October 29, 2018. Dr. Aurelio Serrano, Scientific Researcher at the Institute of Plant Biochemistry and Photosynthesis (IBVF), located at the Isla de la Cartuja Scientific Research Center (cicCartuja) in Seville, has recently been appointed member of the FEPS-ISOP Joint Committee representing the European Federation of Protistology Societies (FEPS), of which he was Secretary General during the period 2011-2016 in which he organized the VII European Congress of Protistology (VII ECOP) in Seville. Along with Dr. Serrano, the following are members of this committee representing FEPS: Dr. Maria Cristina Angelici (Italian Institute of Health, Rome, Italy), current Secretary General of FEPS, and Dr. Thomas Weisse (University of Innsbruck, Austria), and representing ISOP (The International Society of Protistologists): Dr. Avelina Espinosa (Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, USA), Chair of the ISOP Program Committee, Dr. Chris Lane (University of Rhode Island, Kingston, USA), current President of ISOP, and Dr. John Dolan (Zoological Station, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France), former President of ISOP.
This international committee will be responsible for coordinating the organization of the upcoming joint congress VIII ECOP-ISOP Joint Meeting to be held in Rome next summer 2019, as well as promoting international meetings and conferences on specific topics related to Protistology.
About FEPS
FEPS (https://fepseu.org/) is the acronym for the Federation of European Societies of Protistology. FEPS is a transnational institution made up of twelve national and international societies and other European scientific groups of Protistology. It was founded in 2006 with the aim of promoting and fostering research and higher education in Protistology, a branch of Microbiology that studies unicellular and multicellular eukaryotic organisms without tissue organization.
Its objectives include stimulating and expanding collaborations between groups of researchers from different European nations and helping young protistologists. Another fundamental objective of FEPS is the periodic organization of the European Congresses of Protistology (ECOP) held every four years, while at the same time promoting and supporting meetings and conferences at European level on specific topics related to Protistology.
FEPS is directed by a committee made up of delegates from the member societies, who can be their national presidents or designated representatives for this purpose. The FEPS committee meets on the occasion of the ECOP congresses and elects a Secretary General who is responsible for the administrative and coordinating work of the federation for a period of usually four years.
The following associations are members of FEPS: Belgian Society of Protozoology (Belgium), Czech Section of Protozoology (Czech Republic); Deutsche Gesellschaft für Protozoologie (Germany), British Section of the Society of Protozoologists (Great Britain and Canada), Groupement des Protistologues de Langue Française (France), The Israel Society for Parasitology, Protozoology and Tropical Diseases (Israel), Società Italiana di Protistologia (Italy), Polish Protistologial Group (non-formal) (Poland), Society of Protozoology (Russia), Scandinavian Section of the Society of Protozoologists (Scandinavian countries), Grupo Especializado de Protistología (GEP) of the Spanish Society of Microbiology (Spain), Ukrainian Scientific Society of Parasitologists (Ukraine). FEPS maintains a special relationship of collaboration and coordination with the International Society of Protistologists, with special emphasis on the organization of joint scientific conferences and meetings.
About ISOP
The International Society of Protistologists (https://protistologists.org) is an association of scientists from five continents dedicated to the research of unicellular eukaryotes or protists. This transnational association promotes the presentation and discussion of new or important issues and problems in Protistology, and works to provide resources for the promotion and advancement of this science. The Society of Protozoologists began publishing The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology in 1954 with the first issue dedicated to the memory of L. L. Woodruff. It has been published continuously since then, and is currently the official journal of ISOP, with which it promotes the study of protozoa in particular, and protists in general.
ISOP is governed by an international Executive Committee headed by a President and made up of delegates who are periodically elected by vote among its members, both established scientists and students. There are committees with specific functions, such as conference programming, Taxonomy, etc. ISOP awards international prizes to outstanding senior researchers and has a scholarship program for stays and attendance at conferences.
The next VIII European Congress of Protistology (VIII ECOP) will be held from 28 July to 2 August 2019 in Rome (Italy) coordinated by the Italian Society of Protistology (SIPonlus). The Congress will be organised by the Federation of European Societies of Protistology (FEPS) for the second time in collaboration with the International Society of Protistologists (ISOP).
The venue of this joint international congress will be the Crowne Plaza St De Peter Conference Centre-Hotel (www.crowneplaza.com/rome-stpeters), Via Aurelia Antica 415, Rome. ECOP congresses are held every four years with the aim of exploring the state of the art in basic and applied applications of Protistology, worldwide. The last one was held in Seville, Spain, in 2015, for the first time jointly with ISOP, and whose Organising Committee was President Dr. Aurelio Serrano (IBVF, CSIC-University of Seville).
The joint organization with the ISOP annual meeting allows to include numerous scientific events on different protistological topics. In particular, sessions will be dedicated to topical issues beyond basic research such as climate change, globalization, environmental stress, symbiosis and parasitism, ecology and biodiversity. Plenary lectures and special symposia will be held in the morning and Parallel Sessions, with symposia and oral sessions, will follow in the afternoon. Various workshops, presentations and poster sessions will complement the conference program. Special scholarships and awards will be available to promote the participation of young scientists.
For information on the organization of the conference please visit the website www.ecop2019.org. A special group rate at the Conference Center-Hotel Crowne Plaza St. Peter’s has been negotiated for participants. Additional accommodations with variable costs will be available soon. Please visit the website regularly for updates. Corresponding announcements will be published in the affiliated scientific journals (European Journal of Protistology; Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology) and Society websites in the coming weeks.
