Please visit our website for full details: www.pestrisk.org Meeting Announcement: The International Pest Risk Research Group (IPRRG) will be hosting its 11th annual meeting in association with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) from Tuesday 29th August – Friday 1st September 2017 in Ottawa, Canada.
Call for Abstracts: Oral and poster presentations are invited on all aspects of pest risk research. Pests include “any species, strain or biotype of plant, animal, or pathogenic agent, injurious to plants” or animals. Presentations on the meeting theme, “Predictability and Uncertainty in Pest Risk Analysis”, are particularly welcomed but those describing advances in modelling and mapping risks (e.g. pathway analysis, species distribution modelling, spread modelling, uncertainty analysis, climate change impacts, and vector-borne disease risk), impact assessment, and communicating risks to policy-makers will also be accepted. Graduate students are encouraged to participate fully. Abstracts (max. 250 words) should be submitted by 15 May 2017 at http://www.pestrisk.org/?page_id=1365. Members must log in to the IPRRG website to access the submission form. In addition to technical presentations and discussions, time is allotted for professional networking and collaborative work on group projects, such as the IPRRG global assessment of the risks posed by the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, to plant health. This undertaking, code-named “Project Stinky”, is designed to catalyze the development of international training materials that demonstrate accepted procedures for modelling the spatio-temporal variation in pest risk. CFIA is covering most of the registration costs, but a registration fee will be payable to IPRRG in advance (an email will be sent when the amount has been confirmed) or on arrival at the meeting to cover additional expenses such as a group dinner, technical excursion and IPRRG webpage costs. Students are eligible for a discounted rate. About the IPRRG: The IPRRG, first convened in 2007 as the Pest Risk Mapping Workgroup, is a dedicated group of research scientists and pest risk practitioners that aims to develop enhanced pest risk modelling and mapping methods through rigorous and innovative research focused on the key challenges faced by the discipline. We hold regular meetings to present, discuss, and test new developments. We collaborate on group projects, such as the aforementioned “Project Stinky”. We communicate findings of the group and its members regarding these topics via our website (www.pestrisk.org/) and publications to a broad international audience that includes scientists, policymakers, and other end users. We also provide technical training in the methods utilized to generate these outputs, thereby promoting best practice in their application. Joining the IPRRG is free and simple, either attend an annual meeting or send a letter of interest to the Secretary-Treasurer (Dr. Darren Kriticos, darren.kriti...@csiro.au). Better yet, visit the IPRRG website (www.pestrisk.org/) today to register as a member! For more information on our 11th Meeting in Ottawa please go to: • http://www.pestrisk.org/?page_id=1196 Presentations from our last meeting in Parma, Italy in August 2016 are available here: • http://www.pestrisk.org/?page_id=1111
