Events

Upcoming events

NASBR 2025

2025 Symposium

Thursday, October 9th, 12-1:30pm

(Lunch Break - Lunch included with registration)

Edmonton, Alberta

Bats, for better or for worse, keep turning up in the headlines because of their associations with human disease. Whether it’s the zoonotic origins of COVID, the tragic death of a child from rabies, or the latest headline about looming threats, bat biologists are forced to walk a fine line. We need to inform with accuracy, so our audiences accurately understand the threats bats pose, but without the vilification that could exacerbate the challenges of bat conservation. Dan Riskin is a science journalist in Canada with almost two decades of experience walking that line. In this concise 30-minute talk, Dan will share some thoughts about how to respond to tough questions with strategies that are rooted in the psychology of fear, curiosity, and social learning.

Join us for a round-table lunch to learn and discuss how we can better communicate on behalf of bats!

NASBR 2024

DATES: OCTOBER 23-26, 2024

VENUE: HARD ROCK HOTEL GUADALAJARA, JALISCO

Past events

2023 Winnipeg, Canada

UNIVERSITY OF WINNIPEG

DATES: OCTOBER 11-14, 2023

VENUE: THE FORT GARRY HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTRE

The NASBR Outreach and Education committee is hosting a workshop for NASBR participants and local educators on Sunday, October 15 from 9am to 3pm at a local nature center, Fort Whyte Alive. The outreach workshop itself will run from 9am until noon with topics including creating outreach on a budget, bat walks, and bat gardening. We are excited to have a naturalist, artist, photographer and educator, Heather Hinam, joining us, presenting on how “A picture is worth a thousand words.” We are also excited to have Dan Riskin, Canadian evolutionary biologist, TV personality, and author, joining us to talk about sharing science with the public.

The workshop will conclude with lunch. In the afternoon, the coordinators will host a community outreach event from 1 to 3pm for local visitors to the nature center. Participants in the workshop may either join us for the outreach or enjoy the nature centre during the afternoon. Cost for NASBR participants includes transportation to the event and back to the hotel. Contact the workshop educators at NASBRTeacherWorkshop@gmail.com for more information.

Dan Riskin, PhD, is a biologist, science journalist, and author. He is best known in Canada as the former host of Daily Planet on Discovery, and in the USA as the host of Animal Planet’s show about parasites, Monsters Inside Me. Dan’s research expertise is on the biomechanics of bats (how they fly, walk, land, etc.), but he spends most of his time bringing science to popular audiences through TV, radio, and podcasts. His first kids’ book, Fiona the Fruit Bat, was published last year.

FortWhyte Alive

1961 McCreary Rd

Winnipeg, MB R3P 2K9

NASBR / IBRC 2022

August 7-12th, 2022

Austin, TX

The 2022 Teacher's Workshop will be a combination of online and in-person events. We will have online videos and curriculum available beginning August 1, 2022 and lasting through the duration of the scientific meeting. There will be a live online Q&A session with researchers from the scientific meeting on Wednesday, August 10 from 1:00-3:00 pm, CST. We will also take a guided tour to an emergence of Mexican free tailed bats from the Congress Avenue Bridge near sundown on Thursday evening, August 11, for local educators. We will meet at the conference hotel, Downtown Hilton, Austin, Texas, and walk together to the bridge. We will offer a recorded version of this guided tour for non-local educators who are only able to join us remotely.