The EWDA Student Chapter - Promoting Shared Knowledge
Page map:
Current Officers
Country Representatives
Objectives
The objective of the EWDA Student Chapter is to promote shared knowledge between established researchers and wildlife disease students, within the scope of the goals defined by the Wildlife Disease Association:
- Educate wildlife disease students about the profession and career opportunities, job qualifications and education, and externships, volunteer, and research opportunities.
- Enhance the skills of wildlife disease students through lectures, workshops, conferences, field trips.
- Connect wildlife disease students to mentors in WDA through the faculty advisor and guest lecturers.
- Develop international relationships between wildlife disease students across Europe and beyond.
You can find more information on the EWDA Student Chapter, its objectives and activities in this document.
Activities
To work towards these objectives, the EWDA Student Chapter has developed several tools and organizes regular events.
The Tools!
Tool #1: The EWDA Discussion E-List
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ewda_discussion/
The EWDA discussion E-list gives the latest news about wildlife health and diseases, including job and education opportunities and conference announcements, and forms a platform to discuss hot wildlife disease topics. The EWDA discussion list was created in September 2004 and counts more than 160 subscribers from Eurasia, America and Australia! Your message can reach creative minds around the globe so please, subscribe! There are about 6 messages per month.
Subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/EWDA_discussion/
Visit: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ewda_discussion/
How does it work?
The EWDA Discussion List aims at distributing:
- News and stories on wildlife health issues. You can find these on Pro-MED ( www.promedmail.org ), but also through RSS feed from diverse sources!
- Job and education opportunities. You may know of a position at your University, receive an offer through your faculty, or you may be a subscriber to other lists with occasional offers related to wildlife health: post it!
- Conference announcements. You are aware of a future meeting on wildlife health issues or with a session on wildlife diseases, you organize or know the organizing committee of such an event: this is the place to distribute the information!
- Wildlife health hot topics and debates: whatever you are currently brainstorming over, share it here!
Thanks for contributing!
Tool #2: The EWDA Electronic Journal Club!
The EWDA Electronic Journal Clubis an up-to-date list of the latest publications on wildlife diseases and disease ecology! It aims at complementing the resourceful Journal of Wildlife Diseases. Already close to 150 references have been posted. This is your chance to comment on recent publications or let us know about your own contribution to research. Click here or mail the reference to ewdastudent@gmail.com. You can post by clicking on ‘Connection’ at the top right corner of the blogpage. Sign in as: visitorblog@gmail.com – pass: ewdavisitor. The success of the EWDA Electronic Journal Club depends on YOU!
How does it work?
Do you regularly browse your favourite journals? Have you set up alerts at Highwire Press or other sources? Please, when you find an article of interest related to wildlife health and diseases, please, copy-paste the citation and its link and blog it!
Thanks for contributing!
Tool #3: The EWDA Student Chapter Mentor Network
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pau5Inp6RSL6bvjYK_PP0YQ&gid=0
The EWDA Student Chapter Mentor Network is the latest tool to be developed by the EWDA Student Chapter! It aims at listing wildlife disease faculties and researchers from across Europe, who may provide invaluable tips and advices to prospective and current wildlife health students! It includes information on their areas of research and contact details!
How does it work?
This list is compiled thanks to the contribution of our Country Representatives! Do you want to participate also and add information on leading researchers that you know? Please send an e-mail with the requested information to ewdastudent@gmail.com and we will add the person(s) to the list.
Thanks for contributing!
The Events!
Event #1: The EWDA Student Workshop
The EWDA Student Workshop is organized for and by students to promote the scientific education of veterinary and non veterinary students for and by research, through oral communications, panel discussions and roundtables.
"The most important thing is not to stop questioning." ~ Albert Einstein
The EWDA student workshop aims at giving veterinary and non veterinary students undertaking or willing to undertake graduate studies on wildlife diseases, the opportunity to meet and share the experience of the best scientists involved in wildlife disease research worldwide, early in their career. A student deciding on a professional career in research must consolidate his/her scientific habits of mind early in his/her studies.
"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." ~ Benjamin Franklin
The EWDA student workshop enables participants not only to gain up-to-date and most recent knowledge on wildlife disease research through outstanding oral communications, and panel discussions but also to explore the invisible part of the iceberg, that is the questions and state-of-the-art scientific reasoning that lead the scientist to the presented results, during student working sessions (roundtables). Speakers are therefore invited to involve themselves in the formation of their future colleagues by getting students involved in the heart of their scientific research and reasoning. The high professional researcher to student ratio ensures productive exchanges between the ca. 12 scientists and 50 participants.
The First EWDA Student Workshop (2005)
The First EWDA Student Workshop was held from April 28 th to May 1 st 2005 at the Conference Centre of the Merieux Foundation – Les Pensieres, Veyrier-du-Lac, France, and was a great success!
Thirty-six students and twelve speakers from 11 European countries, the United States and Mexico attended the First EWDA Student Workshop. The theme of the workshop was emerging diseases and zoonoses in wildlife reservoirs, and covered disease investigation, ecology and management. Presentations from the speakers were followed by student presentations, after which small groups of students joined each of the established researchers for a "student working session" to discuss related topics in a more convivial atmosphere. The fantastic sharing of the speakers' experiences, knowledge and motivation has produced calls for a Second EWDA Student Workshop that will be held in Greece in April 2007!
To learn more, click here!
The Second EWDA Student Workshop (2007)
The Second EWDA Student Workshop was organized by the European Student Chapter of the Wildlife Disease Association on the theme of Wildlife Conservation and the Threat of Infectious Diseases, and was held from April 26 th to 29 th, 2007 at the Athena Pallas Village, in Sithonia, Greece
Meant to offer advanced undergraduates and graduate students the opportunity to meet and interact with leaders in the field of wildlife disease research and wildlife conservation, twelve internationally renowned scientists were invited to present lectures, and lead working sessions and panel discussions within the frame of the One World – One Health approach. Sixty student participants from 17 countries from Europe and beyond shared with great enthusiasm the experience and knowledge of the invited speakers. Twenty-five posters gave an overview of the students’ current research projects, and a price offered by the Wildlife Trust was awarded to the best poster, presented by Amber Teacher on microsatellite genotyping of common frog populations affected by ranaviruses. A one-year student membership to the Wildlife Disease Association will be offered to all student participants for the year 2008, and we are pleased to welcome the first Greek members of the WDA!
To learn more, click here!
Event #2: The EWDA Student Mixer
The EWDA Student Mixer is organized every two years during the conference of the European Wildlife Disease Association. It aims at connecting students from across Europe and develop international relationships in a relaxed atmosphere!
The First EWDA Student Mixer was organized on the day before the first day of the VIIth conference of the EWDA in the Aosta Valley, Italy, in September 2006. A group of students gathered for a hike to Lake Serve in the National Park of Mont Avic.
The Second EWDA Student Mixer will be organized soon as part of the VIIIth conference of the EWDA to be held in Rovinj, Croatia, in October 5-7, 2008 (www.ewda2008.org).
For questions, you can e-mail us: ewdastudent@gmail.com
Event #3: The Country-Based EWDA One-Day Student Symposia: the new EVENT proposed by the EWDA Student Chapter!
After the success of the EWDA Student Workshop, the fun of organizing such meetings and the eagerness of an increasing number of EWDA Student Chapter members to participate in the organization of such meetings, we would like to propose to our Country Representatives to organize Country-Based EWDA One-Day Student Symposia in their home country!
The concept of the Country-Based EWDA One-Day Student Symposium is to bring together expert scientists and students of a particular country to discuss a thematic related to wildlife disease and health, in one of the leading universities of the country. The Country-Based EWDA One-Day Student Symposium may include outstanding communications by expert scientists, panel discussions, poster sessions, wetlabs, or any creative idea to further promote shared knowledge between professionals and students.
Why Country-Based Symposia?
Because it is primordial to connect wildlife health students with the leading experts of their home country.
Because it is primordial to connect wildlife health students from different universities within the same country with each other.
Because students can participate in meetings more easily in their home country.
Because organizing a meeting is easier if it takes place in one’s home country.
Why One-Day Symposia?
Because leading experts are typically extremely busy.
Because accommodation costs are usually prohibitive for student participation in multi-day meetings.
Because financial sponsorship is limited, and thus to keep budget costs to a minimum.
Please, consider organizing a Country-Based EWDA One-Day Student Symposium at your university! Check on the proposed organization timeline (linkto document “organization timeline”) and proposal guidelines (link to “proposal guidelines”) that can help you on the way, and start brainstorming!
Are you not a Country Representative, but would you like to organize a Country-Based EWDA One-Day Student Symposium at your university? Contact us (ewdastudent@gmail.com) and tell us about your plan!
Keep the board of the EWDA Student Chapter ( ewdastudent@gmail.com) updated about your plans!
For questions, you can e-mail us: ewdastudent@gmail.comMembership
Becoming a member of the EWDA Student Chapter offers you the opportunity to learn about the latest news on wildlife disease research, keeps you up-dated with the latest job and education opportunities, and gives you great opportunities to connect with established researchers and wildlife health students from across Europe! Furthermore, it’s fun and it’s free!
Whether you are an undergraduate, MSc, PhD or post-doc, become an EWDA Student Chapter member! Membership is free, fast and easy and you can join here .
Of course, you can also become a student member of the WDA, and be automatically registered as a student member of the EWDA if your current address is in Europe. You can register at the WDA site . There is a reduced fee for students. Not only will you receive the Journal of Wildlife Diseases four times a year, but you will also be eligible to apply for WDA Student Awards !
Current Officers (2006-2008)
Together, these four officers make sure wildlife health students can find each other in the student chapter and keep updated with the latest wildlife disease related news. Every two years the student chapter gets new officers.
| Miriam Maas | President | M.Maas3@students.uu.nl |
| Lineke Begeman | Treasurer | L.Begeman@students.uu.nl |
| Leslie Reperant | Secretary | l.reperant@erasmusmc.nl |
| Annika Krengel | Vice-President | annika_krengel@hotmail.com |
Country Representatives
The EWDA Student Chapter invites interested students to become their country representatives! Applications are open year-round. Country representatives will remain in duty next EWDA conference. Country representatives' roles are to:
1. disseminate information about the EWDA Student Chapter to wildlife disease students in the representative’s country.
2. promote the involvement of wildlife disease students from the representative’s country in the EWDA Student Chapter activities.
3. Develop a coordinative network of wildlife health mentors in Europe by compiling an annual list of wildlife health professionals including details on their current affiliations, research interests and contact information, using this form .
We have the following current country representatives. If you want any information about the Student Chapter of the EWDA, just send them or the officers an e-mail!
Name |
Country |
|
Alexandra Gergely |
Austria |
sana@gergely.at |
Fabien Gregoire |
Belgium |
f.gregoire@ulg.ac.be |
Sashka Vitanova |
Bulgaria |
svitanova@greenbalkans.org |
Niina Airas |
Finland |
|
Romain Garnier |
France |
rom1.garnier@laposte.net |
Annika Krengel |
Germany |
annika_krengel@hotmail.com |
Angelo Thomas |
Greece |
plato@vet.auth.gr |
Miklos Gyuranecz |
Hungary |
m.gyuranecz@gmail.com |
Sylvia Keijser |
The Netherlands |
S.F.A.Keijser@students.uu.nl |
Knut Madslien |
Norway |
knut.madslien@vetinst.no |
Kathryn Allan |
UK |
K.J.Allan-2@sms.ed.ac.uk |
Gabor Czirjak |
Romania |
czirjakgabor@yahoo.com |
Abbe Crawford |
Scotland |
A.H.Crawford@sms.ed.ac.uk |
Gregorio Mentaberre |
Spain |
capra@inicia.es |
Anna Strömqvist |
Sweden |
|
Andrea Aebischer |
Switzerland |
andrea.aebischer@students.unibe.ch |
Are you interested in becoming the country representative of your country? You are always welcome to apply. Simply write us one great motivation letter (300-500 words) to state your interests and ideas!
Officers 2008-2010
The Officers and Country Representatives 2008-2010 have been selected! Click here to see who they are!
Past Officers
2005-2006
Leslie Reperant, Founder and President.
Amandine Bouillot, Vice-President.
Sponsors and Partners
The EWDA Student Chapter is kindly supported by the following sponsors and partners who support the Chapter´s aim of promoting shared knowledge. Click here to go to our sponsor page.