Pre-Conference Training Courses on Monday 6 July 2026
On Monday 6 July, we offer several training courses. These will provide the opportunity for registered delegates to receive expert training on a topic relevant for conservation biology. Courses will take place before the start of the congress on Monday 6 July. All training session organisers, tutors and participants must be registered for the meeting. The meetings are free of charge and include a morning coffee break.
Interested in joining one of the training courses? Please sign up for during your registration.
Please note that some training courses take place simultaneously with social events and excursions. If you are interested in activities during these time slots, we recommend also having a look at the social events and excursions.
All training courses are subject to change and a minimal number of participants. The organisation holds the right to cancel or change the excursion if this seems necessary. Registrants will be informed of these changes as soon as possible.
Introduction to systematic conservation planning
Organised by: Dr. Martin Jung, International Institute For Applied Systems Analytics
Location: BE.0.10
Date: Monday 6 July
Time: 9:00
Duration: 7-7.5 hours
Costs: Free
Note: There is a minimum number of 5 and a maximum number of 20 participants for this training.
What will you need?
Participants will need their own laptop and basic understanding of spatial data formats. Basic skills in R, ideally pre-installation of Rstudio, prioritizR (https://prioritizr.net/) and the ‘highs’ R-package
What will you learn?
Systematic conservation planning (SCP) is a scientific framework of applying decision theory towards identifying where or what to do given all available information (data, parameters). This training course will introduce participants to the principles and techniques of systematic conservation planning. Together we will progress through typical stages of a SCP project from the design to the prioritization for identifying solutions to conservation problems.
During this course, the participants will receive basic understanding on the concepts of SCP and learn how to use some widely used applications, for example prioritizR, although other software like Zonation can be exemplarly showcased as well. The prioritizR suite is an R-package to facilitate the use of exact algorithms, e.g. integer programming, to derive solutions to specific conservation problems, such as where additional area-based conservation or restoration efforts are to be placed or where a biodiversity monitoring project is to be established. PrioritizR is freely available and runs on all operating systems able to run R (Windows, MacOs, Linux).
The course will provide participants with (a) a basic understanding of the principles of systematic conservation planning, (b) instructions how to prepare input data and parameters for a SCP project, (c) the use of two state-of-the art prioritization tools to derive solutions to planning problems, (d) explore different scenarios to account for example for connectivity and socio-economic factors, and (e) how to critically interrogate the solutions and derive performance indicators.
Ultimately the aim of the course is for users to obtain the knowledge base and confidence needed to start applying systematic conservation planning to your own work.
General course outline:
- Basics of systematic conservation planning and spatial prioritization: concepts, prerequisites, approaches, applications.
- Hands-on exercises in separate breakout groups: prioritizR.
- Joint reflection and comparison of the software.
- Q&A on own analysis questions.
Connectivity modelling for conservation applications
Organised by: Mr. Arman Pili, Conservation Research Institute and Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge
Location: BE.0.17
Date: Monday 6 July
Time: 9:00
Duration: 7-7.5 hours
Costs: Free
Note: There is a minimum number of 10 and a maximum number of 20 participants for this training.
What will you need?
Participants will need their own laptop.
What will you learn?
Maintaining, enhancing, and restoring ecological connectivity is a cornerstone of global efforts to conserve species diversity and ecological functions, and is explicitly mandated in the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. However, while interest in connectivity science has surged in recent years, there are a wide range of models and metrics that can be applied, and it remains challenging to understand and reliably apply these approaches to conservation problems. This interactive 1-day pre-conference training course will distil the principles and applications of connectivity modelling and build practical skills in applying connectivity models for conservation. It will comprise three parts:
First, participants will be introduced to the foundational theory underpinning connectivity science, the statistics and assumptions behind different connectivity modelling approaches, and recent advances in the field.
Second, participants will learn how to practically model connectivity using a variety of approaches and will then focus on the application of a unified framework that utilises spatial-absorbing Markov chains (SAMC). The SAMC can be directly applied to a wide range of empirical data (e.g., species distribution, GPS tracking, and population genomics data), generalising and extending other common models, such as circuit theory and graph-theoretic metrics, under a flexible and powerful framework. Participants will then apply SAMC to predict species movement, redistribution and human-wildlife conflict risks using empirical datasets relevant to key conservation issues.
Third, participants will learn how to apply connectivity models to support both on-the-ground landscape conservation and national-scale connectivity conservation monitoring. We will close the course with a discussion on emerging issues and potential future avenues in connectivity science and connectivity modelling.
Biodiversity measurement and estimation using R
Organised by: Prof. Dr. Béla Tóthmérész, University Of Debrecen
Location: BE.0.08
Date: Monday 6 July
Time: 9:00
Duration: 1.5 hours
Costs: Free
Note: There is a minimum number of 10 and a maximum number of 20 participants for this training.
What will you need?
Participants will need their own laptop.
What will you see and what will you learn?
It is a challenging task in ecology and conservation biology to explore the drivers and/or determinants of biodiversity. Diversity measuring is one of the most frequently used technique in ecology, and elsewhere in the sciences. There is a wide range of techniques to measure diversity; many of them recently developed. Indeed, there is a recent revolution in diversity measurements, although it is a classical sub-discipline of ecology with a long history, and tradition. After a brief review of the background of these methods, the most useful R packages to measure diversity are introduced. Their usage is demonstrated by elementary and field examples. Basic features necessary to complete the course are also introduced.
Structure of the course is as follows:
(i) Classical diversity measuring paradigm.
i.1 Traditional diversity statistics,
i.2 scale-dependent diversity characterization (diversity ordering),
i.3 species intrapolation (rarefaction), and species extrapolation (the number of unseen species).
(ii) Beyond the classical paradigm
ii.1 beta and gamma diversities, diversity partitioning,
ii.2 density and/or pattern-dependent diversity representations.
(iii) Model-based diversities
iii.1 Species-area relationships; extinction debts
iii.2 Functional and phylogenetic diversity
iii.3 Dark diversity and species loss
iii.4 Biodiversity insurance theory
iii.5 Universal neutral theory of biodiversity
Biodiversity measurement and estimation using R
Organised by: Prof. Dr. Samuel Cushman
Location: BE.0.18
Date: Monday 6 July
Time: 9:00
Duration: 7-7.5 hours
Costs: Free
Note: There is a minimum number of 5 and a maximum number of 30 participants for this training.
What will you need?
Participants will need their own laptop.
What will you learn?
Unsustainable development continues to fragment natural landscapes and wildlife populations, contributing to declining global biodiversity. Advances in computation have enabled ever more sophisticated assessment of development and conservation impacts on functional landscape connectivity. However, accessibility of these advances to non-expert users has lagged. Here we present Connecting Landscapes (CoLa), an integration and expansion of existing software applications that model functional connectivity, population dynamics, and genetic exchange across landscapes. CoLa is a cloud-based or locally installable conservation decision-support system (DSS) that enables user-friendly assessment of the trade-offs between development and conservation in a data-driven framework. We provide an introduction to the methods, uses and applications of the DSS, including its functionality. We provide participants with hands-on training using the full scope of the tool in exploring two case studies at different spatial scales illustrating its use.