Executive Director reflects on SEFS13
11 September, 2023
Simon Johnson, Executive Director of the Freshwater Biological Association, reflects on SEFS13 after two years in planning.
After two years planning SEFS13, this year’s Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences hosted by the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) and held at Newcastle University, it was really exciting to arrive at the Fredrick Douglas Centre on the Sunday lunchtime to set up and prepare to welcome delegates.
All of a sudden, the hard work of the scientific/organising committees and staff at FBA had come to fruition. SEFS13 was soon to become a tangible reality…
Our key sponsors (UKCEH, Five Rivers and Echoview) started to build their display stands and we all pitched in to make up the delegate welcome packs, which included the much talked about reusable coffee mug!
Before long, the welcoming ceremony and receptions were upon us. Chair of Natural England, Tony Juniper, provided a thought-provoking welcoming address on the future of freshwaters and what action needed to be taken to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies. I particularly enjoyed welcoming the Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to their evening event and explaining how the programme of events would help them get the best out of the symposium. After the formalities, many of us dispersed into the nightlife of Newcastle to continue with socialising and networking!
There then followed 4.5 days of incredible knowledge exchange, workshops, poster sessions and socialising. Highlights for me were the plenary speakers who delivered their engaging and inspiring talks with such clarity and passion.
I attended as many of the regular and special sessions as I could and really enjoyed two full days of pond conservation and science. David de la Haye’s ‘Flow.State’ was an immersive sonic treat and a great place to escape from the hullabaloo of the symposium while enjoying the artwork of Martyn Kelly.
Many delegates started to feed back just how inclusive the symposium felt and that the strong early career researcher presence made for a very welcoming atmosphere.
The feeling of community was further enabled through the social events over the week. The first being the Early Career pub night down by the Tyne, which many ‘older delegates’ tried to gatecrash, as it was apparently the place to be seen!
The Summer Solstice Social was held on a perfect early summer’s evening at Wylam Brewery. The final two hours of dancing with such a lovely crowd will be a memory that burns bright for a very long time. Academics love Jungle Music and I have the footage to prove it… We also raised 2,600 Euro to fund ECR (Early Career Researchers) attendance bursaries at SEFS14.
Our ‘Gala Dinner’ was a great opportunity to thank Toni Camacho for all his work as SEFS chair. The evening was a great example of a come-as-you-are event with fantastic vegan food, flowing wine and a Ceilidh with a difference. This involved 400+ participants having the most fantastic evening of being called and rocked by our band, The Jacobites. The ‘extreme stripping the willow dance’ had to be seen to be believed and I for one did not think I was going to make it to the end. The final hour of dancing and singing was amazing and emotional. At one point, I also found myself in a conga being led by various academics and the evening was rounded off in style with a mass participation Macarena!
All too soon, we had arrived at the final day and the closing formalities. ECR folk were given various awards for best presentations, posters and PhDs, and Toni Camacho (EFFS Chair) and myself provided closing speeches.
It was a tremendous honour for FBA to host SEFS13 and to share the five days with 420 delegates from 37 countries. I hope we managed to meet everyone’s expectations and the symposium was both valuable and enjoyable.
The journey over the five days was a great experience. I found it inspiring to see folk coming together exchanging knowledge, sharing ideas and making new connections. SEFS is about the science but it’s also about socialising, and we did a lot of that!
These bi-annual symposiums always have a particular focus on ECRs and SEFS13 was no exception to this and we had a particularly strong cohort of ECRs. It was inspiring to listen and talk to the next generation of freshwater scientists. It gave me great hope for the future of all things to do with freshwater ecosystems and the people and nature that rely on them being in good health.
I left SEFS13 feeling tired but energised knowing that I had made 400 new friends. I’m hoping we will stay in touch in my role as Executive Director of FBA and as Chair (elect) of EFFS. I look forward to perhaps seeing many of you on a dance floor real soon or the very latest, at SEFS14!
Lastly, I would like to thank all those amazing folk who helped to make SEFS13 such a success.
The organising committee (Steve Ormerod, Ceri Gibson, Fred Windsor, Dania Albini, Louise Lavictoire, Michelle Jackson)
The scientific committee (too many to name check!)
Abbey Conferences (Laird, Marcos, Greg)
Our sponsors (UKCEH, Fiver Rivers and Echoview)
The staff at the Frederick Douglas Centre
David de lay Haye and Martin Kelly (Flow.State)
John Murray-Bligh & Alice Heely (ECR field trip)
The entire FBA team. However, I must make special mention of Louise Lavictoire who went above and beyond to ensure the symposium went well.
Keynote and plenary speakers – Tony Juniper, Caylean Carey, Martin Kainz, David Hamilton, Nuria Catalan, Dave Tickner and James Orr.
The presenters of posters, speakers and organisers of workshops/field trips.
Our delegates - without you there is no SEFS!
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