ergo lignum vitae incorruptibili
Forthcoming courses
Dead Wood Course — Iberian
For a long time I have been planning a course in Southern Europe, closer to the Atlantic ocean and to the Mediterranean than the previous courses. For the first time there is a concrete plan and a potential venue for such a course. More later!
Dead Wood Course — classic
I am exploring options and funding to organize the next Dead Wood course in the Baltic countries. Key teachers have confirmed their availability and there are a few venue options, but hunt for funding is still on. Ideas welcome.
Past courses
2023 Aug Citizen Science – Faculty of Science & Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
GBIF lecture as part of the course
2023 April Accelerating biodiversity research through DNA barcodes, collection and observation data – Yundola, Bulgaria / with colleagues from GBIF Norway, GBIF Secretariat, University of Oslo, ForBio, University of Helsinki
2022 Aug Citizen Science – Faculty of Science & Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark / GBIF lecture as part of the course
2022 Aug Data skills in biodiversity education and research – Ukraine (online) / with colleagues from GBIF Norway, GBIF Secretariat, University of Oslo
2022 April Data skills in biodiversity education and research – Yerevan, Armenia / with colleagues from GBIF Norway, GBIF Secretariat, University of Oslo
2021 October Dead Wood Meeting – online through Bergen, Norway
2021 September Field mycology – Hajnówka, Poland / GBIF and data modules in the mycology course by Marta Wrzosek & Julia Pawłowska
2021 Aug Citizen Science – Faculty of Science & Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark / GBIF lecture as part of the course
2021 June Accelerating biodiversity research through DNA barcodes, collection and observation data – online, for Georgia and Armenia / with colleagues from GBIF Norway, GBIF Secretariat, University of Oslo, ForBio, University of Helsinki / An introductory course on data management skills for accessing and publishing data through biodiversity data platforms. Focus on use of DNA barcodes, collection and observation data to resolve research questions in biodiversity. A four-day intensive programme uses a combination of lectures, tutorials, and hands-on exercises. Handling biodiversity data including DNA barcoding, practical experience in using open and digitally documented biodiversity data through GBIF and BOLD to answer biodiversity research questions. Understanding and practicing capturing observation, collection, and genetic data from analogue and digital sources, basic skills in data publishing through GBIF and BOLD.
2019 November Data skills in biodiversity education and research – Kameniauki, Belarus / With colleagues from GBIF Norway, GBIF Poland, gbif.ru team, University of Oslo. Five-day program curriculum on open biodiversity data publishing, including excursion and bioblitz in Białowieża forest, Belarus. Regional training course for MSc and PhD students with expert trainers and trainers-in-training. A training course to enhance the capacity to plan and implement biodiversity data digitization and mobilization efforts effectively and according to GBIF standards. The course covers conceptual and technical aspects of data mobilization, including planning, capture, quality and publishing of data the GBIF network for education, research and policymaking. The training has online and onsite components and a strong practical approach and group work.
2019 September Biology of polypores – Białowieża, Poland / with Elisabet Ottosson, Renata Krzyściak-Kosińska. A half-day workshop comprised of lectures on polypore biology, introduction to polypore interactions with other organisms, including relationships of polypores with each other, with trees, and with insects, and a slide show on the key polypore species of Białowieża. Attendees familiarized themselves with the key aspects of the polypore biology and the main species groups of this group of wood-inhabiting Basidiomycetes of Central Europe.
2019 June Dead Wood Course 2019 – Voronezh reserve, Russia / The IV International course on dead wood was for the first time organized in my home country, Russia. Thanks to the support from DIKU and ForBio (Norway), 12 teachers and 24 students took part in the course, coming mainly from Norway and Russia, as well as from Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Switzerland, and the US. We followed the classical intensive five-day course program comprised by lectures, workshops, excursions, and an obligatory book exam, targeting advanced master and PhD students. Most of the presentations are available online as PDFs.
2019 Jun Data skills in biodiversity education and research – Dushanbe, Tajikistan / with colleagues from GBIF Norway, gbif.ru team, University of Oslo
Five-day program curriculum on open biodiversity data publishing, including excursion and bioblitz in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Regional training course for MSc and PhD students with expert trainers and trainers-in-training. This training course aimed to enhance the capacity to plan and implement biodiversity data digitization and mobilization efforts effectively and according to GBIF standards. It had a strong focus on the technical aspects of data mobilization — in particular everything related to the data lifecycle: planning, capture, quality and publishing in order to increase the amount, richness and quality of the data published through the GBIF network and data use in scientific research and policymaking. The training has online and onsite components and a strong practical approach and group work.
2019 Jan Identifying and publishing HTS/Sanger DNA sequence datasets* – Dragør, Denmark / with GBIF and UNITE colleagues. Sanger sequencing and next generation sequencing are becoming widespread mycology tools, yet many researchers, in particular students, are stuck at the “sequences at the hard drive” stage. The NEFOM course will bring you the necessary skills on sequence identification of fungi using UNITE, and to publish the resulting data as authored, DOI-citable datasets through GBIF.org. Learning goals are to identify HTS and Sanger DNA sequence datasets of fungi using UNITE Species Hypotheses database and to publish sequence identification results together with sample data as occurrence or sampling event datasets at GBIF.org.
2018 May Digitization of collecitons and publishing data: wet collections and GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit – Moscow, Russia / with GBIF.ru and GBIF network colleagues. Funded by the GBIF grant to GBIF.ru and by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU), a three-days intensive on-site course took place in Moscow in the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS. The was comprised of i) general introduction to the world of global biodiversity data and GBIF, ii) starting and managing digitisation projects at the collection or institutional scale, general principles of digitisation and practical advice, and iii) data publishing through GBIF. The course aimed at the beginners who would like to learn publishing biodiversity data through GBIF. Participants were introduced to GBIF supported data standards and support available in Russia. The course had a strong focus on the technical aspects of data capture, key concepts of biodiversity informatics, introduction to the Darwin Core Standard, data standardisation, data publishing utilizing GBIF’s Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT). Presentations and other materials are online at GBIF.ru.
2018 Sep Data mobilization skills: training on mobilizing biodiversity data using GBIF and BOLD tools* – lake Baikal, Russia / with GBIF network and NorBOL colleagues. The course is organised by the Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry RAS, University of Bergen, ForBio, Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU), and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Secretariat in association with the International Conference Information Technologies in the Research of Biodiversity. The course will enhance the capacity to plan and implement biodiversity data digitization efforts effectively and according to GBIF standards. It will have a strong focus on the technical aspects of data mobilization and data lifecycle: planning, digitization, management and online publishing in order to increase the amount, richness and quality of the data published through the GBIF network. The course will also cover principles and routine in DNA barcoding, will provide participants with a practical and theoretical introduction to DNA barcoding through BOLD Systems. The student will develop and evaluate data mobilization strategies, apply digitization, data cleaning and data publishing protocols and tools, learn how to operate BOLD systems and theor application to biodiversity surveying and monitoring.
2016 Nordic – Russian Boreal Biodiversity and Data Education Network / Funded by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU) with the support from the Research School in Biosystematics (ForBio)
2016 Dead Wood Meeting and Course – Lammi, Finland / The Dead Wood Meeting provided an opportunity to students and guest speakers to present and discuss their dead wood research. This medium-sized student and researcher symposium, a mix of plenary talks by researchers, flashlight talks and poster presentations by students created an environment for student communication and bridged the the gap between the university lectures and the real-life of a researcher and a conservationist. The weekend symposium was followed by the 3.5-day intensive beginner-oriented Dead Wood Course comprised by lectures, workshops, excursion, and a book exam. This course covers a broad range of topics, such as biodiversity in dead wood in boreal and temperate environments, biodiversity conservation and restoration, and all kinds of lignicolous organisms
2016 Polypores as tools in forest conservation* – Lammi, Finland
By Otto Miettinen, Olli Manninen, Tuomo Niemelä / Intensive forest management has led into decline of populations of polypores, the dominant wood decomposers in boreal forests. Many species are classified as threatened in national red list assessments. Being a compact and relatively easy to identify species group, polypores are used as indicators of high conservation value forests in Nordic countries and Russia. Students learned to identify polypores and selected corticioid fungi, focusing on indicator species and practical indexes. The course included lectures and daily field work in different types of forests, with the emphasis on macroscopic and field identification skills
2016 Biodiversity data management and Open data* – Tartu, Estonia / By Urmas Kõljalg, Kessy Abarenkov, Hanna Koivula, Allan Zirk, Veljo Runnel
The hands on course, targeted at early PhD and MSc students, covers the basics of data collecting, data management, and publishing data and explores tools beyond MS Excel and R. The program goes through modern and efficient ways to collect and manage data, to collect taxon occurrence or sample based data; to handle standards and data quality, to create integrated databases for the different data types, to manage and publish datasets
2015 Dead Wood Meeting: student and researcher symposium – Lammi, Finland
2014 Polypore course – Tver’ region, Russia
2014 ForBio data course – Kilpisjarvi, Finland
2014 NGS sample preparation course*, Karina Clemmensen & team – Uppsala, Sweden
2013 Biodiversity in dead wood – Helsinki, Finland
2013 Polypore course – Białowieża, Poland
2012 Forest microbiology and fungal biotechnology, invited lecturer – Helsinki, Finland
2005-2006 Saproxylic seminar, chair – Helsinki, Finland
2010-2014 Conservation Biology in Fragmented Landscapes, mentor – Helsinki, Finland
2003 Taxonomy and Biology of Polypores, assistant – Lammi, Finland
2000–2004 Entomology, summer courses, Moscow State University, Russia
Moscow State 57 School
2001–2002 Biology, VI & VIII grades
Collaborators
Aleksandr V. Kurakov
Jan Stenlid
Tuomo Niemelä
Hugo de Boer
invited teachers in the courses
* coordination and / or funding
Funding
Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education SIU (DIKU)
Research School in Biosystematics ForBio
Finnish National Agency for Education
