On Friday May 15, 2015, we have a special roundtable session with Alison Specht at ACEAS, who will be visiting NCEAS. Alison will give us an overview of NCEAS’ cousin across the Pacific, talk about an upcoming paper on synthesis in ecosystem science and management and will also discuss her perspectives on ACEAS and other synthesis centres. Do join us for what should be a very interesting discussion!

Alison Specht
Associate Professor Alison Specht is an environmental scientist with broad expertise in research, teaching, and community engagement. She gained her qualifications and taught at the University of Queensland, and for many years was a research and teaching academic at Southern Cross University in northern New South Wales, Australia. She has written scientific papers and book chapters, and is the co-author of two major books on the nature and assessment of Australian vegetation.

Between 2009 and 2014 she was director of the Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis <www.aceas.org.au>, a facility of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network <www.tern.org.au>, an Australian-government funded datanet. She has been a member of the DataONE Usability and Assessment Working Group since its inception, and has great interest and expertise in data management and the preservation of archival data. She is about to take up a position as Directrice of the CEntre for the Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity in France <http://cesab.org/index.php?lang=en>. She initiated the formation of the International Synthesis Consortium <www.synthesis-consortium.org> which has recently had its second meeting, whose mission is to increase the effectiveness and recognition of the value of synthesis centres.

Here are links to two papers that Alison will be touching upon in her discussion:

Transdisciplinary synthesis for ecosystem science, policy and management: the Australian experience.

Perceived discontinuities and constructed continuities in virtual work