DUBLIN, IRELAND 2008 - Fourth Circular
Dear Colleagues
Welcome to the 4th Circular!
We'd like to thank everyone who has registered in time for our deadline of the end of July! If you haven't paid yet and do intend to come to either of the meetings, please get in touch to arrange this - we are able to accommodate late registrations for both the conferences. Late registrations will be accepted at the standard registration rates. No late fees apply, but please note the conference dinner is completely booked and latecomers will not be able to attend.
The complete (draft) conference programme is now online (www.svpca.org) alongside drafts of all the submitted abstracts. The abstract booklet will not be sent for printing until mid-August so please alert us if you spot problems with your submitted work. There's still time to change things!
Conference summary
| Monday 1st September | SPPC registration (Kildare St) 4-5PM |
| Tuesday 2nd September | SPPC papers (GSI) SVPCA registration (Kildare St) 4-5PM Evening reception, Rotunda NMI, Kildare St. @ 18.00 |
| Wednesday 3rd September | SVPCA papers (Kildare St) Social evening in the Trinity Inn, Pearse St. @ 19.00 |
| Thursday 4th September | SVPCA papers (Kildare St) Evening reception/SVPCA auction Alliance Francaise, Kildare St @ 19.30 |
| Friday 5th September | SVPCA papers (Kildare St) Annual Symposium dinner @ 19.00 Nico's Italian Restaurant, Dame St. |
| Saturday 6th September | Trip, Ballybetagh Bog (Glendalough, Co. Wicklow) @ 9.00 |
GSI - Geological Survey of Ireland
NMI - National Museum of Ireland
Social events:
There will be three social events as part of this years meeting. Venues have been chosen so as to be close to the main conference site, the NMI Kildare Street Archaeology Museum (http://www.museum.ie/en/list/visit-us-overview-archaeology-ethnography.aspx).
The SVPCA 'welcome reception' will take place in the entrance rotunda of the National Museum of Ireland's Archaeology Museum (the main conference venue on Kildare Street) from 6PM until 7.30PM (Tuesday September 2nd). Wine and light snacks will be served.
The conference registration desk, located in the Education Resource Room at NMI Kildare Street, will be open from 4PM until 5PM on the 2nd September after which the Museum closes to the public. The main entrance rotunda will then be opened again to SPPC/SVPCA delegates to attend the evening reception from 6PM onwards. Attendants will be clearly visible to you inside the NMI Archaeology Museum; please feel free to ask them for directions and/or assistance at any time.
On Wednesday evening (September 3rd) we have booked the Trinity Inn Pub (Pearse St, Dublin 2) from 7PM onwards. Snack food will be provided. On Thursday evening (September 4th), the annual Jones-Fenleigh auction will take place in the café of the Alliance Francaise on Kildare Street from 7.30PM onwards. Snack food and drinks will be provided.
Please remember to bring along your donations for the auction (or mail them to Gareth Dyke [address below] in advance of the meeting). Our annual bursaries from the Jones-Fenleigh Memorial Fund for attendance at SVPCA rely on the money raised from these donations! (so please also bring along your loot on the day!).
This years SVPCA annual dinner will take place at Nico's Italian Restaurant, on Dame St. at 7PM. This restaurant is associated with Vertebrate Paleontology in Dublin as it was owned by the late father of Rob Gandola (Gandola et al., 2006. Salt glands in the fossil crocodile Metriorhynchus. JVP 26:1009-1010). Menu options will be circulated at the meeting. Please note that the price for this meal includes three courses and coffee but does not include alcohol.
Collections access in Dublin:
If you would like to access collections held in Dublin then we ask that you make contact with either Matthew or Patrick over the next two weeks so that the relevant fossils can be made available:
National Museum of Ireland: please contact Matthew Parkes to arrange to visit these collections (mparkes@museum.ie)
Trinity College Dublin, Geology Museum: please contact Patrick Wyse Jackson to arrange to visit these collections (wysjcknp@tcd.ie)
Some details of the fossil vertebrate collections holdings of the NMI are available at: http://www.ucd.ie/cobid/collections.html
Platform presentations:
All presentations should be assembled in PowerPoint (NB: no other presentation facilities are available) . Although all versions of PowerPoint are supported by our systems, whether created on Mac or PC, you are strongly urged to send us a CD of your presentation in advance of the meeting (mail to: Gareth Dyke, School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield Dublin 4, Ireland).
As part of an NSF-supported project, we will be recording presentations from this years SVPCA meeting for re-broadcast over the internet at low bandwith. More details on this will be available at the meeting, but if you are not keen at this stage to have your presentation recorded as part of this project please contact Gareth.
A special issue of the journal Historical Biology is planned for mid-2009 to contain papers presented at this year's SVPCA meeting. Please speak to Gareth either beforehand, or during either symposia, if you would like to avail of this chance to get your presentation peer-reviewed and published in good time.
Posters will be on display in the tea and coffee area of the SVPCA conference (Education Resource Room, Kildare St) for the duration of the meeting. SPPC posters will first be displayed at the GSI (on the 2nd September) and then will be moved to Kildare St for the SVPCA meeting.
Conference field trip:
Overwhelmingly, people have voted this year for an excursion to visit the Ballybetagh Bog Giant Deer locality in the Wicklow Mountains. Thus we have decided to run this field trip only (as interest in the other two options was very low). However, if people want to go to Castlecomer Discovery Centre we can provide advice on simplest travel options and a local contact for visiting the centre. Please note that the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, is also open free to the public.
If you would like to join the Ballybetagh Bog trip and have not yet let us know then please email Gareth as soon as possible. A coach will leave from outside the Kildare Street Museum (the main conference venue) at 9AM on Saturday the 6th September, and will return to Dublin city before 4PM (for those planning to fly out Saturday night). We will pass through the beautiful Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains and make a stop for lunch at the Glendalough Monastic site.
Finally, our offer still stands … if you …
Need assistance with booking a place to stay in Dublin?:
Please don't hesitate to email Gareth for assistance - gareth.dyke@ucd.ie
We look forward to welcoming you in Dublin in September!
Gareth Dyke (UCD), Nigel Monaghan and Matthew Parkes (NMINH)
