Aim of this conference was to provide a common platform for the RSG grantees from India to meet at one place and share and learn from each other’s’ conservation experiences. It also provided an opportunity for the grantees to interact with the conservationists working in Goa and other coastal and marine areas in India and learn on-ground conservation challenges and opportunities from them. The conference was attended by 31 Rufford grantees working across India. In addition to Rufford grantees we had seven participants representing local non-governmental research and conservation organisations. The grant recipients presented their work as oral presentations (long talks of 18 minute and speed talks of 8 minute). On the first day of the conference we had an interactive session where participants introduced themselves and their work through photographs of their study landscape and work.
Mr. Srinivas Vaidyanathan (Senior Fellow, FERAL) welcomed all the participants and the representatives of local NGOs and The Rufford Foundation. He explained the aim and objectives of the RSG conferences and emphasised on the role played by the RSG in the careers of young researchers.
Apart from presentations from grant recipients, the conference included talks by Ms. Puja Mitra, Terra Conscious, Goa, Dr. Vardhan Patankar, Wildlife Conservation Society, India, Dr. Divya Karnad, Bay of Bengal Programme – IGO, InSeason Fish, India, and Mr. Atul Borkar, Wild Otters Research Private Ltd, Goa.