BID FOR THE INTERNATIONAL PRIMATOLOGICAL SOCIETY’S XXIIth CONGRESS, 2008

STOP PRESS - the bid has been successful! PSGB will be hosting the IPS XXIIth Congress in Edinburgh in 2008!

Following the positive reception given by IPS Council at the XIXth Congress in Beijing in 2002 to its preliminary bid to bring the IPS XXIIth Congress in 2008 to Edinburgh, PSGB is pleased to announce that it will be continuing with its bid at the up-coming Congress in Turin.

Why should the IPS Congress 2008 come to the United Kingdom?

This bid to host the IPS 2008 meeting in the UK is made by the Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB). Formed in 1967 and affiliated to the IPS since 1970, the PSGB is Europe’s foremost society for primatologists and is the largest outside of the USA. In 2007 PSGB will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary and this Congress would form an important part of PSGB’s celebrations of this milestone.

IPS 2008 bid

The IPS Congress has, to date, only been held once in the UK: the VIth Congress in Cambridge in 1976. This was a meeting which was for twenty years was regarded by many as the best of all IPS Congresses. It is the general feeling of the community of primatologists in the UK that it is time to attract the meeting to the UK once again. In recognition of this a bid was compiled and presented at the XVIIIth Congress of IPS in Australia in 2001 by the then President of PSGB, Dr Phyllis Lee. Unfortunately the bid for 2004 was unsuccessful. In light of this and the extremely successful EFP 2000 meeting organised by PSGB (Hilary Box, Hannah Buchanan-Smith & Ann Maclarnon) in London, PSGB Council has again voted unanimously to support a continuing bid process and is committed to central involvement in all aspects of the organisation and editorial scrutiny of the Congress should this bid be successful.

PSGB, together with its affiliates and associates in this bid: the Scottish Primate Research Group (SPRG), the National Museums of Scotland (NMS) and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) through Edinburgh Zoo can guarantee to offer a scientific programme of the highest quality.

It is important that the large number of UK-based researchers and students have the opportunity to organise and participate in an international meeting in the UK. The location of this meeting in the UK would be of great benefit to British students who since the 1970s have had the cost of international travel to attend the Congress. The majority of PSGB’s 350 members might never have had the means to get to international meetings before. The UK is also an easily accessible venue for both US and European attendees and Edinburgh in particular can accommodate all budgets with accommodation costs from £15 ($25) per night upwards.

Through our partners at the Scottish Convention Bureau and Edinburgh Convention Bureau and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre we have identified both a single building venue (virtual tour) and a city location that of unquestionable quality that will appeal to all budgets and tastes among IPS members.

The Hosts

PSGB was founded to promote research into all aspects of primate biology, conservation and management and, through its Constitution, is charged to:

"advance research in the study of primate biology in all its branches and activities conducive thereto, including the welfare of captive primates, conservation and education, and to publish the useful results of such research. In particular, it will provide for the holding of conferences, symposia, demonstrations and lectures calculated to advance the objects of the Society and may arrange for the publication and dissemination of symposia and other reports thereof."

The Primate Society of Great Britain is a learned society that was founded in 1967 and from 1970 it has been affiliated to the International Primatological Society. It was founded to promote research into all aspects of primate biology, conservation and management. With an active membership in excess of 350, PSGB is Europe’s foremost society for primatologists and the largest outside of the USA. The Society is very strong scientifically and holds regular scientific meetings and has, for a number of years managed a conservation appeal to help the urgent plight of primates in nature.

PSGB strives to be an inclusive society, with its membership drawn not just from professional primatologists but also a vibrant community of research and undergraduate students and also has lay members. Whilst there is a strong primate conservation, behaviour and ecology influence in the Society, it nevertheless prides itself on the extent to which it spans the range of disciplines within primatology including paleo-primatology, anatomy, physiology, taxonomy, neuroscience, molecular biology and captive care and breeding. This breadth of interest is reflected in the composition of the Society’s committees, the themes of our well-attended, bi-annual scientific meetings and the content of our journal PRIMATE EYE, published three times a year.

The UK has a long history of significant contribution to primatology from the work of Darwin through Le Gros Clark, Osman Hill, the Leakeys and the Napiers to the more contemporary work of home-based researchers such as Hilary Box, Dick Byrne, David Chivers, Robin Dunbar, Robert Hinde, Phyllis Lee and Andy Whiten as well as a number of eminent exports like Alan Dixson, Jane Goodall, Sandy Harcourt, Bob Martin, John Oates, Alison Richard, Anthony Rylands and Richard Wrangham.

The award of the XXIInd Congress to the United Kingdom will enable PSGB to produce a meeting of the highest quality that will reflect, in particular, the contribution of British researchers to primatology. Edinburgh will be a fabulous host city and PSGB and its associates invites IPS to join us there to help celebrate our 40th Anniversary.

For further information please contact:

Dr Paul Honess
Bid Coordinator
meetings@psgb.org