Economic versus ecological networks - integrating economy and ecology in scenario building for marine ecosystems
An advanced course in economic and ecological modeling drawing on the theory of networks economics
Centre de Recherche Halieutique, Sète, France
24-26 November 2009 (three days)

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• General presentation
• Venue, practical info
• Teachers, organisation, sponsors
• Programme
• Application

General presentation          << back to top

Goal and scope

Developments of food web theory put emphasis on the network structure of ecological systems, with the goal of exploring the relationships between structure and functioning (Ulanowicz, Jordan). In this context, the formalism of Network Economics (Nagurney) provides original and powerful tools. Known for allowing a common approach to very diverse problems – spatial economics, traffic, migration, game theory – it has been applied to analyze the structure of trophic networks (Mullon).

The main goal of this course is to present how this formalism can be applied concretely to address questions raised in ecology and economics of renewable resource.  It will bring together the presentation of the mathematical background (the variational inequality, which is a generalization of convex programming), the algorithms and software, and case studies in economics or ecology.

We will emphasize the possibilities of this approach to represent the impact of global changes (climate and economic globalization) on the supply chain of a renewable resource.

Public

This course is directed to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers as well as established investigators in ecology or ecological economics. Attendance is limited to 20 participants.

Venue, practical info            << back to top

The course will be held at CRH (Centre de Recherche Halieutique; http://www.crh-sete.org/), a joint center of Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Ifremer and the Univ. of Montpellier 2, located in Sète, France. Sète is on the Mediterranean Sea; it is about 40 km away from Montpellier and its airport.

Practical information will be posted/sent to participants in due time. Please do not hesitate to contact the eur-oceans project office.

Teachers, organisation, sponsors        << back to top

The course will involve the following scientists:

• Chrisitan Mullon (IRD, France; coordinator)
• Ferenc Jordan (Microsoft Research / Univ. Trento, Italy)
• Gorka Merino (PML, UK)
• Pierre Fréon (IRD, France)
• Brian Fath (Towson U., USA)

The organization of this advanced course is sponsored by the EUR-OCEANS Consortium and by IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement).

Programme                    << back to top

Figure 1 (illustrating a case study that will be presented during the course). Production and flows of fishmeal and fish oil: from anchovy and sardine stocks to aquaculture or nutritional supplements markets, through fishing fleets, processing plants and commercial networks.

Application - Contacts - Financial support   << back to top

Applications and enquiries are managed by the eur-oceans project office (po@eur-oceans.eu; tel: + 33 499 57 32 44).

To apply, please fill in the application form and return it to the EUR-OCEANS project office at po@eur-oceans.eu as soons as possible and by 20 October 2009 at the latest. Acceptance will be notified starting 9 October 2009 (and on for applications received after that date, until the 20 participants attendance limit is reached).

Funding from the sponsors covers the organisation of the course (no registration fee is required, unlike initially foreseen).

Travel and stay expenses are to be covered by participants. Note: if financial issues prevent you from participating, please let us know the level of funding you would require; we might be able to provide partial support to a few participants (which we will only be able to confirm/infirm closer to the event).