The INSECTS network held various meetings for both coordination and training throughout the period 2001-2004. Below is a summary of the meetings that took place in the network, linke to pages that will give more information about that meeting.
Granada, Spain. 16-22 April 2001
The first INSECTS meeting combined the first network symposium and the first training workshop, on ant biodiversity, and was held at the University of Granada , Spain in the week following Easter 2001, kindly hosted by Alberto Tinaut. More details and pictures from this meeting can be found on this page.
Great Hucklow, UK. 14-18 September 2001
Mathematical modelling of social behaviour (Training workshop)
The results of the post-workshop questionnaire are available from this page. If anyone wants to get copies of the teaching materials from this meeting, please contact David Nash.
Firenze, Italy. 15-17 December 2001
Chemical analysis(Training workshop)
Everything you wanted to know about chemistry but never dared to ask
More details of the workshop, including details of the synthesized chemicals available from the Keele group can be found on this page,
Leuven, Belgium. 29 June - 1 July 2002
Morphological and Histological techniques (training workshop)
The workshop was organized by Prof. Johan Billen from Leuven, and covered the theory as well as practice of the various steps in tissue preparation for morphological and histological analysis. A page with photographs from the meeting can be found here.
Zürich, Switzerland. 1-3 November 2002
Parasites and Immunology (training workshop)
The meeting was organized by Prof. Paul Schmid-Hempel from Zürich, and covered practical aspects of detecting and measuring parasite infection of social insects, and their immunological response. A page with group photographs from the meeting can be found here.
If you would like a copy of the DVD of techniques produced for the workshop, please contact David Nash or Eamonn Mallon.
Laufen, Germany. 28-31 March 2003
The Economy of Social Organization (Symposium and Mid-term review meeting)
The theme of the symposium, The Economy of Social Organization, was close to the network title, but not restricted to social insects. There was a special Sunday afternoon session with two distinguished guests from different fields: Prof. Martin Middendorf, Leipzig (talking about ant-inspired computer algorithms) and Prof. Ernst Fehr, Zürich (talking about altruistic punishment in humans).
A page with some photographs from the meeting can be found here
Lausanne, Switzerland. 20-22 September 2003
Genomics (training workshop)
An introduction to the rapidly growing field of genomics. This meeting followed on directly from the two-day Lausanne Genomics Days meeting.
Helsinki (Tvärminne field station), Finland. 14-18 April 2004
How to initiate and manage projects: Grant-writing workshop
The workshop concentrated on effective grant-writing techniques, based on experience gained with EU and other grants by members of the INSECTS network and invited external experts. The workshop provided hands-on grant-writing training for finishing PhD students and early-career postdocs, as well as useful training in grant application assessment proceedures.
A web page with relevant links and photographs from the meeting is available here.
Helsingør, Denmark. 2-6 September 2004
Integrated Studies of Social Evolution (closing symposium)
The closing symposium of the INSECTS network was a focal point for European Social Insect research, building on the links established to other disciplines throughout the life of the network.
Coordination meetings
Coordination meetings of group-leaders and postdocs took place during other relevant meetings. In 2001, the meeting of the European Sections of the IUSSI in Berlin ( 25-29 September 2001) provided an ideal opportunity for such a meeting. Another golden opportunity that was exploited for this purpose was the XIV International Congress of the IUSSI in Sapporo, Japan (28 July to 3 August 2002)
Please see http://www.zi.ku.dk/iussi/ from now on