Systematics Association

First meeting of Biosyst EU 2009 & 7th Biennial of Systematics Association

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:34 GMT

Student Bursary Applications

Wednesday 25 March 2009 CORRECTION! The closing date for Student Bursaries is 17:00 on Friday 27 March 2009.

Further details

The Second Annual Biodiversity Policy Lecture in Association with the Systematics Association

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:16 GMT

Biodiversity in a Changing World

16 April 2009, 6:00pm at the Linnean Society

Professor John Beddington, Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Government Office for Science

Registration for this event is essential,Further details

First meeting of Biosyst EU 2009 & 7th Biennial of Systematics Association

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:15 GMT

Student Bursary Applications

5 February 2009 Applications for Student Bursaries are now open. Please complete the online form below before the closing deadline on Monday 2 March 2009.

Further details

The Second Annual Biodiversity Policy Lecture in Association with the Systematics Association

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:35 GMT

Biodiversity in a Changing World

16 April 2009, 6:00pm at the Linnean Society

Professor John Beddington, Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Government Office for Science

Registration for this event is essential,Further details

First meeting of Biosyst EU 2009 & 7th Biennial of Systematics Association

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:35 GMT

Student Bursary Applications

5 February 2009 Applications for Student Bursaries are now open. Please complete the online form below before the closing deadline on Monday 2 March 2009.

Further details

First meeting of Biosyst EU 2009 & 7th Biennial of Systematics Association

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 22:45 GMT

Student Bursary Applications

Please note that the final details for the student bursaries are currently being agreed and the application form will be made available shortly.

Further details

Collaborative Scheme for Systematics Research (Co-Syst) - applications open

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:30 GMT

Funding opportunity

Application forms for the third round of the BBSRC Collaborative Scheme for Systematics Research (CoSyst) are now online at www.systass.org/awards/. The scheme is designed to provide short-term funding for new collaborative research in systematics. Applicants must be UK-based and eligible to hold Research Council grants. Grants will be in the range £2-20k. Closing date 15 March 2009.

Beyond Cladistics: A Festschrift for Chris Humphries FLS. Wednesday 1st-3rd October 2008, at the Linnean Society

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:35 GMT

As an approach to the discovery of phylogenetic relationships among organisms, cladistics took the systematics community by storm. According to David Hull, in his 1988 account of its history, cladistics was winning out everywhere; according to Colin Patterson, cladistics "began in the late 1960s, accelerated in the 1970s, and was virtually complete by the eighties"; in contrast, Gareth Nelson suggested that cladistics is suffering from "Arrested Development". This symposium, entitled Beyond Cladistics, in honour of botanist Chris Humphries, will address some general issues relating to cladistics: its past, its present and its future � if, indeed, there is anything beyond cladistics, itself.

The Sir Julian Huxley Lecture. 6pm Wed 2 July 2008, Linnean Society, London.

Sun, 8 Jun 2008 08:15:00 GMT

This years lecture will be given by Joe Felsenstein Professor of Genome Sciences and of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. In reconstruction of molecular phylogenies, biologists have largely shifted their emphasis from inferring a single phylogeny to being comfortable with statistical descriptions of the uncertainty about it, whether by using bootstrapping, jackknifing, or Bayesian posteriors. Similar developments for morphological and behavioral characters have been slower in coming, as there have been fewer defensible statistical models available. The spread of statistical approaches to the comparative method is changing that. I will describe some new developments in statistical models for discrete as well as continuous morphological characters. They can infer correlations of character change across a phylogeny. However these inferences must necessarily be very noisy and uncertain. How will systematists and other evolutionary biologists cope with this uncertainty, if they cannot look forward to further molecular sequencing reducing it? Can we make use of the information without ignoring its uncertainties or overreacting to them? If we cannot hope for an exact account of actually what happened in evolution, is despair inevitable?

SRF Awards

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:05 GMT

SRF Awards

The SRF received a total of 137 applications for the 2007 round. Thirty five of the applications were funded. Successful applicants have been contacted by email - if you applied this year you may like to check the list of funded applications to see if your name appears.

View successful applicants

Co-Syst Awards

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:18 GMT

The second round of CoSyst awards were made in March. A total of £74,445 was allocated.

View successful awards

New links added

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:18 GMT

ZOOTAXA - a rapid international journal for animal taxonomists
Biogeography & Systematics - The journal aims to become a forum for larger papers (i.e. monographs) in biogeography and systematics that cover the fields of systematic and evolutionary biogeography, phylogenetic systematics, its history, theory, methodology and epistemology. Read more

Find other links

Biodiversity in a changing world - building a science base to support policy: 10 April 2008

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:15 GMT

Prof. Georgina Mace
10 April 2008, 6pm at the Linnean Society

In this talk I will discuss some ideas and current initiatives that could build on the scientific and research strengths in UK institutions, especially the universities, research institutes and museums, and provide a stronger framework for biodiversity science to support significant policy issues at national and international levels. Further details

10th Symposium of the International Organization of Plant Biosystematists: 2 - 4 July 2008

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:15 GMT

You are cordially invited to Slovakia to Vysoke Tatry Mts., July 2008, to the next international IOPB symposium.

Evolution of Plants in Mountainous and Alpine Habitat
Vysoké Tatry Mts., Štrbské Pleso, Slovak Republic
visit www.guarant.cz/iopb2008/ for further details

Assessing scientific opinion on character quality in phylogeny reconstruction

Wed, 2 Jan 2008 11:00 GMT

Please help Josephine Hill a Master's student in Biosystematics at The Natural History Museum. Josephine is seeking people to complete a short questionnaire as part of her first research project exploring character quality in phylogeny reconstruction. Further details.

SRF and Co-Syst Awards

Tue, 1 Jan 2008 13:15 GMT

Applications for the 2007/2008 round of SRF funding have now closed. Successful applicants will be informed by e-mail.

Application forms for the second round of the BBSRC Collaborative Scheme for Systematics Research (CoSyst) are still welcome at www.systass.org/awards/. The scheme is designed to provide short-term funding for new collaborative research in systematics. Applicants must be UK-based and eligible to hold Research Council grants. Grants will be in the range £2-20k. Closing date 31st January 2008.

Climate Change and Systematics (1 - 3 September 2008) - Call for presentations

Sat, 8 Dec 2007 23:20 GMT

This meeting, organised on behalf of the Systematics Association and the Linnean Society, will provide a forum for systematists to present and discuss their research as it relates to the critical issue of Global Climate Change. The conference is open to everyone, whatever their chosen discipline within systematics.

The meeting will examine the problems posed by Global Climate Change and will centre on three themes: 1. Climate change and speciation/extinction; 2. Climate change and biogeography; 3. Climate change: documenting and conserving biodiversity. Further details.

Collaborative Scheme for Systematics Research (Co-Syst) - applications open

Sat, 1 Dec 2007 00:01 GMT

Funding opportunity

Application forms for the second round of the BBSRC Collaborative Scheme for Systematics Research (CoSyst) are now online at www.systass.org/awards/. The scheme is designed to provide short-term funding for new collaborative research in systematics. Applicants must be UK-based and eligible to hold Research Council grants. Grants will be in the range £2-20k. Closing date 31st January 2008.

9th Young Systematists Forum, Wed 5 Dec 2007.

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:44 GMT

Update: The Programme and Abstracts are now available for download.

SystAss - 2007 AGM, minutes for 2006 AGM

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:56 GMT

The Systematics Association Annual General Meeting 2007 will be held at The Linnean Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London on Wednesday 12th December 2007, 5pm.

Further details | Download poster | Download AGM agenda | Download 2006 AGM minutes

9th Young Systematists Forum, Wed 5 Dec 2007.

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 16:57 GMT

This well-established event provides an important opportunity for budding systematists to discuss their research in front of their peers within a supportive environment.

Registration is FREE; please let us know if you wish to attend.

Update: At this time we particularly welcome poster presentations. Please don't forget to register for this event as soon as possible. If you are thinking of attending but not presenting then please contact us. Visit the YSF page for further details.

SystAss - 2007 AGM and Annual Lecture

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:15:00 GMT

The Systematics Association Annual General Meeting 2007 will be held at The Linnean Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London on Wednesday 12th December 2007, 5pm. Followed at 6pm by this years annual lecture Homo Sapiens and the Neanderthals given by Professor Chris Stringer, The Natural History Museum London.

The meeting is open to visitors. Wine will be served after the lecture to members and guests.

Further details Download poster | Download AGM agenda

Systematics Research Fund - 2007 applications open

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:40:00 GMT

Applications for the 2007 funding round are now open. The Councils of the Linnean Society and the Systematics Association jointly administer the SRF fund.

Applications of all nationalities are welcome, and need not be members of either the Systematics Association or the Linnean Society of London. Please note that only electronic applications made using the form below are acceptable.

Typical activities supported include contributions to fieldwork expenditure, the purchase of scientific equipment or expertise (e.g. buying time on analytical equipment), specimen preparation (including the cost of temporary technical assistance), and contributions to publication costs. Projects of a more general or educational nature will also be considered, provided that they include a strong systematics component. Typical activities not supported include attendance at scientific meetings and contribtuions to student maintenance or tuition fees. The fund does not provide payments for Bench Fees. Projects already substantially funded by other bodies may be disadvantaged.

Successful projects are selected by a panel of six systematists who represent a wide range of conceptual interests and taxonomic groups. The value of any single award will not exceed £1500.

Applications may be submitted after 1 October but must be received before the 31 December of the same year, to be eligible for funds approved in the following calendar year. Decisions will be posted March-April of the year subsequent to submission.

Visit the SRF page for further details

9th Young Systematists Forum, Wed 5 Dec 2007.

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 08:00:00 GMT

This well-established event provides an important opportunity for budding systematists to discuss their research in front of their peers within a supportive environment.

Registration is FREE; please let us know if you wish to attend. Visit the YSF page for further details.

6th Biennial Conference - Winners

Sun, 9 Sep 2007 22:15:00 GMT

Congratulations to Ben Rowson, (Dept. Biodiversity & Systematic Biology, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, UK and School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK) for a talk entitled "What drives diversity in tropical carnivorous snails (Gastropoda Pulmonata: Streptaxidae)?"

Congratulations to Alice M. Blumlein & Davide Pisani, (Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, The National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland) for a poster entitles "Timing the evolution of vision."

6th Biennial Conference - Important delegate information

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:10:00 GMT

We are looking forward to seeing you at the Systematics Association Conference. Please take a few minutes to visit the delegate information page with contains important information about the conference including Registration, ICT and travel directions.

SYNTHESIS - funding opportunity

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:10:00 GMT

funding is available to provide scientists (Users) based in European Member and Associated States to undertake short visits to utilize the infrastructure (namely the collections, staff expertise and analytical facilities) at one of the 20 partner institutions for the purposes of their research. Further details of the funding.

6th Biennial Conference - Talk timetable

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:30:00 GMT

You can now download a timetable of all the talks taking place during the 6th Biennial.

6th Biennial Conference - UK Research Councils Systematics Symposium - Wednesday 29 August from 2pm

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:45:00 GMT

Symposium programme, speakers and timings confirmed.

6th Biennial Conference (Systematics Association) - additions to Themes and Programme

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:20:00 GMT

The Biennial conferences of the Systematics Association provide a forum for systematists from different disciplines to present and discuss their research. The Sixth Biennial Conference will be held at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from 27 to 31 August 2007. The format will be a mixture of both open sessions and focussed thematic symposia. The conference is open to everyone, especially research students and younger post-doctoral fellows, whatever their chosen subject in systematics.

Timely how-to talks on important emerging technologies and techniques by leaders in the field. Topics include:

Putting time back into molecular phylogenetics (Andrew Rambaut)
Geophylogenies: threading evolutionary graphs through Earth History (David Kidd)
Evo-Devo of Non-model Organisms (Catherine Kidner)

Please note early registration ends 30 June. Please Register Soon!.

6th Biennial Conference - Floras and Faunas: Descriptive Taxonomy Serving Biodiversity

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:15:00 GMT

Floras and Faunas are critical for understanding the organisms of a region and the formulation of conservation strategies. Electronic data management is radically transforming Flora and Fauna projects and online dissemination enables unparalleled access to data in a variety of formats tailored to specific user requirements. This symposium will bring together scientists working on Flora and Fauna projects and their user groups with the aim of creating a more outward looking, integrated approach to Floras and Faunas which better serves the needs of the end users.

6th Biennial Conference (Systematics Association) - Please Register

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:45:00 GMT

The 2007 Biennial Conference of the Systematics Association will be held at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh between the 28th - 31st August 2007. The conference includes three symposia; 'Speciation', 'Floras and Faunas serving Biodiversity Research' and 'UK Research Councils Systematics Symposium'. Please note early registration ends 30 June. Please Register Soon!.

6th Biennial - Abstracts and Posters

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:10:00 GMT

The details for the submission of Abstracts and Posters has been revised.

Collaborative Scheme for Systematics Research (CoSyst) - Results

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 01:00:00 GMT

The first round of CoSyst awards were made in February. A total of £84 993 was allocated, the £75 000 from BBSRC being supplemented in this year only by a generous once-off contribution from the Linnean Society.

Systematics Research Fund - Results

Wed, 6 Jun 2007 21:05:00 GMT

The SRF received a total of 97 applications for the 2006 round. The applications came from twenty two countries, with most applicants from the UK (32) and USA (20). The judges agreed that on the whole this year's applications were of a high standard. Thirty seven applications were funded this year. Emails have gone out to the successful and to the unsuccessful applicants - if you applied and haven't received an email PLEASE CONTACT US.

Newsletter - The Systematist issue 27

Sat, 12 May 2007 23:50:00 GMT

includes: Plant Species Evolution - Reality or Fantasy? Inspirations Brian Grieg Fry and the Evolution of Vemoms; Book reviews Embryos in Evolutionary Thought & Taxonomy and Plant Conservation;

6th Biennial - Abstracts and Posters

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:05:00 GMT

Abstracts: Delegates are invited to submit provisional titles early, with final abstracts accepted until 30 June 2007. Abstracts can be submitted through the online system, hosted by the Association of Applied Biologists. You will need to register as a user and will be sent a password with which you can upload your contribution. Please submit a provisional title, with names, institutional addresses and emails of all authors, with a short description (no more than 30 words) as a Microsoft Word file - final abstracts must be submitted by 30 June 2007. Posters: Posters should be A0 sized, vertically oriented: maximum 841mm (33.1 inches) wide × 1,189 mm (46.8 inches) long.

Petition the Prime Minister to revise research funding via the DTI

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 22:50:00 GMT

The British Government has slashed the funding of scientific Research Councils by £68 million. The Research Councils most affected by this include the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, which has been hit by a £29 million reduction in funding, and the Medical Research Council, which is seeing a £10.7 million reduction in funding. The response of the BBSRC biological research council announces that the council will have to cut 20 new grants and reduce expenditure on new equipment.

The Sir Julian Huxley Lecture. 11 July 2007, Linnean Society, London.

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:45:00 GMT

This years lecture will be given by Olivier Rieppel MacArthur Curator of Fossil Reptiles and Chair, Department of Geology, The Field Museum, Chicago, USA. The thesis that species, and monophyletic taxa, are individuals (particulars) was argued by Willi Hennig, and was later introduced into the English speaking community of systematists by Michael Ghiselin and David Hull. Ghiselin and Hull presented the view of species as individuals as a disjunctively opposed alternative to the more traditional view of species as classes, sets, or natural kinds. However, an argument can be made that each species is an individual (i.e., a spatio-temporally localized complex whole or integrated system) that instantiates a natural kind. The consequence is that species names, which are sortal terms, function as proper names in some context (e.g., an evolutionary theory employing the phylogenetic species concept), but as general names associated with natural kind terms in other contexts (e.g., conservation biology).

The Sir Julian Huxley Lecture. 11 July 2007, Linnean Society, London.

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:30:00 GMT

This years lecture will be given by Olivier Rieppel MacArthur Curator of Fossil Reptiles and Chair, Department of Geology, The Field Museum, Chicago, USA.

Systematics Association - Biennial 2007 - Travel (Parking)

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:30:00 GMT

During the conference, we recommend that delegates take advantage of the excellent local transport system in Edinburgh. We will be providing free scheduled service between Pollock Halls and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in the mornings and evenings of the conference. Parking in the vicinity of RBGE is extremely limited and is pay-and-display in the area. If you require disabled parking, please let us know well in advance and we will do our best to assist you.

Systematics Association - Biennial 2007 - Abstracts

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:20:00 GMT

Abstract: Delegates are invited to submit provisional titles early, with final abstracts accepted until 30 June 2007. Abstracts can be submitted through the online system, hosted by the Association of Applied Biologists. You will need to register as a user and will be sent a password with which you can upload your contribution. Please submit a provisional title, with names, institutional addresses and emails of all authors, with a short description (no more than 30 words) as a WORD file - please call the file (yourfamilyname)_offer.doc.

Systematics Association sponsored event

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:40:00 GMT

The evolution of the animals: a Linnean tercentenary celebration. Monday 18 to Tuesday 19 June 2007. Understanding the evolution of the great diversity of animals is a major goal of biology. This venerable field of research found a new lease of life in the last years of the 20th century thanks in great measure to the application of molecular genetic techniques to systematics and comparative developmental biology. This two-day symposium, co-sponsored by the Linnean Society of London and the Systematics Association, will bring together internationally renowned experts from a diversity of disciplines capable of integrating traditional comparative anatomy, systematics and palaeontology, with modern molecular biology, developmental genetics and molecular phylogenetics in order to address many of the major unsolved questions of animal evolution. The meeting forms part of the celebration of the 300th birthday of Linnaeus.

Systematics Association - Biennial 2007

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:30:00 GMT

Speciation Symposium. The symposium programm including the speakers titles have been added.

Systematics Association - Publication catalogue

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 23:45:00 GMT

Details of Systematics Association special volume series added.

Systematics Association - events in 2004, 2005, 2006

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 23:45:00 GMT

Details of past events sponsored by the Systematics Association added.

Systematics Association - Biennial 2007

Thu, 8 Mar 2007 22:45:00 GMT

UK Research Councils Systematics Symposium. The titles for the speakers talks added.

Systematics Association - Council Members Biographies

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:30:00 GMT

A selection of mini biographies for members of council have been added.

Systematics Association - Biennial 2007

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:00:00 GMT

Location map added for conference venue.

Systematics Association - Biennial 2007

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:00:00 GMT

Floras and Faunas Thematic Session Overview - Floras and Faunas are critical for understanding the organisms of a region and the formulation of conservation strategies. Electronic data management is radically transforming Flora and Fauna projects and online dissemination enables unparalleled access to data in a variety of formats tailored to specific user requirements. This symposium will bring together scientists working on Flora and Fauna projects and their user groups with the aim of creating a more outward looking, integrated approach to Floras and Faunas which better serves the needs of the end users.

Systematics Association - Biennial 2007

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 23:00:00 GMT

Registration for the 2007 Biennial conference is now open. The online booking and payment service has been contracted through the Association for Applied Biologists.

Systematics Association - new website

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:30:00 GMT

The Systematics Association is pleased to announce the launch of its redesigned website on 11 Feb 2007. The new site has been updated with a modern look and improved navigation. The site uses CSS throughout and has been tested for compliance with W3C standards. We hope you like the look of the new site and will continue to visit the Systematics Association.