Being President
SCB Europe Section Board at ECCB2018
I have served as
President-elect and President of the Europe Section of the Society for
Conservation Biology (SCB) since 2015. My term will now end by December 2020.
The term “President” may sound prestigious and demanding, but in practice, more
represent being a coordinator and having oversight of the activities of the
Section. With an active Board composed of dedicated persons, it is not a
difficult task. It is enjoyable and provide opportunities to interact with many
of the core conservation scientists active in Europe. Further, as Section
Presidents also holds positions on the global Board of Governors of SCB, it provide
contacts with the worldwide community of conservation scientists from many sub-disciplines.
Personally, this has expanded my understanding on global conservation
challenges enormously and played a significant role in my personal development
as a researcher. It has been a rare opportunity and I congratulate whoever will
take over my position.
In practice, the work
being President means to plan and lead Board meetings, maintain contacts with Section
committees, together with the treasurer provide oversight of the Section budget
and spending’s, and as said, serve on the global Board of Governors. One of the
main Section activities are the European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB),
which we arrange every third year. The next ECCB will take place in Prague,
August 2021. The planning for this major event is on track with a local
organization committee with good experience in holding conferences. Other
important activities relate to our annual Summer School in European
Conservation Biology and the various awards that we provide to students as well
as to more senior scientist. An exciting development is that we are well
underway to establish the Section as European legal entity and hence move to a
more independent relation to global SCB. We strongly believe that fundraising
will be easier with a European account compared to asking sponsor to send their
support overseas to USA. A target with this move is also to allow us to establish
an SCB office within Europe.
Admittedly, we have
had problems of recruiting a new President to the Section. When I became President-elect,
we had a system of serving first three years as President-elect, followed by
three years as President. In late 2017, we had election for President-elect but
failed to get any nominee for the position. The Board had serious discussion
and decided to change the system to a 1+3 years term, with the hope that it
would be easier to recruit if the time commitment became shorter. It was hence
a disappointment when we in the election for 2020 again failed to get any
nomination for the position. For that reason, we will now have to open another election
for the President position, with the aim to have a President-elect during parts
of 2020. This will allow a transition period and a chance for the new President
to follow the work of the Board for some time before taking over the leadership
of the Section. It is my sincere hope that we will be more successful this
time!
Yes, being President represent
work, but it is fun, rewarding and a unique opportunity to expand you
professional network. The Europe Section play an important role to promote
conservation within Europe, a role that matters and contribute towards the
society’s mission to “To advance the science and practice of conserving Earth’s
biological diversity”. So please consider this opportunity and run for being
the next SCB Europe Section President!
Bengt Gunnar Jonsson
Current SCB Europe Section President
Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden
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