1. Introduction

The “One Belt, One Road” is a major international cooperation initiative proposed by China and an important practical platform to promote the building of a community of human destiny. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and the depth and breadth of international exchange has reached a new level as the number of countries and regions joining the initiative is increasing. At the same time, maintaining the balance of biodiversity and sustainable development is an important challenge for the countries of the “Belt and Road” Initiative.

Along with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), protecting, restoring, and promoting the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems and curbing biodiversity loss is one of the solutions to the serious challenges facing the world today. At the beginning of the 21st century, under the advocacy of the international Convention on Biological Diversity, with the effective implementation of projects such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the Global Environment Outlook and the International Biodiversity Programme, the biodiversity monitoring and assessment system has been gradually established and improved, which has played an important role in biodiversity conservation.

Insects are the most successfully evolved group on Earth, with more than one million known extant species, accounting for over 90% of the animal kingdom and 54% of the total number of species in the entire biological world. They are an important component of the Earth's biodiversity, but also one of the most difficult taxa to monitor and assess. In this context, Professor Ming Bai of Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor Alfried P. Vogler of the Natural History Museum London U.K. jointly initiated the “SITE-100 International Mega-Science” Initiative, which aims to reveal global insect diversity patterns and formation mechanisms through the construction of more than 100 standard sample sites and standardized analysis processes worldwide.

The aim of this course is to promote scientific training and cooperation in the “Belt and Road” region, to develop technical standards in insect diversity pattern assessment and intelligent insect monitoring systems, and to build an alliance of insect diversity pattern assessment and intelligent monitoring systems in the Belt and Road region. Through joint efforts, we can resolve ecological conflicts that cannot be solved by a single country, and practise the global values of the community of human destiny.

2. Student registration

This course will help to improve the capacity of insect diversity survey and monitoring in the “Belt and Road” countries by teaching basic theoretical knowledge and cutting-edge research techniques in insect diversity and cross-disciplines, train international talents in related fields, build a research network for young scientists.

Young scholars, especially those in the fields of Entomology, Zoology, Ecology and Biodiversity, as well as post-docs and doctoral students, who are interested in conducting research on the assessment and monitoring of insect diversity patterns in the Belt and Road countries and regions are invited to apply. Twenty free quota of applicants will be offered and participants will be selected based on their nationality and qualifications. The list of the Belt and Road countries could be found from this link (https://eng.yidaiyilu.gov.cn/info/iList.jsp?cat_id=10076&cur_page=1).

3. Training content

The training course will be hosted by Prof. Ming Bai from Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The course will be delivered in a trinity of indoor theoretical lectures, software operation, and outdoor field practice training. Well-known scholars from Kiel University from Germany, Imperial College London from U.K., the University of Hong Kong, universities or institutes from China have been invited to deliver the course. The specific training schedule will be released in the second round of notification.

4. Training formats

Training period: 2023.10.10 - 2023.10.28

Training form: offline training

Training language: English

Training venue: Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing); Cangzhou Normal University (Cangzhou, Hebei); Hebei Agricultural University (Baoding, Hebei).

5. Registration 

Deadline for registration: 20 May 2023 for international participants and 20 June 2023 for domestic participants. The second round of registration would be opened later depending on the availability of applications.

Enrolment: Submit registration information via the link

https://belt-road-insect-diversity.casconf.cn.

Conference contact: Dr. Ning Liu (Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Email: liun@ioz.ac.cn

Organizer

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Co-organizer

International Academic Exchange Committee of the Chinese Entomological Society

Hebei Agricultural University

Cangzhou Normal University