BIODICE first official workshop

Image: Sigurborg Jóhannsdóttir

BIODICE was created in the winter 2020-21 with the aim of creating a network of individuals and institutions in Iceland with the common goal of promoting research, greater awareness and understanding of biodiversity in Iceland. BIODICE ideas and manifesto can be found at: https://biodice.is/

BIODICE took a big step with its first public workshop on Friday 15th October as a part of the Icelandic Biological Society Conference, ICEBIO 2021. With strong support of The Icelandic Biological Society (Líffræðigáttin), the workshop was organised around three pillars of BIODICE: Research, Education, and Policy. The workshop was dedicated to the memory of Snorri Baldursson, a renowned ecologist in Iceland, who sadly passed away recently. His funeral was earlier in the day of the workshop.

Detlev Arendt, group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (https://www.embl.org/groups/arendt/) gave a keynote lecture prior to the workshop. Detlev presented his research at EMBL as well as the pilot study that will potentially take place in Iceland in 2022 (TREC pilot 2022, referred to in BIODICE newsletter#2). Josipa Bilic from EMBL also attended the conference.

Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir chaired the workshop that started with an address from Halldór Þorgeirsson, Head of the Icelandic Climate Council.

The workshop was subsequently organised with key questions addressed to six invited speakers as follows:

1. What is your opinion on the current status of research on biological diversity, and what are the main topics regarding research to be considered to promote sustainable conservation and management of biodiversity in Iceland?

Invited speakers:
-Snædís Huld Björnsdóttir, Associate professor in microbiology at Faculty of Life-and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland.
-Pawel Wasowicz, Botanist, Institute of Natural History.

2. What is your opinion on the current status of education on biological diversity, and what are the main topics regarding education to be considered to promote sustainable conservation and management of biodiversity in Iceland?

Invited speakers:
-Edda Elísabet Magnúsdóttir, Assistant Professor in biology, School of Education, University of Iceland.
-Gauti Eiríksson, Teacher and Head of Advisory Board for Natural Sciences, Álftanesskóli.

3.What is your opinion on the current status of policy on biological diversity, and what are the main topics regarding policy to be considered to promote sustainable conservation and management of biodiversity in Iceland?

Invited speakers:
-Hafdís Hanna Ægisdóttir, Director, Institute for Sustainability Studies, University of Iceland.
-Bjarni Kristófer Kristjánsson, Professor, Department of Aquaculture and Fish Biology, Hólar University.

The workshop was a great success with more than 120 people attending. The invited speakers gave vivid talks addressing the questions proposed. Many people participated in the following discussion, which was useful, diverse, and very enthusiastic. The full event was recorded (will be available soon) and notes were taken for future use in BIODICE.

The workshop was only one of many events BIODICE will organise in the near future, and accordingly, the BIODICE Board would like to inform you that another workshop will take place at Hafrannsóknastofnunin on the 3rd of November 2021. This workshop will be focussing on the sampling protocols of the pilot study planned in a collaborative framework with EMBL. Paola Bertucci and Yannick Schwab, organisers of TREC, will introduce the sampling protocols established to study the European Coastline and a potential application to Iceland. The workshop is organised to plan TREC22 in some detail and if you are interested to participate, please contact Christophe Pampoulie (christophe.s.pampoulie@hafogvatn.is).

The objective of the BIODICE network is to promote biodiversity conservation and management in Iceland by developing the BIODICE pillars further. This is planned through task groups, workshops and seminars. If you want to support this initiative, please sign-up as member at the following website: https://biodice.is/. For more information, please contact either of us.

On behalf of the Board, with our best wishes for the future,
The Chair, Skúli Skúlason, and the vice-chair Christophe Pampoulie

Acknowledgements:

We would like to express gratitude to all the speakers at the BIODICE workshop, and also to the following people who contributed significantly to its organization and success: Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir, Ragnhildur Guðmundsdóttir, Valerie Maier, Anthony Schultz, Ole Martin Sandberg, Tómas Grétar Gunnarsson, Bjarni Kristófer Kristjánsson and Snorri Sigurðsson. We would also like to specially address our gratitude to Kalina Kapralova, Chair of The Icelandic Biology Society, for offering BIODICE the opportunity to organise a workshop during the conference and for all the support that she provided. And last but not least, many thanks to all those that attended and participated in the discussions.