Hydrozoan Society Workshop hosted for the first time in the Nordic countries
The international workshop that occurs every three years attracted over 50 participants who gathered in Bergen to share the latest advances in the field. Michael Sars Centre aquarist Alexandre Jan was an Invited Speaker and also gave a tour of the Centre's state-of-the-art facilities.
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The 10th Hydrozoan Society Workshop took place in Bergen over the second week of May with researchers attending from around the world including France, Japan, and the U.S., as well as four different Norwegian institutions. Organized by Associate Professor Aino Hosia, Researcher Luis Martell, and Postdoc Joan J. Soto-Àngel from the University Museum of Bergen and supported by the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre, the international workshop combined oral presentations, experimental work, and field outings including a sampling day at Espegrend Marine Biological Station. The goal of the event was ambitious, to attract and inspire a new generation of hydrozoologists.
For Joan, the Hydrozoan Society Workshop is not just another conference but “the most important meeting worldwide for anything that has to do with Hydrozoa”. Hosting the event in Bergen was therefore an honor and a pleasure for the team.
“The Hydrozoan Society Workshop is by far my favorite conference, and we have given our best this year to make sure the participants find the activities planned fruitful” Joan J. Soto-Àngel
Alexandre Jan, Research Technician in the Burkhardt group at the Michael Sars Centre, was among the invited speakers of the workshop. In his talk titled “The art of jellyfish husbandry: in search for new model organisms”, Alexandre shared the latest techniques he has developed at the Centre to establish cultures from rare specimens collected in the wild. "I had a great time during the workshop, it was really inspiring to learn new techniques from colleagues working all over the world", he said. Later in the day, participants were invited to visit the Michael Sars Centre facility where he oversees the culture of several species of ctenophores and jellyfish. "We have a setup that is quite unique in the world, I think that everyone enjoyed the visit", Alexandre added.
Alexandre Jan, Research Technician in the Burkhardt group, presents his talk on jellyfish husbandry.
On the last day of the meeting, researcher Lucas Leclère, co-head of the Cnidevo lab at the Banyuls-sur-Mer Biological Station was elected as the next President of the Society. The week-long workshop connected several generations of researchers and offered participants great opportunities to build new collaborations. “The workshop integrates presentations and technical skills demonstrations” explains Joan. “It certainly shapes the progress of knowledge acquisition in Hydrozoan research for the upcoming years”.
The Hydrozoan Society
The Hydrozoan Society was established in 1985 and has organized nine international workshops since then. The Society aims to bring together researchers and students from all fields working on Hydrozoa, a group of animals that include some jellyfish and other related gelatinous organisms. The interest of the association is focused on systematics, taxonomy, phylogeny, ecology, general biology, and to a lesser extent cellular biology. Since its foundation, it has grown into an association numbering some 130 members world-wide.
The objectives of the International Hydrozoan Society are:
- to encourage research on Hydrozoa and stimulate others to participate and co-operate through informal meetings and correspondence
- to provide a forum for exchange of ideas
- to establish a means and an opportunity for personal contact and interaction in aiming for better mutual understanding
- to serve as a liaison among hydrozoologists
- to introduce new students to the workers in this field
