Reading Group on Cross-disciplinary Approaches to Conservation Issues

Acknowledging that equitable and successful conservation requires a variety of disciplinary perspectives, we endeavor to:

• Encourage discussion, collaboration, and collective action among people concerned with conservation and environmental issues from a variety of academic disciplines.
• Work collectively across disciplines to increase effectiveness in creating conservation solutions.
• Help each other to become better academics, researchers, and practitioners.
• Share and expand the wealth of resources available to students looking at environmental issues at UGA.
• Generate increased awareness both on campus and within the greater Athens community about conservation, as well as opportunities for involvement in conservation activities.

Goals / Activities

• Increase our effectiveness as researchers, scholars, community members and conservation practitioners.
• Initiate casual discussions for interdisciplinary idea exchange. Foster situations for learning and discussion, bringing people from multiple disciplines to the table.
• Provide opportunities for students from any discipline to present or discuss research projects or foci with students from other disciplines in order to develop an informed research process prior to publication or completion, thereby eliminating avoidable critique and producing a more well-rounded project.
• Coordinate and collaborate with other groups on campus. Actively network and build relationships across campus. Connect people to others with similar research goals, subjects, or geographic foci.
• Sponsor, organize, and participate in conservation activities, outreach, educational programs, symposia, seminars, presentations and other events.
• Conduct preliminary survey of conservation programs and organizations at UGA and previous efforts or existing databases of information.