The BOU has a long history of supporting students. We currently offer the following:
Reduced rate to attend the BOU annual spring conference
Western Europe students (post-grad) - £50 - yes, just £50 to register for the all three days of the conference, cover your accommodation and all your food (and its good food at Leicester Uni) at the conference! And don't forget this buys you ultra-cheap access to some of the top ornithologists your student money will ever buy you! Lost of spare time to socialize with them and all the others at the conference. And there's a bar! What are you waiting for?!
For our annual spring conference we will also award the best student oral or poster presentation - see below.
. . . or come for free!
Students (post-grad) studying in Eastern Europe or a developing countries can come for free! You just need to get to the venue and then you stay for free - free conference, free accommodation and free meals! (limited availability)
For our annual spring conference we will also award the best student oral or poster presentation - see below.
Give a talk at a BOU annual spring conference
We usually hold open slots for students to present their work. These are often indicated on the provisional programme for each conference to allow you to see which of the themed session we are looking for contributions for.
Open slots are usually 15 or 20 minutes in length and form part of the main conference session (no parallel sessions so you are guaranteed a full audience of between up to 250 delegates [audience size is determined by conference theme which can be anywhere from 120-250 people]). You will be required to prepare an abstract and mini biography up to three months in advance of the conference and usually be asked to prepare an extended abstract for the online conference proceedings within six weeks of the conference being held.
The conference programme organisers decide who will be offered any slot. Because of the themed nature of our conferences open slots are rarely massively over-subscribed, so if you have something to say, then give it a try!
Look for calls for papers, check individual conference programme when posted online or contact the BOU Office or conference organiser (if listed). The author of the best student talk also receives a £50 prize as part of the BOU's 'best student presentation' awards - see below.
Present a poster at a BOU annual spring conference
We encourage students to present their work at our conferences. Posters must fit within the theme of the conference.
Space is limited so it is best to book your poster space as soon as possible.
You will be required to prepare an abstract and mini biography up to three months in advance of the conference. The abstract will be included in the online conference proceedings.
We do not hold dedicated poster sessions.
Poster authors are asked to man their posters during coffee/tea breaks and around lunch and other free time as stipulated in the conference programme. We have found this works very well and allows us to maintain a full oral programme and ensures all delegates get to see posters within their own attendance (not all delegates attend all of the conference and may well miss a dedicated poster session).
We ask authors to put their posters up as early as possible and they remain in situ until the afternoon break on day 3. BOU will provide velcro for attaching your poster to our boards (no pins or staples!).
See our poster guidelines here. The author of the best student poster also receives a £50 prize as part of the BOU's 'best student presentation' awards - see below.
Best student presentations at the BOU annual spring conference
The student or post-doc giving the best presentations (best student speaker and best student poster) at the BOU's annual spring conference will be awarded the new annual award of 'Best Student Presentation' by the BOU. The recipient will be given a certificate and a £50 book token.
For more general conference information on venue, travel, accommodation, and more - see here.
One-day autumn meetings - reduced rates for students
We can offer students a discount on the full day rate for these one-day meetings. Book via the individual conference pages.
