In cooperation with Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj (UBB), the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity (iDiv) organize a summer school in Romania on pollination ecology. We invite students (Bachelor, Master or PhD level) from Germany and Romania to participate in this exciting event.

The summer school will teach students how to collect data on plant-pollinator networks in the field. The data will be analysed in order to quantify:

• the breeding system of a plant species
• the magnitude by which plant species are pollen limited
• the environmental and plant traits that correlate with pollen limitation
• the identity of the pollinating insects to broad taxonomic groups
• the structure of the plant-pollinator network for a community of co-flowering plant species. 

The summer school will take place in the Ghețari–Scărișoara area, southern part of the Apuseni Nature Park (https://goo.gl/N1uDwG). All statistical analyses and network analyses will be conducted using the programming language R. The language of the summer school is English.

10 - 14 July 2017 (5 full days)

Prof. Dr. Tiffany Knight (MLU/UFZ/iDiv): expertise in pollination ecology, experimental design

Dr. Irina Goia, (UBB): expertise in botany and plant identification

Dr. Joanne Bennett (MLU/iDiv): expertise in pollination ecology, spatial analysis

Dr. Reinart Feldmann (UFZ): expertise in entomology

Valentin Ștefan (UFZ/iDiv): expertise in statistics, R programming

Amibeth Thompson (MLU/iDiv): expertise in plant-pollinator networks

• Bachelor students (in their final years), MSc students or PhD candidates in the fields of botany, ecology, entomology, or other related field
• Good English skills
• Motivation to learn in an intercultural working environment

The application period for our summer school 2017 has already expired.

We are now in the process of reviewing all applications. The summer school committee will select 10 summer school students (5 students each from Germany and Romania).

We kindly ask all applicants for their patience. We will get back to you as soon as possible!