[Coral-List] Coral Reef Ecology Short Course

[Michael Sweet]

Dear Coral List



I am happy to announce that the University of Derby's international Coral Reef Ecology Course will be continuing next year. Dates for the course are from 9th to the 20th March, 2018.



The course has been running over the last four years and has proven to be extremely popular, welcoming students from all over the world. We spend 10 days based onthe community island of Faresmaathoda, part of Huvadhu Atoll in the Southern Maldives, taking a private speed boat to nearby secluded islands each day to conduct our work. You will get to explore a minimum of three different islands (not including Faresmaathoda) during your stay. These islands have high coral cover (despite the mass bleaching events which you will have heard about), but also have a diversity of habitat types including mangrove habitats and seagrass beds. If you would like to see our research station please visit the website http://smallislandlodge.com/the-lodge/lodge/.


On the course you will be taught a broad range of coral reef ecology including coral and fish taxonomy, field sampling techniques, the challenges that reefs are facing in the Anthropocene and the various ways in which conservationists are attempting to support coral populations. Furthermore, in the latter half of the course you will get to conduct your own research project.. Previous projects have involved coral health surveys, fish behavior projects, taxonomic indexing - the world is your oyster. You will be taught by yours truly - Associate Professor Michael Sweet http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=fsG_EBwAAAAJ and Dr Mark Bulling http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=RIEboVQAAAAJ&hl=en, who is an ecological statistician.. If you're not comfortable with the statistics program R (freely available at https://cran.r-project.org/), we will walk you through this and show you how to analyze your data.


The cost of the trip is £2500 (excluding international flights). If you are interested in the course please email me (Dr Sweet) on m.sweet at derby.ac.uk<mailto:m.sweet at derby.ac.uk> to secure your place. Booking will be done through the University of Derby's online shop and payment should be completed by January 2018 at the latest. The fees cover all your accommodation, national flights to the southern atoll, speed boat from the airport to our island, private boat transfer each day to the islands where we work, and three meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner). We also put on a BBQ on the beach and a dolphin cruise. You do not need to bring/spend any money once you arrive in the Maldives, but some do bring a few extra dollars for snacks from the local shops.



So to summarize, come and join us in the Maldives in March 2018 - to not only learn lots of exciting things about reef ecology and how to study it, but also (due to the international draw) you will have a great chance to network and meet other like-minded people in one of the most beautiful parts of the world.



Please note, at this time we are just gathering interest but if you email to ask to secure a place this is fine as well. We will only be able to run the course if we reach 10 interested parties and so I will not ask for funds until that number is reached.



Kind Regards

Dr Michael Sweet

Associate Professor in Aquatic Biology and Head of the Aquatic Research Facility
The Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
College of Life and Natural Sciences
University of Derby
DE22 1GB
UK

Tel: 01332592398
Mobile: 07895155968
Skype: m.j.sweet
Twitter: @DiseaseMatters



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