We would like to announce that the annual meeting of the UK Regional Student Chapter of the Society for Marine Mammalogy will be held at Durham University between the 4th and 6th of February 2010. (An Icebreaker will be held on the evening of Thursday 4th – presentations will not start until Friday 5th). A brief introduction to Durham - it is a small, historic town located in the north east of England, just south of Newcastle. Bill Bryson famously mentioned Durham in his book ‘Notes from a small Island’; “I got off at Durham…and fell in love with it in a serious way. Why, it’s wonderful – a perfect little city…if you have never been to Durham, go there. Take my car”. We encourage all registered UK students that are interested in, or are actively involved in, marine mammal research to attend. The atmosphere of the conference is relatively informal, giving students a platform to discuss their research with other students and prominent researchers. All students are invited to submit an abstract for a 15 minute talk or a poster (we’ll be asking everyone to talk for a couple of minutes about their work/interests anyway, so why not give a slightly longer talk instead?!). The talks traditionally vary in content: from talks by new students discussing their future plans or the basis of their project, to students whose Ph.D.’s are near completion. We will also have guest speakers and a genetics workshop, details of which shall follow closer to the time. There is no registration fee, and we may have funds to help with travel and accommodation. You don’t need to be an existing member of the Chapter – you can register for the Chapter at the same time as registering for the conference. Registration forms and abstracts for talks and posters will be accepted until the 5th of January 2010 (please contact ukrsc@st-andrews.ac.uk and we’ll email you the registration form). The abstract should be no more than 300 words and can be sent as part of an email or as a word document. All abstracts, completed registration forms and any other questions should be sent to: ukrsc@st-andrews.ac.uk Hope to see you all in Durham in February, With best wishes, The committee of the UK Regional Student Chapter for the Society for Marine Mammalogy -- UKRSC Chapter Contact c/o Sea Mammal Research Unit Scottish Oceans Institute East Sands St Andrews Fife KY16 8LB Scotland, UK http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~ukrscgrp/ ------------------------------------------------------------------ University of St Andrews Webmail: https://webmail.st-andrews.ac.uk