Capacity-building workshops: ecological modelling and assessment Research Unit for Wildlife Population Assessment Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling Eric Rexstad David Borchers Steve Buckland

Example Workshops on abundance estimation methods, distance sampling and statistical modelling for ecologists Multidisciplinary: Biologists, ecologists, managers, statisticians Distance sampling workshops have been delivered to > 800 participants in the past 18 years Attendees have come from ~60 countries 89% of attendees have come from the first world (6% from Asia, 4% Africa, 1% South America)

Impact and knowledge exchange Builds collaboration between biologists, ecologists, statisticians and resource managers (interdisciplinary work) Provides quantitative skills for assessment of Abundance and distribution Biodiversity Effects of human and other impacts Provides rigorous basis for developing policies for sustainable resource use

Closer to home (consequences for Univ. of St. Andrews) New research problems, focussed on needs on the ground Research outputs: single- and multi- disciplinary Interdisciplinary collaborations, visits, students

Other benefits from workshop delivery University and research group profile is raised internationally Research funding is generated – Speculatively, £110,000 has indirectly come to our research group in the past 5 years as a result of contracts derived from contacts made at workshops

Future plans Delivery of workshops in countries with low capacity and high need – Our workshops have been delivered almost exclusively in the first world – We will be expanding our efforts through workshops in Africa and South America – These countries undoubtedly hold a wealth of conservation, biodiversity and sustainable development questions waiting to be investigated

Summary Capacity building activities: – Identify relevant research problems – Promote interdisciplinary work – Provide research and other benefits to us – Provide those “doing” assessment and conservation as well as developing policy tools to make assessments and decisions in an informed way