BPS 66th Annual Meeting – Southend, Essex

Monday 8th to Thursday 11th January 2018 – Radisson Park Inn, Southend

The registration for BPS 66th conference, and 3rd Microphytobenthic symposium, is now open! The conference will take place 8-11 January 2018 in Southend, Essex.

Registration

Please register using the University of Essex Online Shop

The deadline for registration is November 26th 2017. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send an email to the dedicated email address, bpssouthend2018@gmail.com.

The conference registration gives access to all talks and poster sessions, lunches and coffee/tea breaks Tuesday to Thursday, Taylor & Francis sponsored evening reception on Tuesday 9, and allows for the submission of abstracts. If you have any diet requirement please fill the dedicated box in the registration process.

Conference dinner

The conference dinner will take place on Wednesday 10 evening, and will include entertainment and dancing.

The Dinner menu is:
Smoked haddock and spring onion fishcake, Tomato and basil stuffed chicken, Chocolate cheesecake

Or vegetarian option (please fill the dedicated box on the registration form if you choose this option): Farmhouse style leek, potato and watercress soup, with a chive creme fraiche, Hearty vegetable and mixed bean wellington, with a fresh tomato and thyme sauce, Chocolate cheesecake

Accommodation

We have negotiated lower room price with the Radisson Park Inn hotel which hosts the conference: please use this link (using the promotional code UNIESS) to book your room.

Single room is £50 per person, £60 for a twin or double room, breakfast included. Toggle through the menus for seaview room options.

Abstracts

For submitting an abstract for a talk or a poster, please download the form from this link, fill it and send it back to bpssouthend2018@gmail.com.

PhD students are encourage to participate in the BPS competitions for Manton Prize (presentation), and/or for best poster.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 11:59 pm (GMT) November 26th 2017.

The conference organisers will notify delegates offering oral papers if they have been accepted, or accepted as posters as soon as possible in December, once the programme is confirmed.

Funding available

– BPS funding: Student BPS members can apply for funding from BPS to cover for travel and accommodation costs. Please see http://www.brphycsoc.org/funding.lasso for more details.

– FEMS funding: We also received funding from FEMS (Federation of European Microbiology Societies) to help Early Career Scientists presenting a talk or poster at the 3rd Microphytobenthic biofilm symposium (special session 3) to pay for travel and accommodation costs. Grant awardees will be reimbursed after the meeting, receipts for travel and accommodation will be required. The funding is open to members of FEMS, BPS or other FEMS Member Society (https://fems-microbiology.org/member-societies/).

You are eligible for this grant if you are:
– a member of a FEMS Member Society, confirmed by any officer of her/his society
– less than 36 years of age at the closing date of the meeting
– an active microbiologist
– a presenting author of an abstract

If you are eligible, and wish to apply for this grant, fill out this form and send it to bpssouthend2018@gmail.com with your abstract and a copy of your ID.

Further details

The programme (see below or here for a PDF) for the 66th BPS Annual Meeting in Southend, Essex is now taking shape. With arrivals from afternoon on Monday, 8th January and departures after lunchtime on Thursday 11th January, a full programme is planned.

Arrivals of Monday 8th January, with registration and poster set up.

Monday evening: Workshop on the BPS Algal Recording Scheme. Organiser: Prof. Martin Wilkinson, Heriot-Watt University. Over the years BPS members have recorded many species distributions in the British Isles. Why have we bothered? What has it and can it tell us? The Society now has a website to tackle both seaweed and freshwater algal recording in a modern, efficient way – www.bpsalgalrecords.comand this session will demonstrate how to use this website. We will also briefly look at what the results may tell us and experts will be on hand to advise and encourage those of you who find identification daunting or think that it is not for you.

Monday evening: Organiser: Paul Cherry, Student BPS Council Representative. All student members are invited to an informal meet-and-greet event on Monday 8th January (location TBC). We hope this student session will provide an opportunity for introductions, discussion, and a social space, upon arrival to the conference.

Tuesday 9th to Thursday 11th January.

There will be three special sessions (see below), and general phycology sessions (all with options for offered oral and poster presentations), presentations from PhD students for the annually awarded BPS Manton Prize, the Presidential Address from the current BPS President, Dr. Gill Malin (University of East Anglia), the BPS AGM and Annual Dinner.

Special sessions:

1. Applied freshwater research. Chair: Dr Rupert Perkins (Cardiff University / DCWW (Welsh Water)).
This session will focus on freshwater algal research driven by stakeholder engagement. Water supply resilience, and the impacts of increasing algal blooms due to climate change, are one of the major challenges affecting society, yet awareness by academia of what the water supply industry needs to prevent algal associated water supply incidents is often lacking. Conversely awareness within industry of what academia can offer regarding an understanding of algae, their productivity, ecology and physiology, and how this information can support evidence based management is also often lacking. This session will combine presentations by both sectors on current and predicted needs as well as current industry driven research, with the aim of inspiring collaborative research on algal ecology, physiology and management.
Invited speaker 1. Dr Thomaz Andrade, Catchments Manager at DCWW. “Integrated catchment management for algal control: a water Industry perspective.”
Invited speaker 2. Prof. Penny Johnes, University of Bristol, title “Catchment drivers of nutrient enrichment: the need for holistic science to underpin effective management and policy.”

2. Mapping, conserving and sustainably exploiting seaweed genetic resources in blue biotechnology. Chair: Dr Claire Gachon (Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban).
Seaweed cultivation is growing rapidly in the UK and across the world. Tying back with the founding mission of the British Phycological Society to record the UK seaweed diversity, this timely session brings an international and interdisciplinary perspective to the challenges and potential benefits associated with the cultivation and biotechnological exploitation of seaweeds. The topics covered will include genetic resources, seaweed genomics, biobanking and taxonomy, conservation, as well as opportunities for socio-economic development.
Invited speaker 1. Dr Elizabeth Cottier-Cook, Scottish Association for Marine Science. Title: “GlobalSeaweedSTAR – Safeguarding the future of the seaweed industry in developing countries”.
Invited speaker 2. Dr Mark Cock, Station Biologique de Roscoff, France. “Genetic and genomic tools for efficient and sustainable seaweed aquaculture”.

3. Third Microphytobenthic Biofilm Symposium. Chairs: Prof. Graham Underwood, Dr Claire Passarelli (University of Essex)
Following successful meetings in Amsterdam (2003) and La Rochelle (2011), this meeting will bring together researchers from Europe and beyond to discuss the advance in research on microphytobenthic biofilms in tidal flats. This meeting will provide an opportunity for professionals and students to be updated on state-of-the art research on these important coastal systems, to continue or initiate collaborations in Europe and define the main research priorities in this field for the next few years. The Symposium will be held over 2 days, with invited lectures from Prof. Peter Kroth, University of Konstanz, and Dr Joanne Oakes, Southern Cross University, New South Wales, Australia. The invited speakers provide a cutting edge perspective on bacteria-algal interactions, including species-species interactions, chemical ecology and isotope tracing approaches to resolving carbon and nitrogen cycles in biofilms from tropical, temperate and high latitude systems, that are revolutionising our understanding of these microbial processes. Topics being covered include microbial physiology, ecology, diversity, microbial interactions, and their relationship to ecosystem functioning.
Invited speaker 1. Prof. Peter Kroth, U. of Konstanz, Germany. “Bacterial – diatom interactions in freshwater biofilms”.
Invited speaker 2. Dr Joanne Oakes, Southern Cross University, Australia. “Processing and fate of carbon and nitrogen in phototrophic biofilms from tropical, temperate and high latitude environments”.

Travel

Southend, Essex, has an airport (mainly Easyjet, Flybe) with Europe links (Amsterdam, Paris, Rennes, Caen, Faro, Barcelona, etc), plus easy access to London (to connect to Stansted, London City, Heathrow, etc).

Two train lines run from London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria, and from London Fenchurch Street to Southend Central.

Southend is on the north bank of the Thames Estuary. The Thames shore contains mudflats and muddy sandflats, sand and seagrass beds, plus all the traditional seaside activities and the longest pleasure pier in the world (1.34 miles (2.16 km) long).

We hope to see many of you in January 2018 in Essex (one of the sunniest and driest counties of England)!

Graham J C. Underwood, Claire Passarelli, bpssouthend2018@gmail.com