2nd ‘An INTIMATE Example’ Research and Training School in paleoclimatology
May 30 – June 5, 2014, Lake St Anne, Transylvania, Romania
EU-COST action ES0907 INTIMATE - The 2nd ‘An INTIMATE
Example’ Research - Training School and Workshop in
paleoclimatology for early stage researchers
Dates: 30th May – 5th June 2014, Lake St Anne, Transylvania, Romania
Contact: intimate.example.romania@gmail.com
Web: http://cost-es0907.geoenvi.org/activities/training-schools/112-2014-06-the-2nd-cost-intimate-trainingschool-qan-intimate-exampleq
Calling on graduate students and early stage researchers studying palaeoclimate teleconnections
across Europe and the North Atlantic! INTIMATE (http://cost-es0907.geoenvi.org/), a COSTfunded network of scientists working together to reconstruct past climates (60-8 ka BP) through the
INTegration of Ice core, MArine, and TErrestrial palaeoclimate records invites applications for
participating in the 2nd ‘An INTIMATE Example’ Research and Training School in paleoclimatology
for early stage researchers.
Building on the success of the previous such initiative (see: http://tinyurl.com/intimateexample), the
training school will be centered on tackling past climate dynamics in palaeoclimatological research,
on implications in synchronizing records regionally, and critically assessing data in the light of
better-constrained palaeoclimate master records. Participants will be exposed intensively to concepts
and scientific issues relevant in the study of past climate variability using lacustrine proxies, targeting
particularly the expression of Lateglacial-to-MIS2 climate dynamics in central-eastern Europe in
connections to investigating the long lacustrine record of Lake St Anne.
You will also have the opportunity (through invited lectures) to acquire knowledge that is
transferrable across a range of INTIMATE related science including ice, marine, and speleothem, or
terrestrial research. Fostering collaborations and integration of research provides an added value to
the training curricula through the follow-up research projects in which motivated participants will
design and lead investigations, as well as the joint publication of their results.
Dates and Location
The training school will take place between May 30 and June 5, 2014 at the twin volcanic craters of
St Anne (currently a lake) and Mohos (follow link for an overview of the area
http://goo.gl/maps/TWTSc) with lectures, field applications, sediment coring and on-site
laboratory work, whereas the main venue, lodging and indoors course lectures will be at the nearby
Grand Hotel of Balvanyos Spa (http://www.hotelbalvanyos.ro/index.php).
Participants and application
The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 25 early stage researchers, including end-MSc,
PhD
fellows,
and
early
postdocs.
For
registering
please
submit
to
intimate.example.romania@gmail.com your application consisting of a i. Curriculum vitae detailing
also your research and experience, as well as a ii. motivation letter describing what you hope to gain
from participating in the proposed research and training school.
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2nd ‘An INTIMATE Example’ Research and Training School in paleoclimatology
May 30 – June 5, 2014, Lake St Anne, Transylvania, Romania
Deadline for applications is April 27th, 2014 – a selection committee will review your application,
with the decision communicated on May 1st.
Registration fee and funding support
The registration fee amounts to 200 euros and covers accommodation (in twin suite rooms) and
subsistence during the field course. A limited number of grants are available, including funding
partially/totally covering your travel costs, or the waiving of the registration fee for these
participants limited financial possibilities. If you would like to apply for any funding, please indicate
in your application letter how much funding you require to attend (travel costs and/or registration
fee). Funding support will be allocated at the discretion of the selection committee based on the
ranking of your application.
Training Package
The INTIMATE-related research has a strong focus on providing high-resolution chronologies and
robust multi-proxy records, with data routinely combined in climate models to better understand the
mechanisms and impact of past climate change. We propose a training package focusing on past
climate dynamics with special emphasis on past climate variability archived in terrestrial settings
(primarily lacustrine sediments), including:
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•
•
•
•
•
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Challenges of dating, comparing and synchronizing records across different palaeoclimate archives
How to relate ecological data to climate parameters for being used as climate/palaeoclimate proxies
How to build species-environment transfer functions and analyse palaeo-proxy data using R
How to quantify past biomass-burning rates, detect past fire episodes, and investigate the impact of
fires on ecosystems
New biogeochemical approaches in palaeolimnology and palaeoclimatology
How to integrate your reconstructions with published data and in climate model simulations following
the highest scientific standards such as the INTIMATE protocols
How to design a research project that contributes new data and ideas to the palaeo-community
The training package encompasses a mixture of lectures, data discussion, planning and scoping
exercises, field sampling and laboratory protocols and analysis, exercises on promoting joint-research
initiatives, participant presentations, and discussion sessions. A special emphasis will be provided
over the chronological comparison and the synchronization of records based on absolute and relative
dating, age-model building, and the linking of records with and without use of marker horizons.
Moreover, the training package reflects and contributes comprehensively to the research foci of
INTIMATE, providing you with an overview of the Last Glacial Cycle climate variability and
various research subjects such as comparing/correlating records, and further test the ideas of leads
and lags in the climate system versus the synchronicity of change.
Note: Further details of the final Training School program will be posted here shortly.
Key speakers and lecturers
On-site lecturing will be provided by leading experts (click on name for link) from the INTIMATE
community, with strong expertize in palaeoclimate and palaeoecological proxies (including on
lacustrine sediments), data acquisition, data integration, and chronological modeling:
- Sune O. Rasmussen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- Achim Brauer, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, Germany
- Simon Blockley, Royal Holloway London, UK
- Christine Lane, University of Manchester, UK
- Norbert Kühl, University of Bonn, Germany
- Richard J. Telford, University of Bergen, Norway
- Walter Finsinger, Université Montpellier 2, France
- Mihaly Braun, Atomki Debrecen, Hungary
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2nd ‘An INTIMATE Example’ Research and Training School in paleoclimatology
May 30 – June 5, 2014, Lake St Anne, Transylvania, Romania
The training school is organized jointly by Daniel Veres (danveres@hasdeu.ubbcluj.ro) - Romanian
Academy/Babes-Bolyai University, and Enikő Magyari (emagyari@caesar.elte.hu) MTA-MTMELTE Research group for Paleontology, Eötvös Lóránd University, Hungary that will act also as
trainers in sediment geochemistry and sediment palaeoecology, respectively.
Should you have any questions after reading this flier, do not hesitate to contact us through
intimate.example.romania@gmail.com
Financial and logistic support for this initiative is provided by EU-COST action ES0907 INTIMATE (PI Sune O. Rasmussen,
University of Copenhagen) and from project PN-II-ID-PCE-2012-4-0530 ‘Millennial-scale geochemical records of
anthropogenic impact and natural climate change in the Romanian Carpathians’ (PI Daniel Veres, Romanian Academy).
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