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Program > Courses (Monday)Training Courses Training courses focus on practical applications and professional development, and are intended to impart specific knowledge, skills, or methodologies. Training courses will be held prior to the start of the conference on Monday 24 August and will generally run for one full day (e.g. from 09:00-17:00).
The participation is subject to additional registration fees (50 euros)
Course 1 - Computer Simulation of Socio-Ecological Systems to Support Ecological Restoration Coordinator(s): Dr.Sebastian Fiedler (Plant Ecology Department, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany) Understanding and predicting how ecosystems respond to restoration interventions requires tools capable of capturing the complex interactions between ecological processes, human decisions, and a changing environment. This one-day practical training course introduces participants to socio-ecological simulation models, with a focus on agent-based approaches increasingly used to support restoration planning. Agent-based models simulate individual organisms, people, or landscape elements and the local interactions that give rise to system-level patterns. Such models can, for example, help assess how different plant species selected for restoration may influence long-term ecosystem services—such as carbon storage, soil stability, or pollinator support—under changing climate conditions. Participants will be introduced to the basics of building, running, and interpreting simple socio-ecological models using the open-source software NetLogo. No prior modelling or programming experience is required. Through guided exercises, attendees will use and further develop a basic model, experiment with restoration-relevant scenarios, and discuss how simulation models can complement empirical data and stakeholder knowledge. The training course is designed for practitioners, students, and researchers who want to better understand how socio-ecological models work, how to use them effectively—including their strengths and limitations—and how to begin developing simple models to support ecological restoration. Open to everyone, but mostly students and researchers, full day
Course 2 - The ecological restoration game: a group activity for education and community engagement to develop, simulate, and present a restoration plan Coordinator(s): Simone Pedrini (School of molecular and life science, Curtin university, 6102, Bentley, Western Australia) The ecological restoration game is a group activity in which teams of 1 to 6 players develop a fictional restoration plan. This training is aimed at academics or practitioners seeking effective ways to engage students or communities to promote and improve understanding of the principles and practice of restoration in a fun and engaging way. Open to everyone, full day
Course 3 - Direct Seed Harvest for Ecological Restoration of Grasslands – A guide to efficiently making available native seeds of local provenance Coordinator(s): Daniel Slodowicz (HoloSem) Explore the vital process of direct seed harvest for restoring grasslands in this comprehensive course. Covering topics from donor site selection to post-harvest seed processing, participants will gain insights into various harvesting techniques and explore marketing and regulatory aspects. Led by Daniel Slodowicz, a seasoned expert with both scientific and practical experience, this course bridges the gap between science and practice. Ideal for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers involved or interested in grassland restoration by propagules transfer, with botanical knowledge recommended but not mandatory. This course is structured into three parts: 1) An introduction to the topic and a theoretical overview; 2) a demonstration in the field involving an exemplary harvest using a brush harvester; and Open to everyone, full day
Course 4 - Adaptive Restoration planning using DSS-AWERE Coordinator(s): Luis Santamaría (Doñana Biological Station EBD-CSIC, Spain), Jaime Amezaga (School of Engineering, Newcastle University, UK), Maria Belenguer-Manzanedo (Doñana Biological Station EBD-CSIC, Spain). Ecological Restoration is an extraordinarily challenging activity, which may face numerous uncertainties arising from the complex nature of socio-ecosystems and the unpredictable nature of anthropogenic drivers, including the impacts of climate change. Adaptive co-Management provides a proven framework to facilitate the collaborative design of such complex interventions, and refine their performance through learning-by-doing iterations. In this course, we will use an in-hands approach to exemplify the design of an Adaptive Restoration strategy through a series of practical exercises, preceded by brief theoretical units and structured by the used of an innovative online tool for wetland restoration, the Decision Support System DSS-AWERE. The objectives of the course are: (1) To understand the potential of Collaborative Adaptive Management (coGA) as a methodological framework for restoring ecosystems in the context of global change. (2) To become familiar with the interdisciplinary conceptual framework on which coGA is based. (3) To learn basic techniques of participation, facilitation, and group modeling necessary to apply this management framework. (4) To establish links with long-term monitoring and citizen science initiatives, and with the national and European policies for which coGA is most relevant. Open to everyone, full day |
