3rd International Radar Aeroecology Conference

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We cordially invite you to the 3rd International Radar Aeroecology Conference (IRAC 2022) in Davos, Switzerland. The conference takes place on 25-26 June 2022, directly before the World Biodiversity Forum. We look forward to welcoming many of you in person in Davos, but we will also offer online participation and make special arrangements for online participants presenting from different time zones. The conference will be a full 2-day event with plenary presentations, a poster session, and possibilities for informal discussions and networking.

Thematic sessions

We invite proposals for oral and poster contributions, fitting one or more of the conference themes and presented as part of thematic sessions:

1. Spatio-temporal movement patterns of birds, bats, and insects and their environmental influences
2. Methodological advancements - classification and identification algorithms, radar technology, data infrastructure
3. From radar aeroecology to biodiversity
4. Applied radar aeroecology - the knowledge base for conservation and management

Keynote speakers

We have invited renowned speakers who will give an introductory overview for each session:

Silke Bauer - Silke is a senior researcher at the Swiss Ornithological institute, and her core research interests are large scale migration patterns and the multitude of ecological effects migrants can have on resident communities visited during their journeys.

Jeff Buler - Jeff is professor at the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he established the Aeroecology Program in 2011. He is an international leader in the development of novel methods for using weather surveillance radars to study the broad-scale distribution, movement, and habitat use patterns of flying animals, particularly migratory birds.

Boya Gao - Boya is a post-doctor at plant protection college, Nanjing Agricultural University who researches insect migration and radar entomology.

Felix Liechti - Felix (from the Swiss Ornithological Institute) is a passionate bird migration researcher for which he employs remote-sensing technology and miniaturized data-loggers.

Judy Shamoun-Baranes - Judy is a professor at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics at the University of Amsterdam and fascinated by animal movements and their biodiversity implications.

Dan Sheldon - Dan is an associate professor of computer science at UMass Amherst who likes to develop new machine learning and statistical methods to learn about birds from weather radar.

Sponsors

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the following organizations:

Programme

Times are indicated in local times for Davos, Switzerland (CEST, UTC+02:00). See the current time in Davos.

An optional pre-conference bird watching excursion to the Flüela Pass (with chance to see snowfinches) is organized by Fränzi Korner-Nievergelt. Email irac2022@vogelwarte.ch if you want to join.

Day 1: Saturday, June 25

Session 1.1

Spatio-temporal movement patterns of birds, bats, and insects and their environmental influences

Chair: Elske Tielens, remote chair: Bart Kranstauber

Session 1.2

Chair: Raphael Nussbaumer, remote chair: Birgen Haest

Session 1.3

Chair: Nadja Weisshaupt, remote chair: Cecilia Nilsson

Session 1.4

Chair: Maja Bradaric, remote chair: Cecilia Nilsson

Session 1.5

Chair: Birgen Haest, remote chair: Cecilia Nilsson

Day 2: Sunday, June 26

Session 2

Methodological advancements - classification and identification algorithms, radar technology, data infrastructure

Chair: Yuval Werber, remote chair: Judy Shamoun-Baranes

Session 3

From radar aeroecology to biodiversity

Chair: Inbal Schekler, remote chair: Judy Shamoun-Baranes

Session 4.1

Applied radar aeroecology - the knowledge base for conservation and management

Chair: Jens van Erp, remote chair: Peter Desmet

Session 4.2

Chair: Yuting Deng, remote chair: Peter Desmet

Posters

Abstracts

Abstracts of talks and posters.

Venue, travel and accommodation

The conference takes place at Davos Congress located at Talstrasse 49a, CH-7270 Davos Platz, Switzerland (view map).

Davos is a picturesque town in eastern Switzerland, the highest town in Europe at 1560m asl, and can easily be reached from Switzerland’s major cities and airports, by rail or road.

Davos offers unique and varied facilities for sport and leisure, both in summer and winter, renowned museums and galleries, and exceptional restaurants and shopping opportunities. Ninety hotels and more than a thousand holiday flats offer accommodation for everybody’s taste, requirements and budget.

See the World Biodiversity Forum page for more information on Davos, how to get there, accommodation, the environment and things to do in and around town.

In Switzerland, all measures and restrictions with regard to COVID-19 have been lifted and thus, there are no specific preparations needed for entry and travel within Switzerland. Still, we advise to remain cautious and use the standard hygienic measures such as keeping distance, regularly washing or sanitizing hands, or wearing a face mask (Federal Office of Public Health advice).

Code of conduct

Our conference is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks, workshops, parties, Twitter and other online media. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers.

If you are being harassed or witnessed something inappropriate, would like to file a complaint, or have other concerns about the safety of participants, please do not hesitate to contact us at irac2022@vogelwarte.ch or anyone from the organizing committee.

Contact

Please contact us at irac2022@vogelwarte.ch with any questions that you may have regarding the conference, incl. your abstract submission, (informal) events you might want to organize (e.g. round-table discussions), etc.

Scientific committee: Silke Bauer, Adriaan Dokter, Andrew Farnsworth, Birgen Haest, Bart Kranstauber and Judy Shamoun-Baranes.

Organizing committee: GloBAM - Silke Bauer, Peter Desmet, Judy Shamoun-Baranes, Andrew Farnsworth and Jarmo Koistinen.