The 50th Annual Meeting of
AASP- The Palynological Society
The Golden Anniversary meeting held jointly with
CIMP and The Micropalaeontological Society Palynology Group
Keyworth, Nottingham, UK – Sunday 3rd–Thursday 7th September 2017
This conference is held jointly with CIMP and The Micropalaeontological Society (TMS) Palynology Group. The team of convenors look forward to welcoming you to the headquarters of BGS for this three-day meeting with the opportunity to participate in two one-day field trips to widely geologically contrasting areas of the East Midlands of England. We hope to make this annual meeting extra special because it is the 50th such event! This is the third circular and it will be updated frequently.
The conference accommodation will be in several city centre hotels in downtown Nottingham. Delegates will be transported to BGS HQ, and returned back to the city centre each day by bus, and as part of the registration package. BGS is located in the large village of Keyworth which is ca. 7 km south of central Nottingham. Other public transport solutions are also available. Morning tea, lunch and afternoon coffee are also all included in the registration package.
If you would like to offer any workshops, offer sponsorship etc., please get in touch with Jim Riding (jbri@bgs.ac.uk) or any member of the organising committee. We hope to welcome you to Keyworth for the Golden Anniversary meeting in 2017!
Please note that there is a limit on numbers of 100, that being the capacity of the BGS Conference Room where the main sessions will take place. If there are in excess of 100 delegates, we would levy a much reduced registration fee and set up a remote link to the proceedings immediately outside the conference suite. Therefore, the strong message would be to sign up in good time if you wish to guarantee your place.
Three day price
Professional delegate: £120 (post 1st July 2017 = £160; on the door £180)
Student delegate: £50 (post 1st July 2017 = £75; on the door £85)
Retired delegate: £90 (post 1st July 2017 = £110; on the door £120)
Single day price
Professional delegate: £60
Student delegate: £25
Retired delegate: £45
Registration comprises:
• Icebreaker at a Nottingham city centre venue on the evening of Sunday, 3rd September
• A conference pack including the abstract volume
• Return transport between Nottingham city centre and BGS, Keyworth Monday to Wednesday
• Morning coffee/tea, lunch and afternoon coffee/tea
• A drinks/nibbles reception at BGS following the first day of the conference, Monday, 4th September
Optional extras:
We are also offering delegates the opportunity to attend two field trips, the conference dinner and the AASP Business “Luncheon” – held at night. These will be charged separately to the core registration package. The costs for these are as follows:
Field trip to the Peak District (3rd September 2017) £25
Conference dinner (5th September 2017) £30
AASP Business “Luncheon” held at night (6th September 2017) £25
Field trip to the Bradgate Park (7th September 2017) £25
All four of the above £100
To register, please visit the TMS Website here:: www.tmsoc.org/aasp-2017. Here you will find full details of how to pay using this secure website in GB Pounds Sterling via PayPal. The former URL is on the TMS website (http://www.tmsoc.org/). Should you be unable to register via this secure website, please mail a cheque for the registration package and any ‘add-ons’ you require (make these clear in a covering letter) to Jim Riding (address: BGS, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK; or: jbri@bgs.ac.uk). Please make cheques payable to THE MICROPALAEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY. If you wish to pay outwith the TMS website using a credit or debit card, send your card details to the TMS Treasurer, Matt Hampton, at treasurer@tmsoc.org for processing. You can also pay TMS direct using online banking or BACS/SWIFT payments; email the TMS Treasurer, Matt Hampton, for the account details. In all cases, please indicate your name, and precisely what you are ordering. Hopefully we have provided a variety of methods for paying your registration charges.
We recommend that you use either the St James Hotel, Rutland Street, Nottingham, NG1 6EB (http://www.stjames-hotel.com/) or the Premier Inn Nottingham City (Chapel Bar), 7 Chapel Quarter, Maid Marian Way, Nottingham NG1 6JS (Tel: 0871 527 9658; or see http://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/nottinghamshire/nottingham/nottingham-city-centre-chapel-bar.html). These are “nice but not too pricey” city centre hotels very close to great bars, historic sites, restaurants etc. They are both reasonably priced.
We have negotiated a special deal with the St James Hotel. To take advantage of this discount you need to telephone (+44(0)115 941 1114) or fax (+44(0)115 9410014), or email the hotel (info@stjames-hotel.com), and quote GA000471.
There are no group rates available at the Premier Inn so the best way to book is online; please do ensure you book their Chapel Bar Hotel – there are two other Premier Inns in Nottingham.
However, other accommodation is of course available; there are many hotels and apartments in the city including representatives of the major well-known chains such as Ibis, Jurys Inn, Park Plaza, Premier Inn, Ramada, Strathdon, Travelodge etc. Check out the respective websites.
Delegates may submit abstracts from now. The deadline is Monday, 10th July 2017. You may submit oral presentations (15–20 minutes) or present a poster. Please email abstracts to jbri@bgs.ac.uk and janh@bgs.ac.uk. Please use Times New Roman 12 point font, single-spaced, left justified, no more than ~1000 words, include keywords, and also provide your affiliation, address and email.
Saturday, 2nd September: In the afternoon (14.00 h–18.00 h), the outgoing Board of Directors meeting of AASP – TPS will be held at a conference room at Jurys Inn Nottingham, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3BJ (Tel: +44 115 901 6700; Email: jurysinnnottingham@jurysinns.com). We will select a suitable meeting place for lunch near the conference hotels and Jim will guide attendees to the Jurys Inn, which is a short (~5 minutes) walk away (Jurys Inn is near Nottingham Station). All AASP – TPS members are welcome to attend this meeting as observers.
Sunday, 3rd September: Field trip to the Peak District (more details in the field trip section)
Sunday, 3rd September: An icebreaker event will be held between 19:30 h and c. 21:30 h at “The Fat Cat Cafe Bar”, a nearby trendy/funky bar in central Nottingham (http://fatcatcafebars.com/Nottingham.html). The address is 11 Chapel Bar, Nottingham NG1 6JQ (tel. 0115 947 5044). Registrants will receive two free drink vouchers, and some finger-food nibbles will be available.
Monday, 4th September: This will be the first day of the conference. Laid on buses will depart from the St James Hotel at 08:15 h. We plan to include at least one presentation on the history of AASP. Following the scientific sessions, delegates are invited to a drinks reception at BGS. This is included in the registration package and will feature local Nottingham beers (other drink solutions will be available!) and nibbles. Buses will return delegates to Nottingham.
Tuesday, 5th September: This will be the second day of the conference. Buses will depart from the St James Hotel at 08:15 h. The same vehicles will return delegates to Nottingham.
In the evening, we will hold the conference dinner. The cost of this will be £30, payable with the main registration. We have booked the “Boundary Edge” restaurant at the legendary Trent Bridge cricket ground immediately south of Nottingham (http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/celebrate/venues/nottinghamshire-county-cricket-club or http://www.trentbridge.co.uk/refined/#index.php). Trent Bridge is world famous and is widely held to be the most beautiful of all our cricket stadia, and has witnessed many famous tussles between England and our distinguished pantheon of cricketing adversaries from around the world. Do not miss out on the opportunity to visit and dine at a truly iconic sporting venue. We are currently investigating possible guest speaker(s).
Wednesday, 6th September: This will be the third day of the conference. Buses will depart form the St James Hotel at 08:15 h. The same vehicles will return delegates to Nottingham.
In the evening, we will hold the AASP Business “Luncheon” held at night at (yet) another very funky downtown Nottingham venue. This will be “Cumin”, Nottingham’s leading Indian restaurant (http://www.thecumin.com/). “Cumin” is a very short walk from the hotel area at 62–64 Maid Marian Way, Nottingham NG1 6BJ (Phone: 0115 941 9941). The cost of this will be £25, payable with the main registration. This includes a buffet Indian dinner and two drinks. Indian food is the national cuisine of the UK.
Thursday, 7th September: Field trip to Bradgate Park, Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire (more details in the field trip section)
Thursday, 7th September: Other activities
– Delegates are also invited to a free half-day workshop on the use of StratBugs software run by Paul Britton and John Athersuch of StrataData Limited of Ottershaw, Surry, UK (http://www.stratadata.co.uk/). StrataBugs is a very well-established (the industry standard in fact) software package for displaying and manipulating biostratigraphical data of all types. This workshop will be held between 09:00 h and 12:30 h at a conference room at Keyworth and will give novices and beginners the opportunity to get some hands-on experience with StrataBugs. It will also be a refresher for those who have used the software before. If you wish to attend this bring your laptop. The workshop will be subject to a maximum of eight persons, so book early!
– Applications to Petroleum Exploration and Production by Iain Prince and Katrin Ruckwied of Shell International Exploration & Production, Houston, USA. This workshop will be held between 09:00 h and 17:30 h at a conference room at Keyworth. It is a concise introduction of how to maximise micropalaeontological data in an industrial setting. Specifically, the course will give a brief overview of the fossil groups used within the petroleum industry before looking into why we use biostratigraphy and how it can help in the exploration and production process. After a short practical where groups horizontally steer a production well using biostratigraphical data, some case studies will be shown highlighting how biostratigraphy can either reduce drilling costs, drill safer wells or help obtain more accurate data.
– In the evening, (~20.00 h-21.30 h), the incoming Board of Directors meeting of AASP – TPS will be held at a venue to be announced later. One option is to use the conference room at Jurys Inn Nottingham, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3BJ (Tel: +44 115 901 6700; Email: jurysinnnottingham@jurysinns.com) (see above). All members are welcome to attend as observers.
Sunday, 3rd September
A one-day fieldtrip to examine key Carboniferous Stage stratotypes in the Peak District of Staffordshire led by Drs Duncan McLean and David Bodman (MB Stratigraphy, Sheffield). Minibuses will depart from the St James Hotel (Rutland Street, Nottingham, NG1 6EB) at 07:30 h. We will be back in Nottingham at ~18:30 h, well in time for the icebreaker. A packed lunch will be supplied. The cost of this excursion is £25, payable with the main registration. There is a maximum number of 27 due to the constraints of the sites we will visit, so please book early for this one.
Thursday, 7th September
1. A one-day fieldtrip to examine the Precambrian, Triassic and Quaternary geology of Bradgate Park, Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire led by Jim Riding. There are no restrictions on numbers. You will have the opportunity to hunt for (but not collect!) Ediacaran fossils. You will see the site where the very first representative of this world famous biota was discovered in Precambrian metasediments during the late 1950s. Minibuses will depart the St James Hotel at 08:30 h. We will be back in Nottingham at ~18:00 h. A packed lunch will be supplied. The cost of this excursion is £25, payable with the main registration.
Saturday, 2nd September: In the afternoon (14.00 h-18.00 h), the outgoing Board of Directors meeting of AASP – TPS will be held at a venue to be announced later. All members are welcome to attend as observers.
All UK residents will be fully aware that the fair city of Nottingham is one of the most accessible in the country, being situated in the centre of England and slap bang on major road and rail links. See http://www.experiencenottinghamshire.com/nottingham.
Overseas visitors can fly to Birmingham, East Midlands, London or Manchester airports. Any of the several London airports are absolutely fine. All these airports allow for efficient rail travel to Nottingham except for the most local one, East Midlands (EMA). If you go to EMA, take a cab/taxi or bus (Nottingham Skylink; see https://www.trentbarton.co.uk/services/skylinknottingham/welcome) to Nottingham.
Long haul travellers are most likely to arrive at Heathrow or Gatwick airports in London. In this case, simply take the rail shuttle (Heathrow or Gatwick Express) to central London and head on the metro/underground for St Pancras mainline station (this is at Kings Cross/St Pancras metro/underground station). From St Pancras, frequent and fast trains will whizz you to Nottingham in just a couple of hours. If you have any questions about travel to Nottingham, email Jim (jbri@bgs.ac.uk).
Travel between central Nottingham to BGS is provided, but we appreciate you might need to go your own way. The village of Keyworth is located around seven miles (~10 km) south of central Nottingham. A cab/taxi will cost around £15 one way. Other public travel solutions are also available. From Nottingham, you can catch a bus to Keyworth, the Keyworth Connection (https://www.trentbarton.co.uk/services/keyworthconnection/maps-and-times), which runs from the Broadmarsh Bus Station in central Nottingham. This bus route travels via Nottingham railway station, through the suburb of West Bridgford and on to Keyworth. A single journey costs around £3 and takes about 25 minutes, depending on traffic.
James B. Riding (BGS)
Jan A.I. Hennissen (BGS)
Stewart G. Molyneux (BGS)
Matthew J. Pound (Northumbria University, representing TMS)
Reed Wicander (CMU, Mount Pleasant, USA, representing CIMP)
Maria Wilson (BGS)