2nd Annual Meeting of the Macrosystems Ecology For All (MEFA) Network
Dates
July 23 – 24, 2024
Details
Meeting format: Hybrid (in-person and virtual options)
In-person location: Boulder, Colorado
Funding: Travel funding available. See details below.
Applications due: Friday, March 1, 2024, at 11:59pm Eastern
Are you interested in engaging in macrosystems ecology research?
Are you looking for a supportive community to make that leap by learning or by sharing your expertise?
Would you like to work with colleagues from undergraduate institutions and beyond, to develop collaborative research projects that are inclusive and welcoming of scientists of all backgrounds – from novices to experts in macrosystems science?
Would you like to gain experience working with environmental datasets and teaching macrosystems ecology and data science to undergraduates?
…
Then please join us for our second annual meeting of the Macrosystems Ecology For All (MEFA) Research Coordination Network in Boulder, Colorado! To ensure broader participation and engagement, this will be a hybrid meeting with both in-person and virtual options.
Meeting Goals
1. Create new research teams. Research ideas will integrate these five themes:
- Inclusive, welcoming, equitable research team
- Macrosystems ecology concepts
- Use of existing environmental datasets
- Teaching macrosystems ecology and/or data science to undergraduates through engagement with authentic research experiences
- Ethical engagement with communities where data are gathered, if applicable
2. Jump-start thinking about the following:
- Creating effective research collaboration plans that are informed by principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DELJ) and welcome and support scientists from all backgrounds
- How to ethically engage local communities in macrosystems ecology research
- Best practices to teach macrosystems ecology and data science to undergraduates
- Dr. Alison Post, Program Manager, Earth Lab, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder, led a team of presenters from Earth Lab in a workshop on using data from PhenoCam in teaching. Dr. Post shared these resources from the activity:
3. Support existing research groups as they continue to build and refine their projects.
Funding
For those people meeting in-person, July 22 and 25 will be “travel days.” Travel to Boulder will be covered with grant funds by reimbursing participants for up to $500 as shown on travel receipts. Costs of meals and single-occupancy hotel rooms during the meeting will be fully covered. We are also providing some pre-paid shuttle options between the Denver Airport and Boulder. We cannot cover international travel. If the reimbursement policy or travel cap is a hardship for you, please contact Dr. Laurie Anderson at ljanders@owu.edu.
Application Details
- The application process is to ensure that participant goals align with the goals of the meeting.
- Applicants can apply to participate either in-person or online.
- All participants commit to:
- Attending the MEFA meeting in its entirety as an in-person or online participant (i.e., all day 7/23 and all day 7/24).
- Being open to the possibility of engaging with an incubator working group to develop a collaborative macrosystems ecology project over the next year and likely beyond. We understand that this is dependent upon what kinds of project ideas emerge at the meeting and how project teams decide to identify responsibilities among the team members.
- Following MEFA’s Code of Conduct, which is adopted from EREN’s Code of Conduct.
- Application results will be distributed by mid-March, 2024.
Meeting COVID Policy
We will follow the masking policy of the University of Colorado at the time of the 2024 meeting. Individuals who wish to wear masks are welcome and supported in this choice. Updated COVID vaccinations for all attendees are strongly encouraged. Those who are concerned about COVID exposure may wish to consider opting for online attendance.
