The INSECTS network is a Research Training Network, and shares the aims common to all such networks:
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The INSECTS network is based on fundamental research on insect societies carried out by its participating laboratories. Each of these laboratories has been chosen because it is a world leader in research related to social insects. Collectively, the Participants have expertise in a wide range of disciplines (including behaviour, ecology, genetics, mathematical biology, morphology, organic chemistry, parasitology), technologies (DNA analysis, gas-chromatography, mass-spectrometry, microscopy, modelling hardware and software) and social insect model systems (ants, bees, wasps). Many of the techniques needed for INSECTS were developed in successful collaborations in the TMR network "Social Evolution".
The INSECTS network will last four years and will aim to realise 290 months of postdoctoral employment by appointing postdocs for a total of 3 years to each of the eight Participant laboratories. INSECTS will offer general training via symposia and specialised training via workshops. In addition, it is planned that each postdoc will carry out at least four months of secondment, including visits to other network laboratories and industry partners.
Network symposia
These are yearly meetings of 3-4 days with the objectives to:
- Let all network Participants meet and exchange ideas through presentation of their research through talks and posters.
- Allow combined planning and business meetings of all group leaders.
- Invite a limited number of distinguished guest speakers from interdisciplinary fields outside the network.
- Exchange new ideas through formal and informal discussions and initiate new collaborative projects.
- Provide a limited number of places for participation of European PhD students working on social insects, who are not in network groups.
Network postdocs are expected to give talks at these symposia and before each symposium time will be reserved in their respective research groups to give them special supervision in the preparation of their presentations. Network postdocs will also be encouraged to attend relevant meetings and conferences not organised by the network.
Training workshops
These are 3-4 day meetings designed to give specialised instruction to small groups. The choice of workshops to attend will depend on the type of training that network postdocs (and others in the network) need and want to obtain. The program includes some workshops designed to give participants a broader knowledge of social insects, while others will give specific technical skills. In the final year of the network we have included a workshop providing complementary skills relevant to a career in both science and industry. Planned workshop themes are:
- Ant biodiversity
- Mathematical modelling
- Genetic techniques
- Chemical analysis
- Apiculture 1, bumble bees
- Apiculture 2, honey bees
- Morphological and histological techniques
- Pathology and microbial techniques
- How to initiate and manage projects
Further details of both network symposia and training workshops can be found on the network meetings page.
Secondment
Each postdoc program will include secondments, either a single long visit or several shorter visits to other groups, including the possibility of visits to industry links. There are two objectives
- To enable postdocs to work with equipment (e.g., GC-MS, automatic DNA sequencers), social insect model systems, or techniques (e.g., mathematical modelling) necessary for their interdisciplinary research and training.
- To allow postdocs to be mentored by more than one group leader, work with a wider range of colleagues and become familiar with the working methods in different universities and countries.
 | INSECTS has eight Participants and three subcontractors, covering seven European countries. These laboratories have different expertise and access to different, but complementary facilities. Linking of these laboratories in a research network allows the transfer of knowledge and skills which would otherwise be far more difficult and indirect. Specific network aims are:
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The acronym INSECTS stands for INTEGRATED STUDIES OF THE ECONOMY OF INSECT SOCIETIES, which defines its specific aims:
Integrated Studies
The INSECTS network will carry out interdisciplinary research on insect societies using biological, chemical and mathematical methods. The aim of the network is to set new trends in the investigation of the economy and integration of insect societies in three areas.
- CHALLENGES: How insect societies cope with challenges caused by factors such as internal conflict, competitors, parasites, waste.
- SYNERGISMS: How synergistic advantages of social life arise in areas such as reliability, work organisation, farming, husbandry.
- INFORMATION: Why insect societies maintain a diversity of communication systems; how these communication systems vary in societies of different size and ecology; how they promote social integration and reduce conflict.
The Economy of Insect Societies
 | The aims of INSECTS are inspired by parallels between insects and humans, which face similar problems as their societies increase in size, complexity and level of integration. Societies, whether human or insect, function according to economic principles. Their prosperity and continued survival depends on the acquisition of resources and on the processing of these into the goods and services required to satisfy the needs of the individuals in the society. Within societies individuals both cooperate and conflict with each other. Cooperation arises because of the shared need for the society to survive and the added efficiency of working together, and requires information transfer to integrate and coordinate the activities of individuals. Conflict arises because the interests of individuals are not always identical. |
| Of course there are also major differences between human and insect societies. In human societies, laws are culturally determined, individuals are educated to play a useful social role, and information is transmitted predominantly by spoken and written language and can be stored. In insect societies, the laws are shaped by natural selection, individuals instinctively play one of a number of stereotypical roles, and information is transmitted by pheromones and dances and cannot be stored. Human societies are relatively recent, while insect societies first evolved over one hundred million years ago. Natural variation and selection have led to many different kinds of insect society, each of which is successful in its own ecological context. As in human societies, the size of insect societies varies enormously, from just a few individuals to tens of millions. Over time, insect societies have independently "invented" many of the characteristics of human society: complex building (many ants, bees, wasps and termites build elaborate nests), cultivation of crops (some ants and termites grow fungi for food), animal husbandry (many ant species milk aphids), processing of food into stable long-term stores (honey bees, seed-collecting ants), slave-raiding and warfare (some ants) and social parasitism (many ants, bees and wasps). Again, as with human society, insect societies dominate many terrestrial ecosystems both by their sheer numbers and the diverse resources they utilise (prey, carrion, pollen, nectar, leaves, seeds and cellulose). The success of insect societies sometimes brings them into conflict with human societies (wood eating termites, pest ants, African honey bees, wasps introduced in New Zealand). But of equal importance, social insects are also managed for man's benefit. In the United States alone, honey bees pollinate crops worth $5-10 billion dollars per year and produce honey worth $200 million. Recently, new uses have been developed for managing bumble bees which, together with honey bees, play a vital part in Europe's glasshouse industry. Understanding how insect colonies function as successful integrated economies is important for:
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