Entitled "A spatially-explicit agent-based model of jaguar population dynamics", my presentation focused on the model I have just finished working on and submitted to the university as the latest chapter in the transfer report.
Aside form some technical problems which meant that I couldn't include a movie clip of my simulation in action, or some footage from a camera-trap of a jaguar at a kill, I think my talk went down quite well. Some examples slides can be seen below and the whole talk is on figshare:
As part of a small group of conservationists/ecologists within Southamptons Biology department, mine was the only talk that focused on a whole organism/ landscape-scale events. As such, I really struggled to keep up with most of the presentations and this was not made easier by the quality of talks. Most lost me with information that was too detailed and assumed too much background knowledge. Others, to be a bit harsh, had lazy structuring and I struggled to follow the progression of the talk.
Having said that, I was quite impressed by the level of work being done by PhDs at Southampton and some of the work had real potential application for disease control and treatment.
To cap it all off, I won runner-up for oral presentation!
Not bad considering I am really out of the biology 'loop'. Being based partly in Biology and partly in computer science I have never really felt at home in the mainstream biology department, but I really felt like the audience were receptive to my work and open to the idea of modelling as a useful tool for exploring population persistence issues.
All in all, I'm glad I took part and put a bit of effort into the talk and it gives me hope that my future similar talks at INTECOL2013 and ISEM2013 (hopefully) may be also well received. Talking to a room full of people has never been my strength and in the past I have really struggled with nerves so I am promoting the old adage of 'the more you practice, the better it gets'!
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