; exit the GRA at the white junction (not the blue one!) 26 Pontina-Roma Centro; proceed as indicated above.
Accommodation in Rome The highly professional Travel Agency Elios Tours (www.eliostours.it) will take care of handling participants accommodation in Rome. A dedicated page on Ecology at Interface website (www.ecologyatinterface.eu) will suggest the best solutions for different types of accommodation (4 and 3 Stars Hotel, B&B and Residence and will be directly managed by Elios Tours. Considering the position of the Conference venue close to the Metro Line B, solutions will be offered in the EUR district, walking distance to the venue, and downtown close to historical and archaeological area. Services offered by Elios Tours to participants who will use their services include: Good fares at early registration deadline; Final registration directly at the Hotels at the participant s check in; Organised tours at Rome beauties for accompanying persons. Registration deadlines and fees Registration at Ecology at Interface is open and will close on August 31 st 2015; early registration will close on March 31 st and on site registration will also be possible. Fees at early registration are 400 for regular EEF members and 200 for INNGE EEF members. Master, PhD students and post-doc researchers will enter the INNGE (International Network of Next Generation Ecologists) category, but a documentation certifying their position in conjunction of the registration form will be required. On site registration will be consistently more expensive (650 for regular EEF members and 350 for INNGE EEF members); non-eef members will have 50 to 100 higher fees. Early registration _ 1 September 2014-31 March 2015 EEF members 400 EEF 'INNGE' members 200 Non EEF members 450 Non EEF 'INNGE' members 250
Late registration _ 1 April 2015-31 July 2015 EEF members 500 EEF Early career/ INNGE' members 300 Non EEF members 600 Non EEF Early career/'innge' members 350 On site registration EEF members 650 EEF Early career/'innge' members 350 Non EEF members 750 Non EEF Early career/'innge' members 400 The Programme The conference Programme will include: (1) Plenary Sessions, (2) Symposia, (3) Contributed Sessions, (4) Round Tables, (5) Workshops and(6) Poster Sessions. An (7) Exhibition space is available for Scientific Sponsors and Ecology at Interface stakeholders with discussion areas available for activities, such as Demonstrations, Thematic Round Tables and other activities directly organized by the exhibitors. (1) Plenary sessions We envisage 2 plenary sessions per day, addressing key themes for the Conference: Nutrition and Resources; Biodiversity and Ecosystems; Global Change and Sustainability; Demography, Urban ecosystems and Resilience; Science-Policy Interface (including Citizens). Plenary sessions will be characterized by a holistic, trans-disciplinary approach melting cultures and include plenary talks and round tables. Plenary sessions will be scheduled in the middle of the Conference working days, i.e., both at the end of morning and at the beginning of the afternoon sessions. We plan to have 8 or 10 plenary speakers and 2-3 round tables in plenary. So far, we are delighted to confirm the following plenary speakers: Prof. David Inouye, Department of Biology at the University of Maryland (UMD); Prof.Ingolf Kuehn, Dept. Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH UFZ;
Prof.Jef Huisman, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam; Dr.AntonelloProvenzale, Head of the GEO Ecosystem Task, National Research Council; Winner of the Haeckel () We are also pleased to confirm a plenary Round Table, co-organised with Roma CAPITALE on the theme of Urban Resilience. (2) Symposia Symposia will be a cornerstone of the scientific programme and will have a high profile at the meeting. Symposia are limited to half-day sessions (3.5 hours) and the typical ones will be composed by one/two introductory 30-minute talks, a number of 15-minute contributions and a 30-minute slot dedicated to the discussion and conclusions. At the deadline for symposia application we have received 24 symposia that are now being evaluated by the Scientific Committee of Ecology at Interface. We are leaving open the possibility to leading Institutions or International organization to submit proposal for symposia, which would be of particular relevance and interest for participants. Chairpersons proposing symposia so far are from nine different countries, with half of symposia having Italian chairpersons. (3) Contributed Sessions Contributed Sessions will constitute the backbone of the conference and address all topics of interest of ecology in its broadest sense. According to the Conference theme Ecology at the Interface contributions coming with holistic approach from all fields addressing ecological issues and all contributions exploring interdisciplinary connections with areas of social and natural sciences are particularly welcome. Abstracts submission are already open and will close on 31 March 2015; instruction for authors of contributed abstracts are already available on the website and more detailed information and a format for abstract submission will be available soon. Contributed abstracts are required to refer to one of the following research areas: 1. Agricultural Ecology 2. Behavioural Ecology 3. Biodiversity and Ecosystem 4. Biogeochemistry in Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystem
5. Biogeography and Landscape Ecology 6. Body Sizes Allometries and Patterns 7. Computational Ecology and Methods 8. Conservation Ecology 9. Ecological Economics 10. Ecological Energetics 11. Ecological Modelling 12. Ecological Niche and Interactions 13. Ecological Resilience and Sustainability 14. Ecology and Society 15. Education to Sustainability 16. Environmental Genomics 17. Evolutionary Ecology 18. Ecotoxicology 19. Food Webs, Networks and Complexity 20. Forest Ecology and Dynamics 21. Global Change Ecology 22. Law, Energy and Environment 23. Macroecology and Scaling 24. Marine and Freshwater Ecology 25. Molecular Ecology 26. Nutrition and Resources 27. Parasites, Pathogens and Wildlife Disease 28. Perturbation Ecology and Ecological Indicators 29. Physiological Ecology 30. Polar Ecology 31. Population and Community Ecology 32. Wetland ecology 33. Other research areas (4) Round Tables We envisage Round Tables as the Conference session where the holistic, culture melting approach of Ecology at Interface is expressed in the strongest and most active way. Round Tables will be organized around topics of main interest for the society and might be scheduled in plenary or contributed sessions. There is not a format to propose and submit application to Round Table organization and proposal can be sent with any format to in order to start a concerted evaluation and eventually an inclusion in the programme.
(5) Workshops Workshops are short events where proposal and attendees are expected to actively interact in methodological/technical demonstrations, training activities or communication dissemination of tools produced in EU or other international projects; they are focused to encourage active participation by delegates. The call for workshop proposals will open on 1 March 2015 and close on 30 June 2015.Workshops are basically limited to 1 or 2 hours sessions and shall focus on Training; Communication and outreach; Policy. Proposals shall include the title of your workshop, a 100-150 word abstract on your workshop and the names of promoters and the list of contributors, and sub-contributors if any. (6) Posters Posters will be displayed from the beginning to the end of the meeting in the poster viewing area, according to the poster number previously received with the poster acceptance email. There will be a Poster Desk staffed by a volunteer in the poster area to which presenters can find out their poster number. All poster presenters are expected to stand with their poster during their allocated day and time to discuss their work with delegates. This is a valuable opportunity to publicize your research and network with potential leads. All posters should be HORIZONTAL (landscape) A0 format (dimensions 1,2 x 0,84m). For advice on poster design, instructions will be uploaded on the Conference website by January 31 st, 2015. (7) Exhibition space A large and versatile exhibition space is available on the ground floor of the Palazzo dei Congressi for stakeholder groups of exhibitors as, scientific sponsors of the Ecology at Interface, international Initiatives, Organisations and Institutions, Universities and research Institutes, EU and other international projects, publishers, green and blue economy companies, suppliers of scientific materials. Exhibitors will be divided into thematic spaces, in order to be most visible and attractive for participants at Ecology at Interface ; a maximum of 120 standard 8sqm stands will be available. Conditions for renting the exhibition space are available on the Conference webportalwww.ecologyatinterface.eu
Prizes & Awards Ecology at Interface will be opened by the plenary talk of the Ernst Haeckel Prize, the EEF Award, which honours a senior ecologist for an outstanding contribution to European ecological science. At Ecology at Interface INNGE participants will find out the opportunity to apply for different Awards, which include, so far: 1. The Students European Ecology Prize : to honour the best oral contributions presented by a student participant Awards will be given to the best Master or PhD student oral contribution and to the best post-doc oral contribution. The Awards are sponsored by EEF and SItE; 2. The Premio Marchetti Award : to honour the best poster contribution presented by a INNGE participant. The Award is sponsored by SItE; 3. Participation fellowships to support the expenses for the accommodation in Rome of 10 Master/PhD students. The fellowships are sponsored by SItE; and, for Italian INNGE; 4. The Brusarosco Award : to honour the best project presented by a young Italian researcher. The winners will take part in a 3-6 months research project abroad. The Award is jointly sponsored by the family Brusarosco and the SItE;. 5. The Young Reasercher Award : to honour a young Italian researcher for the best article about Ecology published on an international magazine Requests are going to be done to different potential donors to sponsor the participation of early career researchers from third countries at Ecology at Interface. The Awards and Participation Fellowships opportunities will be continuously updated on the Conference webportal. ROME2015 Request for sponsorship & patronage We believe that in order to organize a successful event and start profitable and innovative discussions, it is necessary to base the building up of this event on a multi stakeholders approach, involving scientists together with representatives of the private sector and Public Institutions, not only European but from all over the world. That is why the organizing committee will require: scientific sponsorship to international Ecological Societies, Scientific Academies and Universities present in Rome, International Institutions and Initiatives. institutional patronage to the main Italian political institutions, ranging from the Presidency of the Republic (Alto Patronato), to patronage by Roma Capitale and Lazio Region. economic sponsorship to different stakeholder typologies.
So far, we have already received the patronage of Roma CAPITALE, of the National Academy of Science and of a number of national and international scientific societies.