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ISN September 2020 Newsletter International Society for Neuroethology Newsletter/September 2020 March 2011 International Society for Neuroethology PHONE: +1-785-843-1235 P.O. Box 1897 (or 1-800-627-0629 Ext. 233) Lawrence, KS 66044, USA FAX: +1-785-843-1274 Website: http://neuroethology.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/neuroethology/ E-mail: [email protected] ISN Officers THIS ISSUE FEATURES President: Eric Warrant, Department of Biology, Lund President’s Column by Eric Warrant University, Biology Building, Sölvegatan 35 Staying Involved During the Pandemic by Miriam Henze 223 62 Lund, Sweden and Sara Wasserman Lori Dajose PHONE: +46 46 222 93 41 Remembering Mark Konishi by Konishi Award Report by Torben Stemme E-mail: [email protected] Revisiting Charles Henry Turner in Times of Change by Martin Giurfa and Gabriela de Brito Sanchez Treasurer: Mark Bee, Department of Ecology, Inclusion and Diversity Committee: Call for members Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 140 Gortner Laboratory, 1479 Gortner Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108 USA PHONE: +1-612-624-6749 The Prez Sez E-mail: [email protected] Eric Warrant President of the ISN Secretary: Gabriella Wolff, Department of Biology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195-1800 USA E-mail: [email protected] Past-President: Catharine Rankin, Department of Psychology, Kenny Room 3525 – 2136 West Mall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4 PHONE: +1-604-822-5449 FAX: +1-604-822-7299 E-mail: [email protected] Hello everyone! President-Elect: Karen Mesce, Department of Entomology and Graduate Program in Neuroscience, It is a very strange feeling indeed knowing that I should University of Minnesota, 219 Hodson Hall, 1980 Folwell have met so many of you only a month ago in Lisbon, Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108 USA at what would have been our fantastic Congress. I guess PHONE: +1-612-624-3734 FAX: +1-612-625-5299 for you, like for me, this summer has not been quite E-mail: [email protected] what we expected half a year ago. The world is now a very different place because of COVID-19. But while having to postpone our congress was a major upheaval for the society, it is nothing compared to the upheavals experienced by so many who have lost loved ones, lost the University of Würzburg, Angie Salles, from Johns their livelihoods or lost physical contact with relatives and Hopkins University and Rickesh Patel from the friends due to lockdown restrictions. As an international University of Maryland. To compensate for the fact that society, our members live across the globe and the impact our Young Investigators this year missed presenting their of the virus has varied greatly from country to country. I work at our dedicated session at the Lisbon congress, we do hope sincerely that its impact on you and your family are currently making plans to have an online Young has been minimal. Investigator symposium later in the year. We will spread the word to everyone as soon as the details are fixed. Our As the old adage goes, “Necessity is the mother of Konishi Neuroethology Research Awards were won by invention”. So I think for me personally, one of the more Zahra Bagheri (University of Western Australia), Maria positive results of our current crisis is the realisation that Sotelo (University of Michigan) and Juan Salazar meeting together online, while no substitute for the real (University of Chile). This year we also awarded six thing, is nonetheless remarkably effective (and can teach Heiligenberg Student Travel Awards: Payel Chatterjee us lessons about how to reduce the need to travel for less (NCBS, Bangalore), Megan Freiler (Indiana University), important meetings, which is good not only for our planet, Lily Fogg (University of Queensland), Lukas Anneser but also for reducing stress). I have been incredibly (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research), Clarice impressed by the grassroots initiatives by society Biebold (Johns Hopkins University) and Maitri members to organise symposia online to boost morale and Manjunath (NCBS, Bangalore). My heartiest to give (especially) our younger members the vital format congratulations, on behalf of your society, to all of you! needed to present their work and get feedback from their peers. Sharing our science with each other has always And while we are on the topic of congratulations, it is my been the bedrock of our existence and our modern immense pleasure to announce this year’s ISN Fellows, technologies have allowed this to happen, despite these elected from the nominations of our members. Being darkest of days. I suspect I am not alone in wondering elected as Fellow of the ISN is our most prestigious how we would have managed if COVID had hit us 30 honour, and this year sees the election of two highly years ago. So last month I had the pleasure of participating distinguished neuroethologists – Susan Fahrbach from in an ISN-sponsored two-day symposium on Insect Wake Forest University and Hans-Ulrich (Uli) Navigation organised by Barbara Webb, Paul Graham Schnitzler from the University of Tübingen. Susan is and Ajay Narendra, which I am happy to report was an renowned for her work elucidating the mechanisms of outstanding event, and a roaring success! I was really neural plasticity in honey bees, and she served as ISN impressed how well a poster session can work online and Secretary from 2012-2018. Uli was a founding member of how easy it was to interact with other attendees. It was not the society, and is famous for unravelling the fundamental trivial to juggle talks and posters over all the time zones auditory principles used by echolocating bats to localise of the world, but they did a great job. The two first prize and intercept insect prey. Congratulations for your well- winners for talks and posters (Charlotte Doussot and Léo deserved elections as Fellows! Clement) each received a two-year membership of the society, and all winners – including the second prize And finally, in a year already marred by natural disasters winners Tu Anh Nguyen Thi and Rochelle Meah – and COVID-19, decades of racial discrimination boiled received a copy of Rudiger Wehner’s magnificent new over in the United States following the dreadful murder book Desert Navigator, the sumptuous tale of his many of George Floyd. The seismic events that followed were decades of work studying the navigational toolbox of the felt around the world, stopping all of us to reflect on the desert ant Cataglyphis. Our two Early Career presence of systemic racism within every level of society, Representatives – Miriam Henze and Sara Wasserman including our academic institutions. Many of us are the – have complied a list of other online events that will be products of a system tipped in our favour, even though we of interest to many of us. You can see their suggestions may not actually have realised it. The present awakening, later in this newsletter. to redress the wrongs of the past, is thus a call to action for all of us, your society included. While generating real Despite COVID, the last few months have been incredibly and meaningful change takes time, and even though the busy ones for the society. Firstly, our dedicated ISN has long strived to increase diversity and inclusion committees for deciding prizes and awards have done within the society by supporting young scientists in less their usual magnificent job and chosen many wonderful affluent countries, we have nonetheless recognised the winners. Our prestigious Capranica Prize was won by need to be better. Our Inclusion and Diversity Committee, Wujie Zhang from the University of California, and our chaired by Ana Silva, is doing a great job of keeping this equally prestigious Young Investigator Awards were won agenda on the front-burner of society business. On their by Jerome Beetz and Pauline Fleischmann, both from initiative we are currently enacting a number of important 2 improvements, including the creation of a new Diversity contact with other researchers, broaden their knowledge, in Neuroethology Award, for which we will soon begin and learn new skills. seeking donations to get the new fund started. I am immensely grateful for the hard work of the IDC, However, don’t despair! There are more and more online especially during these pressing times. events and resources that offer new opportunities. For example, some conferences are being held virtually Many of us are now starting a new teaching term – for now. Costs to participate are a fraction of what they would most of us online – and I wish all of you every success for have been otherwise. Some are even free of charge! This your coming endeavours! And I well understand the makes it affordable to have a glimpse of areas a bit off worry and frustration experienced by those of you not able topic and get new inspirations. Try it out! to get to the field to perform experiments – our Bogong moths in Australia are probably relieved to be spared from Seminar series have moved online, too. Many of them our interventions for some months to come! But we will are open to anyone who registers with the organizer miss them sorely…. beforehand. It doesn’t matter where you are on this planet. You only need to have a somewhat stable internet My warmest regards, and I hope very much that you and connection. Why not listen to some of the seminars your families are all well and remain safe! organized on another continent, if the topic seems to be interesting? Eric Warrant President, ISN You can also attend virtual workshops and online courses to gain certain skills from the safety of your home.
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