A year after the kick-off meeting in Lund, RestPoll’s first Annual Group Meeting took place in Freiburg on 12-14 November 2024. For many, the meeting was a warm reacquaintance with colleagues from afar. New faces and fresh PhD candidates also introduced themselves to everyone. Before the start of the first presentation, a buzz of informal chatter filled the room at the winery of Andreas Dilger. This biological farmer is set to join RestPoll as a sample site in the coming year.
Full programme
After the online participants were hooked up to the livestream, the first to speak was RestPoll coordinator, Alexandra-Maria Klein. She explained the three goals of the AGM: connecting, exchanging and monitoring the progress on milestones and deliverables. Alexandra also added the aim of making sure that EU pollinator projects work together, and of trying to arrive at evidence to which politicians and policymakers have to listen.
RestPoll coordinator Alexandra-Maria Klein. Photographer: Yannick Noah Layer
While the morning sessions comprised updates on RestPoll’s seven Work Packages, the afternoon programme offered breakout sessions with greater involvement of the consortium in brainstorming and discussing future progress of the project. Some of the afternoon sessions took place at a historical house owned by Albert Ludwig University, the Liefmann-Haus. In between presentations, the participants were treated to refreshments where informal collaborations and exchanges could take place. They could also find themselves captured on photograph by resident RestPoll photographer, Yannick Layer.
Interactive excursion
On Wednesday afternoon, the whole assembly took the bus to Winzerhof Vogel, another winery which is participant in a Living Lab site. RestPoll members went on a tour of the farm to see which restoration measures were already being taken. Afterwards, they were able to enjoy the fruits of their labour through a wine tasting, accompanied with local food. Together with the other shared meals during the meeting, the event managed to provide fine local food and drinks.
Excursion to the Winzerhof Vogel vineyard. Photographer: Yannick Noah Layer
With or without wine, the whole meeting invited great conversation and showed progress made on project goals. Being physically together also meant that communication and timeline issues could be addressed. Moreover, it provided a good opportunity for early-career researchers such as PhDs or postdocs to mingle academically as well as socially. Between the bites of good food, a lot of networking took place among all the academics.
Great success
Most importantly, the meeting offered RestPoll researchers a chance of connecting to their peers, exchanging results and monitoring the necessary steps for the coming year. In this manner, the many milestones and deliverables marked RestPoll’s great success. The new contacts and collaborations set up during the meeting will have sown the seeds for future preservation projects. The RestPoll team is keen to see its second anniversary.
"It was a great event and everything worked out smoothly. The group is really amazing and connects well with each other. It was nice to meet new faces and see others again who were at the kick-off meeting last year."
"The AGM in Freiburg was a highly productive and motivating event. It was exciting to see all of the work done by our members in our first year and great to meet again with the excellenet researchers working on this project. A highlight for me was visiting a vineyard in the case study area! I am really looking forward to seeing the positive impacts of this project's work on people and pollinators alike."
