Announcements of Symposia

Altogether 16 symposia (S1 - S16) have been proposed up to the end of November. Below is a list of those proposed, including: (i) contact addresses of conveners and brief announcements that define each particular symposium; (ii) basic idea of the symposium and an outline of its program, including (iii) its invited speakers (as proposed by the symposia conveners); and finally a line characterizing (iv) the form of the symposium regarding the way in which it is open for submitted contributions. If you are intending to join a symposium with your contribution, please do not forget to tick the respective field in the registration form - the conveners of the respective symposium will be immediately informed. It can be recommended, of course, to contact them separately (preferably by e-mail) as well. The last word as to whether your contribution will be included in the symposium or not is just up to them. In any case, we strongly remind all contributors to the symposia, including the invited speakers, that they are obliged to formally register for the Conference (with the aid of the registration form on this web page). Regarding the large number of symposia, we regret that we are unable to provide any discount to symposia-invited speakers (in contrast to keynote speakers who are special guests of the Conference).

S1: Past to Present: Fossils and the Evolutionary History of Bats

Gregg Gunnell - Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, 1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1079 USA - ggunnell@umich.edu

* Symposium focused on the bat fossil record on a global scale and its meaning for the study of bat evolution, biogeography and paleoecology. It is intended to include papers/posters dealing with fossil bats from all appropriate places and time periods (Tertiary through early Holocene) with particular emphasis on the integration of paleontological information into the multidisciplinary study of bat evolution. The fossil record of bats is unevenly distributed both in space and in time. Some areas and some time periods are richly represented by fossils while many completely lack a fossil record. Fossils are important for documenting the timing and the mosaic pattern of character acquisition within the chiropteran clade as well as for providing tie points that constrain the timing of branch points within clade history. Additionally, the fossil record provides the only hard evidence to document the past taxonomic and morphological diversity of bats as well as providing clues to past distribution patterns of both extinct and extant lineages. In combination with molecular studies, analysis of recently-extinct taxa can provide detailed information at both the genomic and phenotypic level. This symposium brings together leading fossil bat experts who will present studies ranging in time from the earliest known fossil bats in North American and Asia to recently-extinct and living taxa from central Europe. Most aspects of bat evolution that can be addressed using the fossil record will be discussed during this symposium. * A partial list of speakers includes: Jörg Habersetzer and Evelyn Schlosser-Sturm from the Senckenberg Museum who will present studies on fossil bats from the famous Middle Eocene Messel locality in Germany; Paloma Sevilla Garcia and Juan Manuel López from Universidad Complutense de Madrid will discuss Pleistocene bats from Spain; Norberto Giannini from Universidad de Tucumán and the American Museum of Natural History will discuss aerodynamics in the most primitive known bats from North America; Thierry Smith from the Royal Belgian Museum will present a discussion of the earliest known fossil bats from Indo-Pakistan; other presenters will include Suzanne Hand from the University of New South Wales, Gregg Gunnell from the University of Michigan, Bernard Sigé from L'Université Claude Bernard Lyon, and others yet to be determined or confirmed (such as Jeremy Hooker, Pierre Mein, Marguerite Hugueney, Reinhard Ziegler, Nick Czaplewski, Gary Morgan, Gerhard Storch, Bronisław W. Wołoszyn, Katarzyna Ochman, Valentyna Rossina, Ivan Horáček). * The symposium is open to further contributions, both oral and posters.

S2: Evolutionary Ecology of Bats

David Jacobs - University of Cape Town, South Africa - David.Jacobs@uct.ac.za

* This symposium will accommodate oral and poster presentations on evolutionary ecology in its broadest sense and will include the evolution of communities and biodiversity as well as the evolution of life histories, behaviour and interspecific relations (cooperation, parasitism, mutualism, predator-prey interactions). * This will have some invited speakers but will also be open to all who would like to present papers or posters on the topic, subject to the availability of space.

S3: Gerhard Neuweiler Memorial Symposium on Echolocation in Bats

Björn M. Siemers - Sensory Ecology Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany - Siemers@orn.mpg.de Gareth Jones - School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, UK - Gareth.Jones@bris.ac.uk

* Gerhard Neuweiler was a neurobiologist with a strong interest in behaviour and ecology; an eminent advocate of organismal, integrative zoology. He played a pivotal role in the development of echolocation research. Gerhard Neuweiler's research bridged the gap between physiological function and ecological adaptation of bat sonar systems. His science as well as his personal involvement and interest inspired, encouraged and supported the careers of many of us. Gerhard Neuweiler died in August 2008 and this symposium is held in his memory. The idea of the symposium is to show the current state of bat echolocation research as the result of an integrative effort and a multitude of methodological and conceptual approaches. * Only talks invited by the symposium conveners. We encourage the submission of posters on bat echolocation to be displayed in a poster section associated with this symposium.

S4: Speciation dynamics and taxonomy

Manuel Ruedi - Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology, Natural History Museum of Geneva, C.P. 6434, CH-1211 Geneve 6, Switzerland. - manuel.ruedi@ville-ge.ch Petr Benda - Department of Zoology, National Museum (Natural History), Václavské nám. 68, CZ-115 79 Praha 1, Czech Republic. - petr.benda@nm.cz

* Species are generally the units of evolution in many ecological or biodiversity studies. Yet, the fundamental question of what constitutes a species is much debated. The answer will be quite different if one considers external morphological resemblance (i.e. phenetic species concept), patterns of gene flow (genetic species concept), or how individuals interact with each other (biological species concept). Because bats are very diverse and have elusive modes of life, interactions within or between species are extremely difficult to assess under natural conditions. In the lab as well, studies, for example, on mate preferences, are virtually non existent. Hence, phenetic or genetic concepts are usually the only practical criteria used to delineate species in bats. Even less is known about how species evolve, how divergent lineages merge as a single evolutionary unit, or evolve isolating mechanisms that will lead eventually to the formation of distinct species. A literature search with the key words "speciation" and "chiroptera" combined leads to only 43 references, while "speciation" combined, for instance, with "drosophila" returns 1354 references. In this symposium, we will try to bring together expertise from various fields of research related to speciation or species recognition. Questions relevant to this symposium will include whether acoustic characters can be involved in species evolution (e.g. throughout harmonic hopping), or if chromosome rearrangement are important isolating mechanisms (e.g. in chromosomally polymorphic Rogeessa or Uroderma), or else if speciation can occur sympatrically, as is suggested by some speciose groups (e.g. miniopterine bats in Madagascar). We will also explore if popular mitochondrial genes are good markers to indicate if individuals or populations share a single gene pool or not, and thus can inform taxonomic decisions regarding difficult groups. * Besides invited talks the symposium will be open to contributed presentations and posters as well as invited talks.

S5: Bat extinctions: past, present, and future

Nancy Simmons - American Museum of Natural History, New York NY, USA - simmons@amnh.org Liliana Davalos - SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY, USA - ldavalos@life.bio.sunysb.edu

* This symposium will bring together researchers working at a variety of temporal, geographic, and taxonomic scales to discuss their work as it relates to bat extinctions. Presentations will range from evaluations of the fossil record of bats to methods of predicting and perhaps mitigating future bat extinctions. Patterns and models of past extinctions, range restrictions, current threats (e.g., habitat loss, hunting, White Nose Syndrome), risk assessment, mechanisms of extinction, documentation of extinctions in real time, and predictions of future patterns will be covered in various presentations. * It is anticipated that the symposium will consist of 10-16 lectures. Presenters are expected to include Liliana Davalos, Kate Jones, Gregg Gunnell, Suzanne Hand, Jon Epstein, Jeremy Coleman, Amy Russell, and Kris Helgen among others. * The symposium will consist of invited platform presentations, but contributed posters are also welcome. Individuals wishing to give presentations in this symposium should contact the organizers.

S6: Integrating information across multiple molecular markers - current and future studies in bat genetic research

Stephen J. Rossiter - School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, London E1 4NS, UK - s.j.rossiter@qmul.ac.uk Pavel Hulva - Department of Zoology, Charles University in Prague, Vinicna 7, CZ-128 43 Prague 2, Czech Republic - hulva@natur.cuni.cz

* During the past decade, most empirical genetic studies of bats and other taxa relied on a single class of molecular marker. More recently, there has been a growing shift towards studies that integrate patterns across multiple classes of marker, including microsatellites, intronic and exonic sequences, and functional genes. By adopting this powerful approach, several studies have already shed light on numerous aspects of bat evolutionary biology, from kinship and genetic structure to deep phylogenies. In this symposium, we will focus on some of these recent advances, and we will consider what the future holds for research in bat genetics. * The symposium will predominantly consist of the invited lectures though the submitted contributions, both posters and talks, can be still accepted as well.

S7: New Approaches in the Study of Bat Flight

Sharon Swartz - Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box G-B206, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 USA. - sharon_swartz@brown.edu Anders Hedenström - Theoretical Ecology, CAnMove, Ecology Building, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden. - Anders.Hedenstrom@teorekol.lu.se

* This symposium will bring together researchers examining bat flight from a variety of new perspectives that are significantly advancing our understanding of flight behaviour and mechanics in the 21st century. In particular, we will draw attention to new experimental and computational aerodynamics studies, breakthroughs arising from novel high-speed imaging technologies, improved methods for integration of field and laboratory research, and studies of the bat somatosensory system that have broad implications for flight mechanics and aerodynamics. * A list of the invited speaker includes Ulla Norberg (University of Göteborg, Sweden), Cynthia Moss (University of Maryland, USA), Marc Holderied (University of Bristol, UK), and others. * Besides invited talks, the symposium will be open to contributed presentations and posters as well as invited talks.

S8: Movement Ecology of Bats

Thomas H. Kunz - Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. - kunz@bu.edu Paul M. Cryan - U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA - cryanp@usgs.gov

* The symposium is intended to demonstrate essential recent achievements, new approaches, ideas and methods in the study of bat migrations and movement ecology of bats. * The following invited lectures will comprise the major part of the Symposium: Paul M. Cryan, Craig A. Stricker, and Michael B. Wunder: Migratory connectivity of hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) inferred from stable isotope analysis. * Liam P. McGuire, M. Brock Fenton, and Christopher G. Guglielmo. "Physiological ecology of migration and stopover in North American tree bats * Erin H. Gillam, and Gloriana Chaverri: Local movements of leaf-roosting bats (Thyroptera discolor) are related to acoustic signaling * Winifred F. Frick, and Thomas H. Kunz: Spatio-temporal variability in nightly dispersal patterns of Tadarida brasiliensis: Modeling bat movements in 3D. * Nickolay I. Hristov, and Thomas H. Kunz: Group flight behavior of a long-distance migrant: the Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis). * Dina Dechmann, Jakob Fahr, Richard Suu-Ire, and Martin Wikelski: The urban crowd: foraging ecology of sedentary Eidolon helvum in Ghana. * Jonathan H. Epstein, and Craig S. Smith: Using satellite telemetry to assess movement patterns of Pteropus spp. * Asaf Tsoar, Nachum Ulanovsky, Yoav Bartan, Ofir Altstein, Giacomo Dell'Omo, Alexei L. Vyssotski,and Ran Nathan: Movement ecology of GPS-tracked Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus): Unexpected foraging movements in a predicable heterogeneous landscape. * Nachum Ulanovsky, Asaf Tsoar, Yoav Bartan, Ofir Altstein, Giacomo Dell'Omo, Alexei L. Vyssotski, and Ran Nathan: Movement ecology of GPS-tracked Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus): First evidence for large-scale map-like navigational strategy in a mammal. * Ran Nathan, Asaf Tsoar, David Shohami, Yoav Bartan, Ofir Altstein, and Nachum Ulanovsky: Movement ecology of GPS-tracked Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus): Bats as long-distance dispersal vectors of seeds. * Poster contributions related to the topic can be included.

S9: Global bat Monitoring and Bioindication

Kate Jones - Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, United Kingdom NW1 4RY. kate.jones@ioz.ac.uk. Tomas Bartonička - Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic. bartonic@sci.muni.cz.

* We have spectacularly failed to meet the target set by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to halt the decline in biodiversity by 2010. This is in part due to the lack of quantifiable biodiversity indicators which can be used to measure the impacts of human population growth, land use change and increased consumption. Without an understanding of our impacts on biodiversity and the services these ecosystems provide us, there is no hope to mitigate anthropogenic effects in order to sustainably manage our future. Effort to generate biodiversity indicators has been focused on particular taxa (such as birds and butterflies) over different geographic scales. In this symposium will we assess the potential for bats to act as biodiversity indicators, the state of bat monitoring nationally, regionally and globally, explore the current methodological limitations to monitoring bats and assess how bat data would fit into other global biodiversity indicators. * Among the invited contributions the following will appear * Tom Kunz (Boston University) Bats as providers of ecosystem services * Karen Haysom (The Bat Conservation Trust) National Bat Monitoring - An example from the UK * Ivan Horáček, Tomáš Bartonička, Marcel Uhrin et al. (Czech Bat Conservation Trust) Czech and Slovak bat monitoring schemes - experiences, results, inspirations. * Katie Parsons (The Bat Conservation Trust) BatLife-Europe and the PanEuropean Underground Site Monitoring Program * Jon Russ and Kate Jones (The Bat Conservation Trust and Zoological Society of London): Bat Monitoring across Eurasia. * Ben Collen (Zoological Society of London): The Living Planet Index: why is there such a poor representation of bats? * Contributed talks and posters are welcome.

S10: Bat and parasites: implications for social life, disease transmission, and co-evolution

Gerald Kerth - Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology, 82319 Seewiesen, Germany. - gkerth@orn.mpg.de * http://www.orn.mpg.de/kempenaers/kempproj5_en.html Philippe Christe - Département d'Ecologie et d'Evolution, Université de Lausanne, Le Biophore/Quartier Sorge, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. - philippe.christe@unil.ch * http://www.unil.ch/dee

* We plan to address all questions related to host-parasite interactions in bats, in particular: 1) the influence of social systems on host-parasite interactions 2) parasites serving as vectors for diseases in bats 3) host-parasite coevolution on the local and the macro-geographic level * We expect about 10 participants (3-4 invited, 6-7 slots should be open for free registration).

S11: Bat-fruit interactions: new findings from individual to community level

Marco Aurelio Ribeiro Mello - Institute of Experimental Ecology University of Ulm, Germany. - marmello@gmail.com Elisabeth Klara Viktoria Kalko - Institute of Experimental Ecology, University of Ulm, Germany. - elisabeth.kalko@uni-ulm.de

* Up to 90% of all trees depend on animals to disperse their seeds in some localities, and bats play a crucial role in this process, especially regarding forest regeneration. In the present symposium, we put together researchers with different backgrounds, who carried out innovative studies on bat-fruit interactions. The findings that will be presented came from approaches that unite ecological theory and other fields, such as complex networks, morphology, behaviour and physiology. Those studies investigated how bats and fruits relate to each other at the levels of individuals, populations and communities, thus providing a wide overview of cutting-edge research in the field. We aim to discuss those findings in an integrative way, in order to see what main questions have already been answered, what avenues are open for future research and how this knowledge can help to preserve the seed dispersal ecosystem service. * 6 invited speakers plus other people who are interested. * open symposium with invited participants and submitted contributions, including talks and posters.

S12: Diversity Patterns and Processes - from Local Assemblages to Continental Gradients

Jakob Fahr - Institute of Experimental Ecology (Bio 3), University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein Allee 11, D - 89069 Ulm, Germany. - jakob.fahr@uni-ulm.de Tigga Kingston - Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-3131, USA. - tigga.kingston@ttu.edu

* The analysis of diversity patterns and the processes that drive them is a very active field that has seen major conceptual and methodological progress in recent years such as additive partitioning, null models, species richness estimation, and species distribution modelling. This symposium will feature presentations spanning spatial and temporal scales that aim at fostering our understanding of how local-scale diversity patterns and processes relate to those at the landscape or regional scale, and vice versa. Studying scale-dependency holds great promise for our efforts to elucidate the functional relationships among diversity patterns. Similarly, studies of temporal variability in diversity patterns provide insights into whether fluctuations in assemblage structure are stochastic or predictable. * Tentative list of speakers include Bruce Patterson (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA), Claudia Moreno (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Mexico), Corrie Schoeman (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), Hector Arita (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico), Jakob Fahr (Ulm University, Germany), Kamran Safi & Kate Jones (MPI Radolfzell, Germany & ZSLondon, UK), Ludmilla Aguiar (Universidade de Brasília, Brazil), Luis Aguirre (Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Bolivia), Maria Joao Ramos Pereira (Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal), Matthew Struebig (Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei), Matthias Herkt (Ulm University, Germany), Michael Willig (University of Connecticut, USA), Tigga Kingston (Texas Tech University, USA) Winfried Fink (Boston University & University of California, Santa Cruz, USA) * Other colleagues willing to participate in the symposium are asked to contact the conveners.

S13: Social and vocal complexity in bats

Mirjam Knörnschild - Institute of Experimental Ecology, University of Ulm, Germany. - mirjam.knoernschild@uni-ulm.de Martina Nagy - Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions - und Biodiversitätsforschung Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. - MartinaNagy@gmx.net

* In this symposium, cutting edge research on mating systems, natal dispersal strategies and social behaviours will complement novel findings on vocal repertoire size and the context-specificity of social vocalizations in bats. Eight speakers from different nations will explore how social complexity is linked to vocal complexity in a variety of bat species. The interdisciplinary approach of this symposium will increase our understanding about selective forces shaping social and vocal complexity in bats. * The following invited contributions are expected: * Gerald Wilkinson: Review: Social and vocal complexity in * Maarten Vonhof: Dispersal and population structure in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) * Helena Jahelková: Mating system and male advertisement songs of Nathusius' pipistrelle (Pipistrellus nathusii) * Gerald Carter: Social structure and vocal communication in white-winged vampire bats (Diamus youngii) * Mirjam Knörnschild: Vocal group signatures aid queuing for harem access in male sac-winged bats (Saccopteryx bilineata). * Three slots are free for contributed talks, posters are welcome.

S14: Anthropogenic impact on bats: from fragmentation to urbanization

Kirsten Jung - Institute of Experimental Ecology, University Ulm, Germany - kirsten.jung@uni-ulm.de Elisabeth K.V. Kalko - Institute of Experimental Ecology, University Ulm, Germany - elisabeth.kalko@uni-ulm.de Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama Raphael Arlettaz - Conservation Biology, University of Bern - raphael.arlettaz@nat.unibe.ch

* Human population continues to increase throughout the world leading to small and large-scale habitat changes and often to human-dominated ecosystems. Fragmentation of pristine habitats and expanding urban areas are key drivers in degradation or destruction of important habitats for bats and knowledge about the potential of bats to adjust to these environmental changes is one of the key questions in bat conservation planning. In the present symposium, we put together research on the study of effects of anthropogenic disturbances on occurrence, activity and diversity of bats in the temperate zone and the tropics. We discuss current research findings to evaluate which factors constitute crucial elements for the development of effective conservation strategies in an anthropogenically-changing world. * Expected number of invited participants: 6 invited plus other people who are interested. * Format: open symposium with invited participants and submitted contributions, including talks and posters.

S15 Diversity, systematics and conservation of South American bats

Valéria Tavares - Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Minas Gerais, Brazil - val.c.tavares@gmail.com Ludmilla M.S. Aguiar - Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil - ludmillaaguiar@unb.br Enrico Bernard - Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil - enricob2@gmail.com Renato Gregorin - Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Brazil - rgregorin@ufla.br

* South America is home to an astonishing bat diversity, including the two foremost bat species-rich countries in the world, Colombia and Brazil. South America is also experiencing strong environmental pressures associated with the development of its regional economy. The rates of destruction experienced by some of the South American biomes presents a challenge: there is not enough time to survey and gain better knowledge of the bat faunas present in those species-rich habitats. Moreover, such a task is responded to by only a small number of bat taxonomists in the continent. In spite of all the difficulties, our knowledge of bat diversity in South America has increased significantly in the last 15 years, with dozens of new bat taxa described, and distributional extensions of hundreds and even thousands of kilometres frequently being recorded. The aim of the proposed symposium is to present and discuss the current advances in diversity, systematics and conservation of South American bats. * We are proposing the participation of speakers working in Brazil (Valéria Tavares, Ludmilla Aguiar, Enrico Bernard, Renato Gregorin), Colombia (Hugo Mantilla-Meluk), Ecuador (Diego Tirira), Bolívia (Luis Aguirre), Peru (Paul Velazco, Bruce Patterson), Venezuela (José Ochoa) the Guyanas and Suriname (Burton Lim, P Charles Dominique), Paraguay (Michel Willig) and Argentina (Monica Diaz, Ruben Barquez). * The symposium will consist of invited contributions only, but posters will be welcome as well.

S16 Bats as inspiration for biomimetic robots

Annemarie Surlykke - Odense University, Denmark Elisabeth K. V. Kalko - Institute of Experimental Ecology, University of Ulm, Germany - elisabeth.kalko@uni-ulm.de

* Lately, there has been great interest in developing versatile and robust perception using sonar systems that integrate active sensing, morphology and behavior. For this, detailed analysis of bat morphology, acoustics and dynamic changes to control perception through action is needed to get detailed knowledge for the development of biomimetic robots orienting by sound. In the symposium we integrate studies on sensorimotor adaptations of a diverse array species to inspire for the implementations in bat-like robotic actuators executing characteristic sequences of emission and modes of behavior. * This is an open symposium with five invited speakers: Roman Kuc (Yale University, USA), Lasse Jakobsen, (Odense University, Denmark), Inga Geipel (University of Ulm, Germany), Kirstin Uebernickel (University of Ulm, Germany), Eloise Rowland (Odense University, Denmark). * Further contributions can be accepted.

S17 Bats and pathogens emergence

Sébastien J. Puechmaille - School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland - s.puechmaille@gmail.com Meriadeg Ar Gouilh - Laboratory for Urgent Response to Biological Threats, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France - merry@pasteur.fr

* The first emergence of the XXIst century, the SARS-Coronavirus outbreak in 2002-2003, surprised the World by the rapidity at which it spread, its severity for humans and the nature of its etiologic agent. A few years later, in 2006, the White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) was discovered in the USA and although harmless to humans, it has been associated with the death of over one million bats in just a few years. Actually, bats are known to host a large diversity of pathogens but our current knowledge on these pathogens is often very limited (especially their ecology and relation with their host). Pathogens associated with bats have received little attention and although their pathogenicity for humans is generally known, their effect on bats is poorly understood. Similarly, very little is known about how, when and where pathogens cross species borders and what conditions are necessary for this kind of event to happen. An integrative view linking pathogens and the relations between humans’ activities and bats or their habitat is needed for a better understanding of pathogens emergence. * This symposium will accommodate oral and poster presentations on the relation between wildlife and pathogens emergence focusing on bats with examples such as White-Nose Syndrome, SARS, Henipavirus, etc. Presentation bringing new ideas, integrating different fields (i.e. animal/human health, conservation, ecology, etc.) and promoting interdisciplinary and collaborative perspectives are greatly encouraged. * Open symposium with invited speakers and submitted contributions, including talks and posters.