ENVIRON 2011 Colloquium

“Towards 2020: Environmental challenges and opportunities for the next decade”

The 21^st Irish Environmental Researchers’ Colloquium (ENVIRON 2011) will be held in University College Cork (UCC) from Wednesday, April 6^th- Friday April 8^th, 2011.   UCC last hosted the ENVIRON colloquium in 2002 and we are very pleased to welcome the colloquium back to Cork in 2011.  

The ENVIRON colloquium is the largest annual gathering of environmental researchers in Ireland with over 300 researchers attending the event.  The event continues to provide a wonderful platform for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to present their research to a wide audience.  Since its establishment in 1990 one of the main strengths of the colloquium has been that it attracts delegates from a wide variety of disciplines, and in a time when science, engineering and environmental science is becoming increasingly fragmented and specialised, the colloquium provides a unique opportunity for specialist researchers to learn what is happening outside their own research area. 

The theme of the 2011 ENVIRON colloquium is “Towards 2020: Environmental challenges and opportunities for the next decade”.  The 2020 date reflects the many environmental targets that have been set for the next decade (which have become known as the "20-20-20" targets) particularly in the area of climate change.

The Environmental Protection Agency has come on board as a colloquium partner for the 2011 colloquium which will give a considerable boost to the colloquium in terms of profile and attendance.   Another significant development is that the ENVIRON colloquium is partnering with the 9^th Law and the Environment Conference which is running on April 6^th-7^th in the same location in UCC.   The ENVIRON colloquium and the Law and Environment conference will have joint parallel sessions which Environ delegates will be able to attend in addition to the usual ENVIRON programme.

The colloquium in 2011 is has also expanded its range of activities in terms of training and workshops.  Workshops will include: 

• Ocean Studies – Avenues for Employment; Creating a Career from Studies of the Sea: Environment Graduate Programme (EGP), the Coastal & Marine Resources Centre (CMRC/ERI) UCC and the Irish Society for Ocean Studies (ISOS).
• Geospatial technologies – their value for your real world applications: Andy Day, Compass Informatics and Dr Fiona Cawkwell, UCC
• Life Coaching: Ailbhe Harrington, Life Coach
• Scientific Writing and Presentation: Dr Brian Quinn, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology
• Ecology for beginners field trip along Glashaboy river: Dr Shirley Gallagher, Syspro Systems for Progress Ltd.

 All workshops are free to delegates.

The opening date for the Call for Papers for oral and poster presentations is Monday, January 31^st, 2011 with the closing date of Friday, February 25^th, 2011.  The ENVIRON organising committee is inviting submissions of abstracts for oral and poster presentations from industry, academics and researchers in the following thematic areas: 

• Water Quality                                                   
• Climate Change
• Marine and Coastal Research
• Energy                                                                 
• Environmental Management
• Environmental Technologies                      
• Environment and Health
• Biodiversity and Ecosystems                      
• Society & the Economy

The full delegate fee for the conference is €250 and the Student/Reduced/OAP fee is €100.  However the colloquium organisers are cognisant of reduced research funding available in the current economic climate and have introduced a one-day registration fee of €150.  In addition, the research supervisors of students giving oral presentations at the conference can attend the full conference for the reduced fee of €150 as a result of which it is hoped that we will have increased numbers of research Principal Investigators at the colloquium.  The colloquium banquet takes place on Thursday, April 7^th at the River Lee Hotel and will cost €40.

To submit an abstract for an oral or poster presentation or to register for the colloquium please visit www.esaiweb.org/content/environ2011

We look forward to seeing you in Cork!

Dr Paul Bolger,

Environmental Research Institute, UCC

UCC ENVIRON Liaison