FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

Invitation

The East Central and West Central Europe Regions of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE) invite you to participate in their Joint Meeting, which will be held in Prague, Czech Republic on April 18-20, 2002.

The meeting will have three plenary lectures, contributed oral and poster presentations, and a workshop focused on vocal behaviour in domestic animals, chaired by experts in the field. Contributions dealing with all aspects of behaviour in farm, companion, laboratory and zoo animals are welcome.

Students and young scientists working in the field of applied ethology are especially encouraged to attend and contribute with their presentations. It is a particular goal of the conference to enable those who are in the beginning of their career in applied ethology to meet each other, meet more experienced colleagues, and thus to encourage further contacts, exchanges of ideas, and collaboration. Therefore, the meeting is open to both members and non-members of the ISAE. The registration fee is at a very moderate level, with an even more reduced fee available for full time students. For a limited number of students, a very affordable accommodation will be provided at the Institute.

All contributions will be presented in English.

Preliminary Program

Thursday April 18

Evening hours

Arrival, Registration

Plenary lecture – Lars Schrader, ETH Zűrich, Switzerland: Individuality and individual recognition in animals (preliminary topic of the presentation)

Friday April 19

Morning hours

Plenary lecture – Adam Miklósi, Eotvős University Budapest, Hungary: Dogs living in human environment: Communication and social learning

Contributed spoken papers – Main topic: Individual differences in behaviour

Afternoon hours

Poster session

Contributed spoken papers – Free topics

Assembly of the regions

Evening hours

Social dinner

Saturday April 20

Morning hours

Plenary lecture – Dan Weary, UBC Vancouver, Canada: Use of vocal behaviour to assess pain, hunger and separation distress

Contributed spoken papers – Free topics

Afternoon hours

Workshop - Vocal behaviour as an objective indicator of animal welfare

Scientific program closes

Location

The scientific sessions will be held in the Research Institute of Animal Production (VÚŽV) in Prague – Uhříněves. The Institute is located on the southeast perimeter of Prague, about 30 minutes by car and 45 minutes by public transport from the city center. The Institute has quiet yet up-to-date lecture halls and space for posters.

The most affordable accommodation (reserved for students if demand will be higher then capacity) will be in the Institute within walking distance from the lecture hall. The other types of accommodation (see below) are in hotels within easy reach of the Institute.

Prague is a city of unmatched beauty and amazingly rich cultural heritage. Buildings from each of the last eleven centuries mix with old parks on both banks of the Vltava river. You can enjoy good food and excellent culture of any taste in the evenings and stroll through the city or across the world-famous 14^th century Charles Bridge on the Sunday after the conference.

Call for papers

Contributions from the whole field of applied ethology are invited, including behavioural research on farm, companion and zoo animals or semi-domesticated and feral animals. Presentations on laboratory animals are welcome so far as the topic deals with how behaviour or welfare of these animals is affected by housing or conditions imposed by humans. ”Individual differences in behaviour” will be the topic of one session and we specifically encourage authors to submit presentations related to this topic.

The presentations will be in two forms: spoken papers and posters. There will be a maximum of 15 minutes for each spoken paper plus at least 5 minutes for discussion. Poster session will include a 5-minute presentation by each author before her/his poster plus amply time for discussion during the poster afternoon and coffee breaks. Each participant can submit and present only one contribution, although she/he can be a co-author of other papers presented by another person.

The abstracts of presentations must be submitted, together with the filled registration form, before the deadline (20th December 2001). Conference fee must be paid by the same date, otherwise your contribution cannot be considered. A Scientific Committee will screen the abstracts and allocate the contributions into the program. If a misfit between the number of submitted spoken/poster presentations and the time/space capacity of the meeting will occur, the Scientific Committee may shift your contribution from one type of presentation to the other. All registered participants will be notified about the acceptance and allocation of their presentation in the second mailing that will be distributed on February 20, 2002 at latest. This mailing will include a detailed time schedule and program of the congress.

Abstracts

The length of each abstract is limited to a maximal number of 300 words, including title, author's name(s), one address (first author only) and optional table and/or references. Use Word for Windows 95 or higher version to write the abstract. Please adopt the following formatting protocol:

- First line: title (bold)

- Second line: leave blank

- Third line: author(s), with full first names first (e.g. Thomas A. Eddison, John Lennon and Konrad Z. Lorenz)

- Fourth line: institution and address (abbreviated address of first author only)

- Fifth line: leave blank

- Subsequent lines: abstract text. Do not indent paragraphs.

You may include one small table (maximum length 5 lines including blank lines) in order to present original data, but we cannot accept figures. Tables are part of the abstract text and may be followed by a brief legend. Do not draw any lines. A maximum of three references may be included in an abbreviated form in the abstract text, e.g. (Smith, B. et al. Year, Journal-name journal-volume, pages).

Send the abstract as a computer file attached to an e-mail or on diskette in a Word for Windows 95 or higher format. In addition to that, send the abstract printed on a separate page of white paper in letter quality. Leave 3 cm margins on all sides. The address for sending abstracts is Marek Špinka, Ethology Group, Research Institute of Animal Production, CZ – 104 01 Prague – Uhříněves, Czech Republic, e‑mail: spinka@vuzv.cz.

Accommodation

There will be a limited number (approx. 18) of cheap accommodations (120 CZK or 4 Euro or 3.50 USD) in simple double rooms directly in the Institute. Priority will be given to students and young scientists from less wealthy countries. If you wish to use this accommodation, please pay for the appropriate number of nights with your registration (see the registration form). In case we will not be able to provide it for you because of too high demand, we will inform you in early January 2002 and reimburse your payment for the accommodation during the meeting.

The other options for accommodation include various categories of hotels, or youth hostels as a very simple and cheap alternative. Because of the expected diversity in demand for the level of accommodation, the organizers will not book or mediate the accommodation outside the Institute. Therefore, participants not using the Institute accommodation are on their own for arranging accommodation. However, we provide below a list of suggested hotels, their current prices and contacts. All these hotels are within 30 minutes by public transport, or 20 minutes by car, of the Institute.

Hotel City: single 1160 to 1670 CZK, double 1550 to 2320 CZK. Fax, phone +420-2-22521606, www.hotelcity.cz

Hotel Astra: single 1950 CZK, double 2350 CZK.Fax: +420-2-74810765
phone: +420-2-74813595, www.hotelastra.cz

Quality Hotel: single 2600 CZK, double 3450 CZK. Fax: +420-2-74777441, phone: +420-2-74778041-4, www.choicehotels.cz

Dorint Don Giovanni Hotel: double 6600 CZK without breakfast. Fax: +420-2-67036717, phone: +420-2-67031111, www.dorint.de/Prag

For finding contacts to Prague youth hostels, use the following web pages: www.prague-hotel.wz.cz/prague-hotel-1.html or www.hostel.cz.The prices range between CZK 200 and CZK 600 per person and night.

The current exchange rates for Czech koruna (Kc, CZK): 1 Euro = 33 CZK, 1 DM = 17 CZK, 1 USD = 39 CZK.

Meals

A welcome snack on Thursday April 28, lunches on Friday and Saturday April 29-30, as well as coffee breaks, are included in the registration fee and will be provided for all participants. A social dinner will be held in a restaurant in the city centre on Friday evening at a price of 300 CZK. Please fill in the appropriate field in the Registration form and add the sum to your total payment if you wish to attend the social dinner.

Transportation

Prague airport has daily direct flight connection to most major cities in Central and Eastern Europe. There are direct train connections with many European locations as well. The most affordable transportation is through bus lines that also connect Prague to most European capitals and many other cities. Prague is easy to reach by car.

In the second mailing, registered participants will receive detailed instructions about how to reach the Institute by car or public transport.

Registration

To register for the meeting, fill in the attached registration form. Only full-time students who will have their status confirmed by their supervisor are eligible for reduced congress fee.

To fill the form in electronic form, download the attached form in Excel format. Save it under another name, fill it carefully and send it as an attachment or on a diskette to: Marek Špinka, Ethology Group, Research Institute of Animal Production, CZ – 104 01 Prague – Uhříněves, Czech Republic, e‑mail: spinka@vuzv.cz. Alternatively, you can fill in the printed form that is attached to your regular mail First Announcement, and send it to the above address.

Please check carefully that the total amount to be paid on your Registration form is an accurate sum of all the items. The registration fee includes access to all the scientific sessions, Book of Abstracts, the welcome snack, lunches on Friday and Saturday, and coffee breaks. The reduced fee is available only for full-time students who will attach a confirmation letter of their student status signed by their supervisor and send this letter together with their registration.

Payment

Your registration and abstract submission must be accompanied by full payment of your total as stated on the Registration Form. Payment can be made either in Czech korunas, in Euros or in US dollars. You can pay either by bank transfer or by cheque.

               For bank transfer, here is the necessary information:

Account name: Vyzkumny ustav zivocisne vyroby

Account number 19439101/0100

Bank name: Komercni banka a.s.

Bank address: K Botici 5, 101 01 Praha 10, Czech Republic

Bank SWIFT code: KOMB CZ PP

In details of the payment, please include ”ISAE Registration”, and your name so that we can easily identify your payment.

               For payment by cheque, make the cheque payable to Výzkumný ústav živočišné výroby (Research Institute of Animal Production). Send the cheque to Marek Špinka, Ethology Group, Research Institute of Animal Production, CZ – 104 01  Prague – Uhříněves, Czech Republic.

               All payments must be done without any charges to the beneficiary.

Note

ISAE members from East Central European Region – please note there is an included letter for you in this mailing.

Contact addresses

Gudrun Illmann or Marek Špinka

Ethology Group

Research Institute of Animal Production

CZ – 104 00 Prague – Uhříněves

Czech Republic

Phone: +420‑2‑6771 0713

Fax: +420‑2‑6771 0779

e‑mail: illmannova@vuzv.cz, spinka@vuzv.cz

This is the address to which ALL registration forms and abstracts (from both regions) should be sent.

Susanne Waiblinger

Institute of Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare

University of Veterinary Medicine

Veterinärplatz 1

A-1210 Wien

Austria

Phone: +43-1-25077 4905

Fax: +43-1-25077 4990

email: Susanne.Waiblinger@vu-wien.ac.at

Do NOT send registration or abstracts to this address.

Prague, April 18-20, 2002