| Crossing the Paleontological-Ecological Gap & Conservation Paleobiology Symposium | Zurich, 2025

4th Crossing the Paleontological-Ecological Gap (CPEG) Meeting & 3rd Conservation Paleobiology Symposium

Third circular

The 4th Crossing the Paleontological-Ecological Gap meeting and 3rd Conservation Paleobiology symposium will be held jointly, from July 27 to August 1, 2025, at the University of Zurich, Switzerland

The CPEG meeting aims to bring palaeontologists and ecologists together to share ideas, data and methods in research areas that are studied by both, but typically independently (e.g., community and population ecology, food web dynamics, extinction mechanisms and conservation). On this occasion, the meeting will be merged with the 3rd Conservation Paleobiology Symposium to promote the application of palaeobiological and ecological records to the conservation, management, and restoration of biodiversity.

Venue

The meeting will take place at the University of Zurich, in Zurich, Switzerland. Specifically, it will be held at the Universitaet Zentrum, which is a 10-minute walk up-hill from Zurich main station (Zürich Hauptbahnhof, HB). This is a central area with plenty of options for accomodation and dining nearby.

The meeting

We are planning a six-day (Sunday to Friday) meeting without parallel sessions. We will offer two in-person workshops on Sunday, July 27th and a field trip on Friday, August 1st. Two additional virtual workshops will be offered prior to the meeting. From Monday to Thursday, we will host keynote addresses, oral presentations and lightning talks. During these days, lunch and coffee breaks will be provided for attendees. A welcoming reception and a poster session will take place on Monday at the Natural History Museum. Awards will be given for the best student oral and poster presentations and for travelers’ lowest carbon footprint (corrected for distance). We aim to ensure a balanced program that includes a wide range of topics and perspectives, as well as equal opportunities in terms of gender, underrepresented backgrounds, and career-stages.

Format

Our meeting will be hybrid. We will offer the option for virtual participants to deliver pre-recorded talks with questions from the audience, and we will stream all talks to accommodate participants who cannot attend in-person due to geo-political, financial, or other logistical constraints.

Keynotes

Emily Mitchell
Assistant Professor | University of Cambridge || Curator of Invertebrates incorporating the Watson Curator of Malacology
ediacaran life | community ecology | marine ecology | origins of animals | networks

Molly Grace
Lecturer | University of Oxford || Co-Chair, IUCN Green Status of Species Working Group
ecology | conservation | species recovery | metrics | IUCN

Oskar Hagen
PostDoc | German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)
biogeography | macroecology | eco-evolutionary dynamics | process-based modelling

Workshops

In-person (Sunday, July 27)
- Building open data science skills in paleobiology and ecology
Instructors: Erin Dillon, Lewis Jones, William Gearty and Bethany Allen.
More information
- Deep Learning for Macroevolutionary Analyses
Instructors: Daniele Silvestro, Torsten Hauffe, Juan L. Cantalapiedra, Fernando Blanco, and Rebecca Cooper.
More information

Virtual (Monday, July 21 and Wednesday, July 23 )
- Improving your communication skills with storytelling
Instructors: Soledad De Esteban-Trivigno (Transmitting Science, Spain).
More information
- The individual career: beyond the “job for life” model
Instructor: Haris Saslis (Transmitting Science, Greece).
More information

Field trip (Friday, August 1)

An excursion will be offered on the last day of the meeting. In the morning, participants will visit the Holderbank quarry, a Jurassic outcrop famous for its rich fossil deposits. In the afternoon, participants will head to Lenzburg, where they will visit one of Switzerland’s oldest castles. This excursion offers an opportunity to explore one of many Swiss paleontological sites and experience a bit of Swiss history, providing a relaxing and informative end to the meeting, as well as another chance to network. More information

Student events

Roundtable lunch (Tuesday, July 29)
Students, postdocs, and professionals working in or interested in conservation palaeobiology are encouraged to network during a formal roundtable lunch organised by the CPN student panel on Tuesday, July 29 (exact location and time TBD) . Professionals will introduce themselves and their research and postdocs and students will rotate tables to engage in a variety of discussions. Food will be provided. Registration is required using our online registration platform (see below) at no extra cost.

Informal dinner (Wednesday, July 30)
Students and postdocs are invited to an informal gathering at a nearby restaurant (location TBD). A form will be sent at a later date to gauge interest and choose a suitable venue to accommodate everyone, but anyone is more than welcome to show up without registering. We hope that this will be a welcoming space for people to get to know each other and the CPB community better.

Registration, abstracts and financial aid

All attendees (in-person and virtual) need to register using our online registration platform. More information

Registration fees will be waived for all participants residing in low-income* countries. To access this waiver, proof of your residence should be sent to cpeg-cpb25@pim.uzh.ch. This could be a current student card or an official letter from your employer.

We will also provide financial support to at least 5 students or postdocs currently residing in low-income* countries to attend in person. To apply for this grant, please submit a cover letter and CV to: cpeg-cpb25@pim.uzh.ch by February 1, 2025.

*Low-income countries are those with a HDI index < 0.85 as defined here.

Important dates:
Abstracts:
- Submission Opens: November 18, 2024
- Submission Deadline: February 1, 2025
- Review Period: February 1 – March 10, 2025
-Decision Notifications: March 11, 2025
Registration:
- Early bird: November 18, 2024 - April 1, 2025
- Regular fee: April 2 – May 30, 2025
- Late fee: June 1 – July 26, 2025
- On-site: Only July 27
Travel grants for students and postdoc residing in low-income countries:
- Application deadline: February 1, 2025

Accepted abstracts will be published in an open access repository with a citable DOI (e.g. Zenodo).

Sustainability and justice

We seek ways to keep our carbon emissions as low as possible in the planning and delivery of this meeting, and to provide options for students and other attendees from low-income countries to participate. Accordingly, we will take the following actions:
- We are inviting keynote speakers who can/are willing to reach Zurich by train (and additional virtual keynote speakers)
- We will ensure gender and career-stage balance in our contributors
- We will provide exclusively vegetarian, locally-sourced and seasonal food
- We are seeking funding to make the registration fee as affordable as possible for all participants.
- We will provide financial support to at least 5 students or postdocs currently residing in low-income countries (middle HDI and developing countries with a HDI index < 0.85 as defined here) to attend in person.

Organising committee

Conveners: Catalina Pimiento and Kristína Kocáková, Department of Paleontology, University of Zurich. Scientific committee: Erin Dillon, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama | Juan David Carrillo, Department of Biology, University of Fribourg | Lewis Williams, Biosciences Department, Swansea University | Fernando Blanco, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg | Juan Cantalapiedra, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid. Volunteers: Merle Greif and Amin El Fassi El Fehri, Department of Paleontology, University of Zurich.

Social and Contact

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