1st Young Environmental Scientists (YES) Meeting – New challenges in environmental sciences

Abstract

The 1st Young Environmental Scientists (YES) Meeting took place in March (16–18) 2009 at the Institute for Environmental Sciences at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau Campus, Germany. These special students only conference was organised under the umbrella of Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe by its Student Advisory Council (SAC). The SAC represents student members (master, diploma or Ph.D.) throughout every level of SETAC and provides additional advice, recommendations and new initiatives to the SETAC Europe Council. Aimed at an active participation of students in scientific meetings, the structure of usual SETAC Europe annual meetings was filled with innovative ideas to foster essential skills and to support the progress of the student’s (scientific) career. Besides the acquisition of funding, a barrier students have to overcome is getting in contact with other scientists and thus build up their personal network, which is fundamental for scientific progress. Among others, the SAC addressed these issues.