News about the INSECTS Network, This web site etc. will appear on this page. Please e-mail me at DRNash@bi.ku.dk if there's anything that you would like to contribute to this page. An archive of old news items can be found at this link.

I have now officially closed the vacancies and meetings pages page. From now on, all the information that would have appeared here can be found on the appropriate pages of the IUSSI British Section (which will continue to have international content, do not worry). The IUSSI British Section web site can be found at:

The Centre for Social Evolution (see below) has it's first Ph.D. fellowship available. Please see the vacancies page or the Centre for Social Evolution web site.

The new web site for the Centre for Social Evolution in Copenhagen is now up-and-running. This site will in time, and in conjunction with the IUSSI UK site, take over some of the functions of the INSECTS site. The web address is:

I have also added details of a research technician position available at the Institute of Zoology in London to the vacancies page.

I have added link sto the forthcoming IUSSI section meetings in Australia and Brazil to the meetings page, where I have also updated the information about the IUSSI international congress in 2006. The second announcement for the conference can also be downloaded directly from the meetings page.

Bob Vander Meer is looking for a postdoc to look at the chemical and behavioural interactions between fire ants and their phorid parasites. For more details, see the vacancies page.

Eamonn Mallon is looking for a technician to help with his project on parasites of bumble bees at the University of Leicester. For more details, see the vacancies page.

Apologies for the lack of recent updates - This is my field season, so they have to be added when I am not doing fieldwork.

Dave Queller and Joan Strassmann have an opening for a post doc to work on the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum; I have added details to the vacancies page.

Mark brown has a PhD position available to study bumblebee parasite-host ecology and evolution at Trinity College, Dublin, which I have added to the vacancies page.

The deadline for submission of abstracts for the forthcoming European sections IUSSI meeting in St. Petersburg has been extended to the 1^st July 2005. I have amended the meetings page accordingly.

I am very pleased to be able to announce that former INSECTS postdoc Patrizia D'Ettorre has now joined the social insect group in Copenhagen on a Marie Curie advanced fellowship. This means that she will be setting up her own research group under the acronym CODICES to investigate chemical communication codes in social insects. The CODICES web site, which is being maintained by Patrizia herself, is now on-line at the following address, if you would like to learn more:

Patrizia has an opening for a Ph.D. student as part of this project, details of which can be found on the vacancies page.

I am also very pleased to announce the establishment of a new Centre for Social Evolution in Copenhagen, funded by the Danish Natural Science Foundation. This will, we hope, be a major centre for social insect research in the coming years, and is scheduled to get under way in June 2005. As such it will continue the impetus in social insect research in Copenhagen built up during the INSECTS network.

The web site for the new Centre for Social Evolution can be found at:

I am about to embark on a three week vacation until the 10th May, so apologies in advance for the lack of updates and any lack of response to e-mail.

In the meantime, I have added an advertisement for a postdoc at the university of Georgia to the vacancies page.

I also received the following from Elena Lopatina.

Dear Colleague,

The Organising Committee of the Third European Congress on Social Insects which will take place in St. Petersburg State University from 22 to 27 August 2005 announces the Student Participation Grants Programme. All full-time students (undergraduate and postgraduate) are now eligible not only for a reduced registration fee but also for personal participation grants. You may found the details in an attached file as well as on the Congress website:

http://www.bio.pu.ru/win/entomol/Kipyatkov/iussi/2005/index.htm

Please, encourage your student colleagues to apply for the participation grants and to attend the Congress.

With the best wishes.

Elena Lopatina

The application forms may also be downloaded from the meetings page.

Four additions to the vacancies page today:

Theresa Wossler has sent me an advertisement for a Postdoc to work on cape honeybee social parasites at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

Eamonn Mallon has a BBSRC PhD studentship in evolutionary immunology at the University of Leicester, U.K., which is open to British residents.

Ben Oldroyd has sent me some information about the Endeavour Research Fellowships in Australia. While theses aren't confined to any particular subject area, they can provide a good opportunity to visit this country, which has many interesting social insect labs.

Giorgina Bernasconi has also sent me details of a postdoc in the chemical ecology in plant-insect interaction at the University of Rennes, France. While the insects involved are not social, there is sufficient interest in chemical ecology within the INSECTS network to post this vacancy here.

There are two PhD positions at the University of Lausanne, which I have added to the vacancies page.

I received the following message from Elena Lopatina:

Dear Colleague,

We are happy to inform you that the web-page of the Third European Congress on Social Insects which will take place in St. Petersburg University from 22 to 27 August 2005 is now working at:

http://www.bio.pu.ru/win/entomol/Kipyatkov/iussi/2005/index.htm

You may found there all current information on the congress. This web-page will be updated as new information on the congress becomes available.

With the best wishes.

Dr. Elena Lopatina
Congress Secretary
3rd European Congress on Social Insects
St. Petersburg, Russia, 22√27 August 2005

Department of Entomology, St. Petersburg State University
7/9 Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia.
E-mail: ECSI@yandex.ru
Tel: (+7) 812 3289679, (+7) 812 5347335
Fax: (+7) 812 3289703, (+7) 812 4277310

I have updated the meetings page accordingly.

Blaine Cole has sent details of two undergraduate summer research assistant positions at Houston, which I've added to the vacancies page. They are, however, only open to US citizens or permanent residents.

I've added a new vacancy for a senior entomologist with the USDA to the vacancies page, and the international beekeeping congress, to be held in Bangalore, India in November, to the meetings page.

The third announcement about the Third European Congress on Social Insects has just been released, and can be downloaded from the meetings page, along with the registration forms.

Another couple of vacancy announcements (they are coming thick and fast at the moment). Although neither of these is explicitly for social insect research, both Sydney and Helsinki have excellent social insect groups, so applications involving social insect projects would be most welcome.

• 18 postdoctoral fellowship (each 2 years) have been announced by the University of Helsinki
• Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Molecular Ecology, University of Sydney

I have added three new vacancies to the vacancies page:

• A postdoctoral position to work on the cellular basis of memory and learning in honey bees at the CNRS, University of Paul Sabatier, France.
• A PhD fellowship to work on termite behavioural ecology and population genetics at Regensburg, Germany
• A PhD studentship to work on kin discrimination in the polygynous ant Leptothorax acervorum at the Institute of Zoology, London.

The details of "Ant Course 2005", organized by the California Academy of Sciences have been released, and have been added to the meetings page.

Anne-Geneviève Bagnères has sent me details of a position for an experienced postdoc (i.e. with several years of postdoctoral research behind them) available to work on European Reticulotermes termites at the University of Tours, France.

I have also been sent details of a postdoc looking at pollinator-plant coevolution at the university of Cambridge.

Details of both these vacancies can be found on the vacancies page.

I have moved the news articles from 2003 to the "old news" page (available here).

Last, but not least, Estelle Roux has sent me some more pictures from the closing symposium in Helsingør last September, which can now be found on the symposium site.

Patrizia D'Ettore has two positions available for a new research project on Chemical Communication Codes in Social Insects, to be carried out in Copenhagen. I have added details of these (one postdoc and one PhD position) to the vacancies page.

Ken Ross has sent me details of an Assistant Professorship position at the University of Georgia, which I've added to the vacancies page. The closing date for applications is 1 February, so sorry for the short notice.

I have received the following message about a Myrmecological Workshop to be held in the Czech republic. The first announcement can be downloaded from the meetings page or here. The closing date for registration is the 15th February.

Jan Frouz

Blaine Cole has sent me details of the postdoc at the University of Houston in Texas, which I've added to the vacancies page.

A Happy New Year to one and all

The INSECTS network has officially come to an end now, although these pages will remain on line for the forseeable future. I will probably try to make some sort of summary pages for the achievements of the network, and keep on on-line archive of other material. The Vacancies and Meetings pages will continue to function as before, but will quite soon find a new home on the IUSSI British Section web site, which I also maintain. INSECTSmail will also continue to operate, but will also link to IUSSI rather than INSECTS web pages.

In the meantime, Riitta Savolainen has sent me details of two four-year PhD positions available to study the systematics and evolution of Myrmica ants. Details have been added to the vacancies page.

I have added yet more photographs from the Helsingør closing meeting to the symposium site, this time courtesy of Patrizia D'Ettore and Alain Lenoir.

I have received some information about the fothcoming IUSSI German section meeting from Robin Moritz, which I've added to the meetings page:

The meeting of the German section of the IUSSI will be held in Halle from March 16 -18 2005. Registration can be done online at

http://www.biologie.uni-halle.de/zool/mol_ecol/iussi.html

presentations will be primarily in English.

Those interested in honeybee biology and apiculture are welcome to participate at the meeting of the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Institute für Bienenforschung", which will be just before the IUSSI meeting in Halle from March 14 -16 2005. Presentations are welcomed in English but conference language is still primarily German.

Best regards

Robin

I have also received word from Bettina Maccagnani, the new webmaster for the Italian section of the IUSSI that the section has a new web page. Among other things, details can be found here of the section meeting to be held in February 2005:

www.aisasp.unibo.it

Anne-Geneviève Bagnères has sent me details of a lectureship in Evolutionary and Popultion Biology, particularly geared towards social insect evolutionary genetics, which will be available at the University of Tours in 2005. Please see the vacancies page.

The Firenze group has a new web site. I have updated the laboratories page accordingy.

Dear All,

I have now left sunny Sheffield for the warmer climes of central France. I am now a teaching assistant (ATER) in Tours, also working on subterranean termites.

Just in case you need it my new e-mail is nicolas.chaline@univ-tours.fr

adress:
IRBI
Faculte des Sciences
Parc Grandmont
Avenue Monge
37200 Tours
France

Best wishes

Nic

I've added more photographs from the Helsingør meeting to the symposium web site.

Robin Moritz has let me know that the next meeting of the German speaking section of the IUSSI will be in Halle from the 16th to 18th March 2004. I have added this to the meetings page.

He also has a PhD position available to study bumble bee population genetics, which I've added to the vacancies page.

I have finally found time to post some (quite a few, actually) pictures from the INSECTS closing symposium on the symposium web site.

Bill Wcislo has asked me to post two 5-year research vacancies at STRI on the vacancies page. While not specifically social-insect oriented, I think they may be of interest to many of us.

I have updated the meetings page with information about a couple of forthcoming IUSSI section meetings. Please also note that the deadline for submission of symposium proposals for the next international IUSSI meeting in Washington DC has been extended to 1 November 2004.

The closing symposium of the INSECTS network took pace in Helsingør over the last weekend, and from all the feedback I've received so far it was our best meeting yet. Some pictures from the meeting are available on the symposium web site.

Over the next few months I will now have to decide how this web site will develop as the network winds down to its conclusion and beyond.

The more-or-less final programme for the INSECTS closing symposium is now on-line. See the symposium web site.

Theresa Wossler has sent me details of a Postdoc position available at the University of Stellenbosch, which I have added to the vacancies page.

Anna Dornhaus has sent me details of a Postdoc position available at the University of Bristol, which I have added to the vacancies page.

Registration for the closing symposium has now closed.

I've added details of two PhD positions to the vacancies page; one at Lausanne working with ant genomics, one at Regensburg, working with ant chemical ecology.

We have been able to extend the payment deadline for the Helsingør meeting until the 15 July 2004 - I have updated the symposium pages accordingly.

There is some work going on on our mail servers for the next couple of days, which may affect e-mail communication. Everything should be back to normal by Sunday.

Christiane Courant has sent me an advertisement for a postdoctoral research position at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. This position is to work in the group investigating the molecular basis of sex determination in the honeybee. Details of the position can be found on the vacancies page.

I have added a new "News" page to the Helsingør meeting site, where I can post updates about the planning and scheming that is going on behind the scenes...

Mark Brown has sent me an advertisement for a PhD position on "Impacts of exotic plants on native plant-pollinator mutualisms", which I've added to the vacancies page. The deadline for applications is 30 June 2004.

The number of registrants for the closing symposium is now 140; Don't forget that registration for those wishing to give a poster, or those who want to attend without presenting anything is open until the 25 June.

Vladilen Kipyatkov, organizer of the next European IUSSI meeting is now asking for symposium topics. The information appears below, and can also be downloaded as a PDF file here and from the meetings page:

Call for Symposia Topics
III European Congress on Social Insects
(Meeting of European Sections of the IUSSI)
21 – 26 August 2005
St. Petersburg, Russia

Dear Colleagues,

The Organising Committee of the 3rd European Congress on Social Insects which is to be held in St. Petersburg State University from 21 to 26 August 2005 calls for the proposals for symposia from all members of the IUSSI. Suggestions for Plenary speakers will also be appreciated.

Proposals must include organiser(s) name(s), address and e-mail, and the symposium topic or title plus 2–3 possible speakers. More detailed information will be requested directly from the organiser(s) at a later date.

Please send proposals to Vladilen E. Kipyatkov, Department of Entomology, St. Petersburg University, 7/9 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, 199034, RUSSIA.E-Mail: vk@vk1280.spb.edu; Fax: (+7) 812 3289703; Tel: (+7) 812 3289679.

With the best regards.

Prof. Vladilen E. Kipyatkov
President of the Russian Language Section of the IUSSI

I've also received the final announcement for the meeting of the French-speaking section of the IUSSI in September this year. This includes the registration form for the meeting, and can be downloaded here, or from the meetings page.

I closed abstract submission for talks the Helsingør closing symposium this morning. Poster abstract submission will be available right up to the close of registration on the 25 June.

So far we have had about 120 registrants, which should mean that we will be able to put together a very interesting programme...

I've added a page with photographs from the Tvärminne grant-writing workshop.

I've posted three vacancies for positions at the University of Munich on the vacancies page. Susanne Foitzik will be moving there in July and establishing a new Social Insect lab, for which she is recruiting.

I've also added some information about the next meeting of the European Society of Evolutionary Biology to be held in August 2005 to the meetings page. They are currently soliciting proposals for symposia, the deadline for which is 31 July 2004. The call for symposium proposals can be downloaded from the meetings page.

I've just returned from a fortnight abroad, to find information about several IUSSI congresses waiting for me. I've updated the meetings page accordingly. In particular the dates of the next European and World congresses of he IUSSI have been finalized, and both are at the stage where they are seeking symposium organizers:

3rd European Congress on Social Insects

Vladilen Kipyatkov writes:

Dear Colleagues,

The Russian Language Section of the IUSSI confirms that the organisation of the next conference of the European IUSSI sections in 2005 in St. Petersburg is in progress now. Following the tradition started in 1991 when the "First European Congress on Social Insects" has been organised by Dr. J. Billen in Leuven, Belgium, we would prefer to name our meeting the "Third European Congress on Social Insects". The dates proposed for the meeting are from 21 to 26 August 2005. The choice of this period was mostly determined by the fact that the academic year in Russia starts on the 1st September. Thus, the University are able to grant its facilities to the meeting only before this date.

It is now time to work out the details of the meeting. We need to organise the International Program Committee, to compose the list of invited speakers and the list of symposia. We invite you and your section to take your part of responsibility for the scientific organisation of the meeting.

Please, help us to distribute this information among all members of the IUSSI. We would be also grateful for any suggestion concerning the Congress, e.g. the members of the International Program Committee, names of the invited speakers, symposia and session topics, themes to discuss, publication of the proceedings, etc.

With the best regards

Prof. Vladilen E. Kipyatkov
President of the Russian Language Section of the IUSSI

E-MAIL: vk@VK1280.spb.edu
Web Page: http://www.bio.pu.ru/win/entomol/Kipyatkov/index.htm

Department of Entomology, St. Petersburg University,
7/9 Universitetskaya emb., St. Petersburg, 199034, RUSSIA.
Fax: (+7) 812 3289703
Tel: (+7) 812 3289679
Home: (+7) 812 5347335

XV International Congress of the IUSSI - Call for Symposia Topics

July 30 – August 4, 2006
Washington, DC, USA

Proposals for symposia for the XV International Congress of IUSSI are now being solicited from all members of the IUSSI. Suggestions for Plenary speakers will also be accepted.

Proposals must include organizer(s) name, address, e-mail, phone and FAX number, and the symposium topic or title plus 3-4 possible speakers. More detailed information will be requested directly from the organizer(s) at a later date.

Please send proposals to Walter R. Tschinkel, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA, 32306-3050, 850-644-0481 FAX, tschinkel@bio.fsu.edu

Deadline for submission of initial information is June 30, 2004

The Tvärminne grant-writing workshop is now over, and once again it was an great success ('though I suppose we'll only know just how successful after the next round of grant applications...)

We currently hope to open registration for the Helsingør symposium on the 1st April, and will extend the closing date for registration beyond that which was originally announced. I have updated the details on the symposium site accordingly.

I have also updated the page for the Tvärminne workshop to give more details for participants.

There are still a few things to be ironed out for registration for the Helsingør meeting, but I hope it will open soon (maybe 1st April is a realistic date, but it's in the hands of our finance department at the moment).

In the meantime, I, and the others in Copenhagen, have new e-mail addresses: "zi" has been replaced with "bi" as a result of the merger of the zoological institute with the botanical institute to form the biological institute. The old e-mail addresses will, however, continue to work for quite some time, the address of the INSECTS web site should be unaffected.

My new e-mail address is: DRNash@bi.ku.dk

There are also currently some problems with the visit counter on the INSECTS home page - I'll try to deal with them when I work out what's gone wrong...

Registration for the Tvärminne grant-writing workshop is now officially closed. There my be a few last-minute places available; if you are interested, please e-mail me at DRNash@bi.ku.dk.

I was hoping to have the registration page for the Helsingør meeting up-and-running today, but we still haven't been able to finalize payment methods (Our bank wants to take a 6.25% fee for handling credit cards, which is excessive in my opinion). I hope to have the registration open in the next couple of weeks, when we've worked out the best way of collecting registration fees.

I've added an advertisement for a six-year postdoc in Chiapas, Mexico, examining tropical bee phylogeny and population genetics to the vacancies page.

Registration for the Tvärminne grant-writing workshop is now open, and is being handled by a dedicated web page on this site. Once participants have registered, they will be sent invoices for the cost of the meeting. The exact cost will depend on the number of participants, but the current estimate is €255.

The official registration page for the Tvärminne grant-writing workshop should be up and running in the next few days (We are having some electrical work done in the department in Copenhagen at the moment, which is making this rather less straightforward than usual!). In the meantime, I've made some minor updates to the program for the meeting.

I've added two advertisements for Postdoctoral positions to the vacancies page:

1. A position available for a foreign (ie. non-French) experienced researcher to work on European termites at the University of Tours
2. A position open to work on many interesting aspects of social insect biology at Georgia Institute of Technology.

I've also added information about two bee-related meetings to be held this year in Brazil to the meetings page.

Birgit Schlick-Steiner & Florian Steiner have asked me to distribute the following information about the relaunch of the publication "Myrmecologische Nachrichten / Myrmecological News"

Dear David!

May we inform you on the relaunch of the journal „Myrmecologische Nachrichten / Myrmecological News“? The relaunch includes broadening of the scope, streamlining of the reviewing process, and the formation of an Advisory Board consisting of reknown myrmecologists.

We would like to invite you to choose this journal as a publication organ! For details, please take a look at the attachment.

Sincerely

Stefan Schoedl & Herbert Zettel, Birgit Schlick-Steiner & Florian Steiner

The attached PDF file, which gives details of the publication and instructions for authors, may be downloaded here:

Happy New Year to everyone!

Sophie Armitage has now started as the INSECTS postdoc in Copenhagen, and is already busy dealing with Danish red tape while getting to grips with fungus-growing ants at the same time. We're all looking forward to working with her for the next year, and hope that she'll succeed in her aim of getting a personal fellowship to stay on in Copenhagen after the end of the INSECTS network.

I've updated the pages for both the Tvärminne grant-writing workshop and the Helsingør closing symposium giving much more detail and provisional programs for both events. Formal registration for the Tvärminne workshop will open soon (all those who have expressed an interest so far should be able to come), and we plan to open registration for the closing symposium on the 1st March 2004.

I've also updated the Meetings page with information about some additional forthcoming meetings.