CPS scholarship
We hereby announce one scholarship of 15 000 SEK to cover fees and travel expenses in connection with the "IPC XIII/IOPC IX 2012" conference in Tokyo, Japan, 23-30 August 2012.
The scholarship can be applied for by PhD students or recently educated palynologists, who are members of CPS or would like to become a member.
To apply, an accepted abstract, and (for PhD students) a recommendation from the supervisor should be forwarded. The poster or presentation must have palynological relevance.
The person who recieves the scholarship is obliged to acknowledge the CPS on the poster or presentation, and to write a summary of their experience of the meeting, potentially for publication in PALYNOS.
The application, including the accepted abstract and a recommendation from the supervisor (for PhD students), should be sent to Karen Dybkjær, GEUS, Copenhagen, before 01 May 2012.
Warmest regards,
the CPS-board.
Recipient of the CPS sholarship 2011: Kristina Mehlqvist
I am a PhD student at the Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences at the Lund University in Sweden working on Silurian spores dispersed from early land plants. My geographical area of investi- gation includes mainly the Silurian deposits of Scania, Sweden. At the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Stratigraphical Palyno- logists in Southampton, I presented a poster with the title 'Oldest preserved cryptospore containing sporangia and mesofossils from the upper Silurian of Baltica (Gotland, Sweden)'. I have carried out this study in collaboration with Jonas Hagström from the Natural History Museum in Stockholm.
The material is from Gotland (Ludlow age) and consists of sporangia from early land plants with in situ cryptospores, a land plant axis, spore masses and coprolites. The material contains the earliest land plant mesofossils found from Baltica and is very well preserved. Land plant material, especially from the earliest cryptospore-producing plants is very rare from this period.
Participation in the AASP meeting was very important for me since a lot of researchers within my area were attending and I got the chance to meet them and discuss my work. It is very important to receive feedback from more experienced researchers in this particular field, but also general comments are crucial for the development of my research. I made many important contacts during this meeting. It was also very interesting to hear all the talks and see all the posters from different aspects of palynology. I think going to conferences and meetings is very worthwhile since it’s a good opportunity for networking, discussions and it’s also very inspiring.
The AASP meeting was a relatively small meeting with no parallel sessions which made it possible to hear all the talks and this was great. It was also fun to meet other students from different countries in the world. Overall I had a great time in Southampton and I’m very grateful that I received the funding from CPS so I had the possibility to participate at this meeting. It has been a great experience and I have met a lot of new people and had many interesting discussions and also the opportunity to visit Great Britain.
Economy: The funding of 4500 SEK I received was used to cover travel costs from Höör to Southampton, accommodation 4 nights in Southampton and food expenses.
Kristina Mehlqvist, Lund