.jpg)
The Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, and partners from the Tajik Academy of Sciences are organizing a Pamir Biodiversity Field Course with support from the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education.
Description: The field course will focus on biodiversity and biogeography in the Pamir mountains, known also as the top of the world. Plants in the Pamir play an interesting biogeographic role for Arctic biodiversity, and many plant groups occur in both the Arctic and in Central Asia and the Himalayas. The course will involve taxonomic specialists from NHM and the Tajik Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan to cover a broad range of organism groups: botany, entomology, ornithology, and herpetology. The course will be open to PhD students and postdocs through ForBio and from participating institutions in Tajikistan.
Aim: The aim of the course is to give postgraduate students an opportunity to broaden their expertise in organismal diversity through exposure to related groups in different ecosystems and gain experience as scientist by studying a biodiversity in a developing country. The course will provide students with basic understanding of Pamir biodiversity, threats and conservation considerations, and with practical experience using different research tools and methods to study these systems. It hopes to increase the interest and possibilities for aspiring academics to work with biodiversity research, conservation or management in Central Asia. The course is also open for relevant students from the Tajikistan and thereby will facilitate interaction and building networks to those countries.
Budget: SIU funds will cover local transport, food, accommodation and expenses, but foreign participants will need to cover their own international travel expenses (expect to pay about 10 000 kr for return flights to Dushanbe, visa, and expenses).
Note: The field course will be taught around Khorog in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. Conditions during field work will be basic with long treks, sleeping in tents, rapidly changing mountain weather, the occasional infection, but with friendly people, strong donkeys and hearty meals. Be prepared for fieldwork.
Course organisers: Anneleen Kool, Hugo de Boer, NHM
Experts: Anneleen Kool, Abdolbaset Ghorbani, Mukhabbat Mamadalieva, Mirzorahimov Akobir Karimovich, Mario Boboev, Anzurat Akobirshoeva,
Nigina Kayumova, Johan Nylander, Bozo Frajman, Peter Schönswetter.
Application deadline: May 1, 2017. Register here. NB We have a very limited number of places in this intensive field course.
For more information contact Anneleen Kool or Hugo de Boer.
Please note that ForBio will not cover any costs for participation in this course.