BIAZA 12th Annual Symposium on Zoo and Aquarium Research

BIAZA 12th Annual Symposium on Zoo and Aquarium Research

7th-8th July 2010

Chester Zoo, Upton-by-Chester, Chester, UK

 

Dear Delegate,


On behalf of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), Chester Zoo is delighted to be hosting the 12th Annual BIAZA Research Symposium! Situated about 2 miles outside the beautiful and historic city of Chester, in the north-west of England, this 110-acre Zoo is easy to reach by public transport from other parts of the UK and Eire, and the rest of Europe. The award-winning Zoo has a strong track record in conservation-related research, both ex situ and in situ, including pure and applied behavioural studies, botanical research, endocrinology, nutrition, veterinary research, and visitor studies.



We are very pleased to announce that our keynote speaker will be Prof. Geert Janssens PhD vet.sci., agr.eng., from the Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, at Ghent University in Belgium. Prof. Janssens’ presentation will focus on the question “A carcass a day keeps the vet away?”, discussing important issues concerning the feeding of carnivores, and carcass feeding.



The Symposium will include a mixture of oral and poster presentations, and we welcome abstract submissions from zoo staff, students and academic researchers, on all types of zoo and aquarium research, whether animal-, plant-, or visitor-related. We particularly encourage presentations on this year’s keynote theme of feeding carnivores, and carcass feeding. The Call for Papers, below, provides further details.



This year, we are encouraging participation from delegates in - and beyond - the BIAZA region and, to create more time for presentations, we will not be holding a Workshop within the Symposium, unlike in previous years. Guidelines resulting from our previous Workshops can be found on the Research pages of the BIAZA website, http://www.biaza.org.uk/ and several more in this series are due to be published in the coming months. We plan to return to our Workshop series from 2011 onwards.



We do hope you can join us for this 2-day Symposium, which will give students, academics and zoo staff the chance to showcase their research, and to learn more from each other about the scientific work being done by and in other zoos and aquaria. Coffee breaks, poster sessions and a social evening will also provide an all-important chance for delegates to network and mingle with other researchers.



On the following pages, please find the Call for Papers, details on Registration for the Symposium and the social event, as well as information on Travel and Accommodation.



We do hope you can join us in July,

Sonya

Dr Sonya P. Hill, Research Officer, Chester Zoo, on behalf of the Organising Committee symposium@chesterzoo.org

Call for Papers:


You are invited to submit abstracts for oral or poster presentations at the Research Symposium, on all areas of zoo and aquarium research, whether animal-, plant-, or visitor-related, and we particularly welcome presentations on the keynote theme of feeding carnivores, and carcass feeding.

Oral presentations should be no longer than 15 minutes (with an additional 5 minutes allocated for questions). Posters should be no larger than A1 (59.4 x 84.1 cm), and the orientation should be portrait. Abstracts (max. 500 words) for both oral presentations and posters must be submitted electronically, as a Word document, by 17th May at the latest, to symposium@chesterzoo.org , with the following details:


Name(s) of author(s)

Please underline the presenter’s name, if not first author



Institution(s):



Email address of corresponding author:



Telephone number. (incl. country code) of corresponding author:



Title of presentation:



Preference for type of presentation

Oral presentation / Poster*

*Please delete as applicable



Please return this form, with your abstract, by email to: symposium@chesterzoo.org

by Monday 17th May 2010



All abstracts will be reviewed by the Symposium’s Organising Committee. Authors will receive notification, confirming whether or not their paper(s) have been accepted and, if successful, the invited format – as either an oral or poster presentation. Authors can choose to present either an oral paper or a poster at the meeting, but if there are more submissions for oral papers than time allows, you may be offered the opportunity to submit a poster instead. Authors will be notified of the outcome of their submission in early June, but we strongly recommend delegates register for the Symposium and reserve accommodation as early as possible, since discounted rates have strictly limited availability.





Registration:

We are accepting advance registration ONLY for this Symposium. Deadline for registration is Monday 21st June 2010. The registration fee includes access to the Symposium presentations, tea and coffee breaks, a delegate pack, and a picnic lunch bag on both days (so that delegates can eat ‘on the hoof’ while exploring the zoo). There is also an optional social event on the evening of Wednesday 7th July, tickets for which are priced at £20.00 per person. This will include a 1.5 hour Roman walking tour around the city (led by a ‘real’ Roman centurion!), followed by a buffet in a local pub, a free glass of wine, beer or soft drink, and a cash bar.



Please fill out the following Registration form (one per delegate) and return it by email to symposium@chesterzoo.org :

Name:

Position:

Organisation:

Address:





Phone number: Please include the international code, if applicable Fax number: Please include the international code, if applicable

Email address:

Special dietary needs:

E.g. vegetarian, allergies, etc.

Please select from the following registration options (*please delete as appropriate):

Registration: Delegate (BIAZA Member) £60.00*

Delegate (Non-BIAZA Member) £70.00*

Delegate (STUDENT or UNWAGED) £55.00*

Optional evening social event, 7th July: £20:00*

TOTAL AMOUNT OWED TO CHESTER ZOO: £

To make the payment, please contact Emma Holding (Chester Zoo Accounts) during office hours (Monday-Friday), on +44 (0)1244 389413 with credit card details, BEFORE submitting this form. For alternative options for payment, please email symposium@chesterzoo.org  with your enquiry.

PLEASE CONFIRM THE DATE YOUR PAYMENT WAS TAKEN, AND THE CARDHOLDER’S NAME:

Date payment was made: Cardholder’s name:

REFUNDS: Cancellations for the Symposium after payment can be made up until 21st June 2010, but Chester Zoo will retain an administration fee of £15.00 to cover costs.



Travel:

The Research Symposium is being held at Chester Zoo’s Russell Allen Lecture Hall, off the A41, just before the entrance to Upton’s Park & Ride (for SatNav systems, please use postcode CH2 1EU). There is free parking on site at the Lecture Theatre for up to about 100 cars, but please use public transport if you can – for further details, please go to http://www.chesterzoo.org/Visit/How%20to%20get%20here.aspx .



Accommodation:

Delegates are required to book their own accommodation. Chester is a tourist city and so we recommend booking your accommodation well in advance, to get the best deals (and car parking options, if applicable). ‘Visit Chester and Cheshire,’ the tourism management organisation for Cheshire and Warrington, has block-booked a number of rooms in local hotels for our delegates, at negotiated rates (including budget-priced options): to make use of this free booking service, please see the hotels and B&Bs listed in the booking form (“12th Annual BIAZA Research Symposium Accommodation Booking Service” PDF file, also attached with this email). Bookings can be made using this form, or, for some of the hotels, bookings can be made via the Research Symposium accommodation website: https://www.conferencebookings.co.uk/delegate/CHSBIAZA .



Other accommodation alternatives

As well as the hotels and B&Bs described above, there are also some good-value hotels in both the Travelodge and Premier Inn (http://www.premierinn.com/) chains:

• ‘Chester City Centre Premier Inn’; http://www.premierinn.com/  – city centre ;

• ‘Chester City Travelodge’ (http://www.travelodge.co.uk/search_and_book/- citycentre  ;

• ‘Chester Central North Premier Inn’ http://www.premierinn.com/ - which is situated next to the Bache train station (trains from Liverpool and Chester), which is about a 30-40 minute walk from the Zoo, and is not in the city centre itself.

• ‘Chester Central South East Premier Inn’ - about 3 miles from the Zoo; not in the city centre.



Other local accommodation websites include http://www.chester360.co.uk/  or www.4hotels.co.uk/uk/chester.htm

For any further enquiries you may have about the 12th Annual BIAZA Research Symposium, please email symposium@chesterzoo.org



We look forward to welcoming you to Chester Zoo in July!


Visit Chester & Cheshire is the official hotel booking service for:


Event: 12th Annual BIAZA Research Symposium

Accommodation dates: 6th—9th July 2010

Host venue: Chester Zoo, Chester

To book online, please visit: http://www.conferencebookings.co.uk/  and use the Event Reference: CHSBIAZA

Please return to: Business Tourism Team, Visit Chester and Cheshire, Chester Station, 1st Floor West Wing Offices, Station

Road, Chester, CH1 3NT

Telephone: 0845 073 1314 Fax: 0845 073 1315

This application deadline is 6th June 2010 . If you wish to apply after this deadline has expired, Visit Chester & Cheshire will endeavour to meet your

requirements, but requests will be purely on an ad hoc basis and preferred accommodation and rates cannot be guaranteed.