The annual meeting of the Palynology Group was held this year in conjunction with the Silicofossil Group, 9-10 June 2004 in Cardiff.
It was a very successful meeting with this time even international participation. Quite a few TMS palynologists made their way to beautiful, sunny Cardiff to listen and exchange ideas on how silicofossil and dinoflagellate cyst studies can complement one another. Cathy Stickley from Cardiff, Henk Brinkhuis from Utrecht (The Netherlands), and myself acted as the convenors of the meeting. Cathy did a very good job as the local organiser of this most interesting and pleasant get-together and I want to express my sincere thanks on behalf of the Palynology Group to Cathy Stickley, Jenny Pike, Ivo Grigorov, and all the others involved in the organisation of this meeting. Cathy’s report, including the abstracts of the presentations can be found on the Silicofossil Group page.
The next year’s meeting of the Palynology Group is in full preparation. This will be a special meeting again, since it will be held together with our French colleagues from APLF, the Association of French Palynologists, in Paris from 3 – 7 October 2005 (see above). As it is tradition in APLF meetings there will be a theme: “Palynology, Palaeolatitudes, Palaeoaltitudes: Land/ocean distribution patterns controlling climate and biodiversity” as well as open sessions. Edwige Masure from Paris University Pierre et Marie Curie is the local organiser. She was very busy already making all kinds of preparations for the meeting and thanks to her efforts our venue will be the ‘Auditorium de la Grande Galerie’ at the Natural History Museum in Paris. We are currently trying to get the keynote speakers together who will give an overview of recent developments in their research areas pertinent to the overall symposium theme. I want to urge you to make every effort to attend this, our (!) meeting in Paris. In many countries, and Britain is not excluded, training, research and job opportunities in palynology are becoming rare and rarer, and palynologists will become “endangered species”. The more this trend continues, the more it is important to concentrate our forces and to strengthen our European bonds. So please come along to our joint meeting in Paris. The call for papers is out. You will find the first circular and the pre-registration form for the meeting above. Remember to be quick in indicating your interest in attending the nice dinner we are going to have. There are only a limited number of places available and you won’t want to miss it. We would appreciate to receive your pre-registration and indication of a title of your presentation by 15 November 2004.
Susanne Feist-Burkhardt.