The goal of Insect Biodiversity Center workshops is to bring together transdisciplinary teams to develop new collaborative approaches to addressing foundational questions and emerging challenges in insect biodiversity, ecology and conservation. The workshops provide IBC faculty, postdoctoral fellows, staff and students the opportunity to grow their scientific networks and initiate new projects.
If you are interested in applying for the workshop, please contact Ruud Schilder (rjs360@psu.edu) for information about the current application cycle. We anticipate funding up to 2 workshops for $5000 each each year. Funding will support travel and lodging for individuals not based at the Penn State University Park campus, as well as refreshments and meals for workshop participants. Invited individuals can come from domestic and international institutions, and may include researchers, representatives from stakeholder, industry and non-profit groups, and government officials.
The workshop must:
- Address a well-defined research, education or extension challenge in the field of insect biodiversity, using transdisciplinary approaches
- Have a planned outcome (grant application, review article, etc)
Guidelines for workshop size and format:
- Length 1.5-3 days
- Include participation of at least 4 experts, ideally from two or more disciplines.
- Include at least some talks/discussions to be open to interested students, postdocs, faculty
- The majority of the workshop should include informal discussions/working groups
- Keep costs low by inviting to colleagues to stay with faculty they know and hosting informal dinners in homes (total cost ~$5K)