June 2011 NUI Galway Hosts Botanical Society of the British Isles Annual Meeting

The Discipline of Botany & Plant Science at NUI Galway will host the 2011 annual meeting of the Botanical Society of the British Isles, which will run from 18 to 21 June. This is the first time the meeting has been held in Galway and only the second time in Ireland in the Society’s 175 year history.

The meeting is aimed at both academic and amateur botanists from throughout Britain and Ireland and will consist of the AGM and a variety of talks by leading experts. The 2011 meeting is taking place in Galway due to its close proximity to some of the best botanical regions in Ireland, including the Burren, Connemara and the Aran Islands. Day excursions to each of these will follow the meeting, led by local botanist experts.

Founded in 1836, the Botanical Society of the British Isles is the leading society in Britain and Ireland for the study of our native flora, its distribution and taxonomy and has a membership of over 2,000.

Keynote speakers will include: Dr Karen Molloy, NUI Galway Senior Researcher, who will deliver a talk on vegetation change and land-use history in the West of Ireland; Dr Sharon Parr, Burren Farming for Conservation Programme and John Conaghan, Ecological Consultant, will speak about the Burren and Connemara flora; and Dr Matthew Jebb, Director of the National Botanic Gardens, will deliver his talk on Irish archaeophytes (ancient plant introductions).

Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, Conference Organiser and Lecturer with the Discipline of Botany & Plant Science at NUI Galway, said: “It will surely be the first time so many botanists will be seen out botanising together anywhere in Ireland. They are coming because Galway is the gateway to three of the best botanical sites in Ireland and Britain. The interest is so large that we have had to divide them into three separate tours of the Burren and Connemara, with delegates all meeting in Carron, Co. Clare and Roundstone, Connemara for an evening meal.”

For a full schedule visit http://www.bsbi.org.uk/meetings.html#Galway. Registration is now closed.