In July 2017, Helen James and Sukh Mantel will be travelling to Cartagena, Colombia to take part in the International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB). Helen and Sukh are members of the Society for Conservation Biology’s Freshwater Working Group, a group leading a number of professional development activities for students and early-career researchers. During their time at ICCB, Helen and Sukh are leading a Curriculum Vitae Clinic for students in the field of conservation science and are co-leading a workshop on global conservation policies. The success of these activities will reach 100s of students and early career conservationists, and will allow for increased collaboration among colleagues new and old to foster more effective freshwater policy and management across the world.
The aim of this new Pozible campaign is to raise funds for Sukh and Helen to travel to ICCB. Funding for conferences in South Africa is currently in limited supply because of changes to government spending on higher education. Limitations in potential funding – and the high cost of attending this conference – make it difficult for Sukh and Helen to secure the funds needed to cover all costs associated with attending ICCB. Therefore, we are reaching out to others to seek their support in helping us get Sukh and Helen to ICCB so that they can make a difference for students and for freshwater conversation globally.
To pay for two return flights from Johannesburg to Cartagena Colombia.
Two round-trip flights = $3,000 USD.
As long as our funding campaign on Pozible is successful, we do not foresee any project challenges. The CV Clinic, Workshop and Field Trip are all already organized. There is no additional funding needed to ensure those are carried out successfully. All associated funding has been secured for Sukh and Helen as well. The only potential risk may be if Sukh or Helen face a family emergency that would not allow them to travel. However, in the case that happens, another Freshwater Working Group board member could step-in, but that is hopefully a low-level need or risk, because all board members are already committed to these and other activities associated with the conference. If Sukh or Helen were unable to take their travels, we would seek reimbursement for flight costs and return the funds to the Freshwater Working Group to support similar initiatives in the future.