Thank you to everyone who participated in the 8th Symposium on Integrative Conservation (SIC)!
On February 17, 2023, the Organized ICON Network and Cooperative (OINC) hosted its biennial Symposium on Integrative Conservation (SIC) at the University of Georgia (UGA). OINC is the Integrative Conservation (ICON) Ph.D. Program's student organization. SIC serves as a forum to showcase graduate student research at all stages of development, and allows students to receive feedback on their ideas from others in the ICON community. It is also an opportunity to share ICON students’ work with members of the five participating home departments (Anthropology, Geography, Odum School of Ecology, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, and Marine Sciences), prospective ICON students, and the broader UGA community.
SIC 2023 showcased a diversity of informative and interactive events. The full trajectory of the integrative research process was on display, from proposed ideas presented by first- and second-year students to near-completed projects presented by senior students. For the first time at SIC, ICON faculty discussed some of their own integrative research to facilitate mentorship opportunities with students. Additionally, a collaborative workshop session allowed students the opportunity to directly support each other's goals. It was also quite special to bring back an ICON alumna as the keynote speaker, who can uniquely understand the perspective of current students.
We wish to express our sincerest gratitude to all participants, attendees, and volunteers for making the event possible. We will see you again in 2025!
On February 17, 2023, the Organized ICON Network and Cooperative (OINC) hosted its biennial Symposium on Integrative Conservation (SIC) at the University of Georgia (UGA). OINC is the Integrative Conservation (ICON) Ph.D. Program's student organization. SIC serves as a forum to showcase graduate student research at all stages of development, and allows students to receive feedback on their ideas from others in the ICON community. It is also an opportunity to share ICON students’ work with members of the five participating home departments (Anthropology, Geography, Odum School of Ecology, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, and Marine Sciences), prospective ICON students, and the broader UGA community.
SIC 2023 showcased a diversity of informative and interactive events. The full trajectory of the integrative research process was on display, from proposed ideas presented by first- and second-year students to near-completed projects presented by senior students. For the first time at SIC, ICON faculty discussed some of their own integrative research to facilitate mentorship opportunities with students. Additionally, a collaborative workshop session allowed students the opportunity to directly support each other's goals. It was also quite special to bring back an ICON alumna as the keynote speaker, who can uniquely understand the perspective of current students.
We wish to express our sincerest gratitude to all participants, attendees, and volunteers for making the event possible. We will see you again in 2025!
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Sincerely,
Asa Julien and Colin Peterson 2023 SIC Co-Chairs |
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Click the image below to download the event program for SIC 2023
SIC 2023 Keynote Speaker - Dr. Dina Rasquinha
Dr. Dina Rasquinha is an Ecosystem Carbon Scientist with the Global Science Team at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). At WWF, she works with network collaborators to develop frameworks for monitoring and evaluating the climate impact of projects, provides support in measuring, reporting, and verifying carbon stocks and fluxes from conservation, sustainable management and restoration activities and guidance on impact metrics for projects.
Currently, she is involved with multiple projects that use a landscape lens for the protection and restoration of critical ecosystems like mangroves and other carbon rich habitats. She is working on developing a mangrove monitoring framework for application to WWF project countries like Colombia, Madagascar, Fiji, and Mexico. She is also involved in developing a database of nature metrics for projects across WWF’s nature-based solutions initiative and is working on an evidence review of conservation finance schemes, especially climate to understand the synergies and tradeoffs between carbon-biodiversity-livelihood co-benefits of projects.
Dina is an interdisciplinary scientist and an alumnus of the ICON-Geography Program at the University of Georgia (UGA), where she also completed a PhD in Geography & Integrative Conservation. She is interested in applying evidence-based science and environmental justice principles towards blue carbon conservation, nature-based solutions, and coastal resilience. For her doctoral research, she studied the impact of tropical storms and fuelwood harvesting on mangrove blue carbon and community dynamics. She also researched the reciprocal relationship between people and mangroves, especially how communities' value these forests and how that intersects with global- and national-level policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Currently, she is involved with multiple projects that use a landscape lens for the protection and restoration of critical ecosystems like mangroves and other carbon rich habitats. She is working on developing a mangrove monitoring framework for application to WWF project countries like Colombia, Madagascar, Fiji, and Mexico. She is also involved in developing a database of nature metrics for projects across WWF’s nature-based solutions initiative and is working on an evidence review of conservation finance schemes, especially climate to understand the synergies and tradeoffs between carbon-biodiversity-livelihood co-benefits of projects.
Dina is an interdisciplinary scientist and an alumnus of the ICON-Geography Program at the University of Georgia (UGA), where she also completed a PhD in Geography & Integrative Conservation. She is interested in applying evidence-based science and environmental justice principles towards blue carbon conservation, nature-based solutions, and coastal resilience. For her doctoral research, she studied the impact of tropical storms and fuelwood harvesting on mangrove blue carbon and community dynamics. She also researched the reciprocal relationship between people and mangroves, especially how communities' value these forests and how that intersects with global- and national-level policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
