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Annual meeting of the « Société Française de Systématique » - 2012
Systematics beyond phylogenetics
8–10 October 2012, Amphitheater of the INEE, 3 rue Michel-Ange, 75016 Paris

The next annual meeting of the “Société Française de Systématique” (SFS) will address the issue of "Systematics beyond phylogenetics". The meeting will emphasize the central but often underestimated role that phylogenies (and hence, systematics) play in modern evolutionary and comparative biology, through various techniques and in many fields (conservation biology, nomenclature, evo-devo, molecular evolution, etc.).

The themes of the sessions will include the following (preliminary list of a few participants who have already agreed to participate in parentheses):
- Biological nomenclature (A. Dubois, Paris; debate on the role of the phylogeny in nomenclature)
- Phylogeny and horizontal gene transfer: are there bacterial species? (A. Oren, Jerusalem)
- Biodiversity assessment and conservation
- Ecological niche conservatism
- Biogeography
- Evo-devo (M. Sanchez-Villagra, Zurich)
- Molecular evolution (P. Pontarotti, Marseille; S. Delgado, Paris)
- Molecular and paleontological dating: applications (Sauquet)
- Medicine (H. Smith, Glendale, AZ)
- Character correlation and comparative biology (J. Cubo, Paris; J.-Y. Dubuisson, Paris)
- Evolutionary trends (M. Laurin, Paris)
- Paleobiology (C. Organ, Harvard; A. Canoville, Capetown)

The talks and posters of the thematic sessions will present new, interesting results (without being too specialized, given the broad audience), but will also show how phylogenies are required in various evolutionary or comparative studies, and how they can be taken into account in the analyses. The variety of topics will give participants a global view of the contributions of systematics to a wide range of biological fields. Duration of talks will be from 20 to 25 minutes, thus leaving 5 to 10 minutes for questions and discussions (total duration: 30 minutes per speaker). The language will be French or English, ideally with the text of the slides in one language, and the talk itself in the other, to enable all to follow.

We wish to publish a written version of the communications, either in English, for research articles or high-level reviews (provided that similar reviews have not been published recently), in a special issue of the Comptes Rendus Palevol (journal indexed by all important databases, including those of the ISI), or more popular papers, in French, in an issue of Biosystema. Prospective speakers should indicate their preference when they send the abstract of their talk (they may also opt to submit two drafts, one for the CR Palevol and the other for Biosystema, while avoiding that one be a simple translation of the other). Ideally, the meeting will generate both publications (a special issue of CR Palevol and an issue of Biosystema).

I would be happy to see you at the meeting.
Please send the title of your proposed talk or poster to the SFS Secretary (Jean-Yves Dubuisson, jdubuiss@snv.jussieu.fr) at your convenience, and the payment for the registration fees to the SFS Treasurer (Christophe Daugeron, daugeron@mnhn.fr): Registration form

Sincerely,
Michel Laurin
President of the Organizing Committee

For more information, please see our website at http://sfs.snv.jussieu.fr/

Graduate fellowships in evolutionary biology and related fields

NESCent is now including graduate training in its portfolio, by offering one-semester fellowships for graduate students to pursue research with a NESCent sabbatical scholar, a NESCent postdoctoral scholar, or a NESCent Working Group. Deadlines are January 1 (for a fall semester fellowship) and July 1 (for a spring semester fellowship). For more information, please see our website at https://www.nescent.org/science/proposals.php

Call for proposals - sabbatical scholars, working groups and catalysis meetings
Proposals for Sabbaticals, Working Groups and Catalysis Meetings are now being accepted at The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent). We are looking to support innovative approaches to outstanding problems in evolutionary science. In particular, proposals that have a clear interdisciplinary focus, or involve evolutionary concepts in non-traditional disciplines, are strongly encouraged, as are proposals that demonstrate international participation and a mix of senior and emerging researchers, including graduate students. Proposals are accepted twice a year, with deadlines on July 10 and December 1. Proposals for Sabbaticals may be for up to a full year. We also accept proposals for short-term visits (2 weeks to 3 months; deadlines on January 1, April 1, July 1 and September 1). For more information, please see our website at https://www.nescent.org/science/proposals.php.

Last updated January 25, 2012. For suggestions or comments please send an e-mail.