Last December I went to the Ecology Across Borders Conference, held in Ghent (Belgium). It was organized by the Ecological Societies of Britain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Flanders as well as the European Ecological Federation. Conferences are always good places to present your work, meet lots of new people and develop new ideas. Unexpectedly, I ended up with both a poster presentation and an oral presentation. For the latter I received a Highly Commended Student Talk Prize.
It was truly an Ecology Across Borders conference, with people from many different countries talking about lots of different topics. From the inspiring 12 Months in Ecology talk from Louise Vet -ecology is the basis of everything and we need to engage!- to the integration of the smaller things in the bigger picture by Carlos Herrera -trait variability on an individual plant level can influence population ecology- all levels of ecology were discussed. It was a very full program, I came home inspired and extremely tired and am already looking forward to the next conference.