BBSRC Biological Diversity Workshop Registration

Scope 

Research relating to biological diversity is relevant across BBSRC’s key research and innovation priorities. For this exercise, we are defining biological diversity broadly as the variability among living organisms from all sources; this includes diversity within species, between species and of communities and ecosystems.   

Consideration of this area is timely given contemporary issues relating to decline in biological diversity. We are living in a time of extreme biodiversity loss and many biodiverse areas are reported to be approaching tipping points or regime shifts, beyond which they will be unable to recover.  

This biodiversity loss is largely driven by human activities and their impacts on the environment, including agriculture and food production. The speed of biodiversity decline necessitates urgent and effective actions to halt further loss, which needs to be informed and supported by research and innovation.  

Additionally, there are many new opportunities to progress knowledge by considering bioscience through the lens of biological diversity; whether this is new insights into biology from a much wider range of genomes across the tree of life, prospects for discovery of inspiration for new bio-based products, or opportunities to integrate knowledge biodiversity into challenges such as sustainable food production and one health.  

We want to determine where BBSRC’s unique position could help drive progress and deliver greater impact.  

About the workshop 

The two virtual workshops are on Monday 15 April (10:00 - 13:00) and Wednesday 8 May (10:00 - 13:00).

We want to ensure as many people can attend as possible, so both workshops will have the same structure.  There will only be a need to attend one of them.

The aim is to bring together different voices from across the biological diversity remit to gain a broad perspective on the key challenges, drivers, and opportunities where BBSRC can play an important role. The virtual events are therefore an information gathering exercise to help inform BBSRC’s future approaches in this area. 

Attendees will benefit from getting the opportunity to engage in key discussions around biological diversity that will help to shape future BBSRC strategy. The format of these will be discussions around major research themes in biological diversity as well as breakout group discussions to identify key opportunities and challenges around these themes. 

The workshops will also be a useful networking opportunity to meet other stakeholders interested in this area. We will be creating an e-booklet with the participant details and research interests amongst all who register to attend in order to aid networking after the events.  

The workshops are open to everyone. Should the level of interest substantially exceed the expected capacity of the workshop BBSRC reserves the right to limit the total participant numbers. If required, we will use the following selection criteria: 

• Relevance of research interests 
• Balance of research interests across the participants 
• Balance of representation across career stages and roles 
• Balance of organisations  
• Equality, diversity and inclusion considerations. 

If you would like to participate then you must complete this registration form and provide us with some information on why you want to attend and your research interests. 

Registration will close on Wednesday 20 March 2024 at 17:00.  

Selection of participants will be undertaken by BBSRC with the outcome notified by Friday 5 April 2024. Although not anticipated, we reserve the right to invite additional participants directly.  

If you have any questions, please contact Laurie O’Neill at biological.diversity@bbsrc.ukri.org