On behalf of Heather Coleman of PacMARA. Apologies for cross postings. Hello, To anyone attending the ICCB meeting in Montpellier, France, or otherwise located nearby - We are planning an Introduction to Marxan course before the conference on 30-31 July 2015 and are currently enrolling participants! This course will provide the basic knowledge and skills necessary to use Marxan in a conservation planning exercise. More information: http://pacmara.org/events-workshops/introduction-to-marxan To register: http://pacmara.org/events-workshops About Marxan: Marxan is the most widely used conservation and resource use planning tool globally. It can recommend a network of areas for protection and other spatial management regimes in marine, terrestrial, freshwater, and a combination of systems. Developed by Ian Ball and Hugh Possingham from the University of Queensland, Australia, Marxan supports spatial prioritization by producing objective, transparent, and repeatable results. The software can facilitate smart decision-making that accounts for a broad range of considerations, stakeholders, and tradeoffs in a spatially and economically efficient manner. About Introduction to Marxan: The following topics are covered in this course: - Key concepts in systematic conservation planning - Creating planning units - Creating the essential Marxan input files - Parameter setting in Marxan - Understanding and using Marxan results - Zonae Cogito (front-end Marxan support software) - A brief introduction to Marxan with Zones Course time will be split between lecture/discussion (~30%) and hands-on exercises (~70%). Prior experience with GIS and MS Excel is prerequisite to this course. Participants will need to bring a laptop with ArcMap 9 or 10 (and spatial analyst) or QGIS installed. Please contact us if you are interested in the course but cannot bring a laptop. Pricing: Early registration (at least three weeks in advance) is 495 Euro. Regular registration is 545 Euro. Five student places are available at 40% off. Once the first five students have registered (first come, first served), five more student spaces will be available for 20% off the regular rate. Lunch will be included with registration. Registration: Please register here http://pacmara.org/events-workshops when you are ready to pay for the course with a credit card or through other paypal means (if you are paying by check or cash, please contact us for details). It is easiest to complete payment immediately after registering. Note that it is not necessary for you to have a paypal account (click on "Don't have a Paypal account?" towards the bottom of the page) to complete this process. Refund policy: Refunds will be given within three weeks of the course start date, less a 30 Euro administrative fee. Cancellations less than three weeks before the course will be refunded only if we can replace the participant. In the event of course cancellation, full refunds will be given. Questions? Please contact us as hcoleman (at) pacmara.org or nserra (at) pacmara.org. Thank you and I hope to see you there! Heather -- Heather Coleman, Science Advisor PacMARA (Pacific Marine Analysis and Research Association) PO Box 49002, Victoria, BC V8P5V8 Office: 778.300.1801 hcoleman@pacmara.org http://pacmara.org pacmaraorg/tikiwiki <http://pacmara.org/tikiwiki> Curious about the Sidney Consensus? Check out the Marine EBM Principles for BC here <http://pacmara.org/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=The+Sidney+Consensus>