SETAC in Serbia

Since the 2012 world congress meeting in Berlin, the SETAC North America student advisory council (which I was the Chair of last year) and its European equivalent (aka SAC Europe) have been working together more than ever before. It's been a great chance to exchange ideas, share perspectives on student issues in SETAC, and to use both of our groups to really make great changes for students in the society. I'm really happy that even after my time as NASAC Chair ended that these exchanges continued, and that I was able to participate in the last SAC Europe meeting (and SETAC Europe council meeting) as a guest :)

Last year I was able to be a part of the SAC Europe face-to-face meeting at the Petnica Science Center in Serbia and was glad that they made this meeting happen again-and with even more people than last time! SAC Europe's activities were a big inspiration for the initiatives that I pushed for during my time in NASAC and it seems like their momentum just keeps on growing. The reason for having the meeting at PSC is that it's the location for the March 2015 Young Environmental Scientist (YES) meeting. This is a really great and unique concept-a for students, by students meeting for SETAC members to come present and network in a relaxed, non-intimidating setting unlike the big annual meetings.

This next YES meeting is going to be quite big in a lot of ways and it was a good chance to have everyone in SAC Europe meet in the venue to talk about logistics, fundraising, and how the meeting will look like in general. I really enjoy working with this group and was impressed by the productive discussions that came out of our short meeting.

Some intense group discussions :)

Our very own #SETACselfie !

Inside the wonderful PSC venue

After the meeting with the SAC, the SETAC Europe council then had their face-to-face meeting also at PSC. This is the European equivalent to the group of folks that I worked with, and went to all the meetings and was on conference calls with, for SETAC North America. This group is also really friendly, was happy with the PSC as the venue for their meeting, and it was nice to see the parallel discussions happening in SETAC Europe as compared to SETAC North America.

The SAC and SEC together for a welcoming dinner

On the last day of meetings we got to enjoy the nature of Serbia-a place of amazing hikes and our first real bit of sunshine after a cloudy week! We all greatly enjoyed our mini-adventure in the Valjevo mountains. It was a great cap to a productive and busy week of meetings.

At the summit! Ready to head down to the Gradac canyon

Now that I'm finally almost caught up with the blog, it seems like it will already be time for the SETAC North America meeting in Vancouver! Where does the time go nowadays ;)