Dear SCB Members,
It has been a busy summer and fall. After returning from a highly successful ICCB, the Executive Office hired a new Finance Director, and moved last week to a new office in Washington DC. We are currently unpacking and organizing as well as preparing the 2016 budget.
SCB is currently reviewing the results of the 2015 SCB Member Survey. If you look at the link you will see a very detailed report, with differences in answers based on geography, age, and discipline. In general, these are the biggest take home lessons of the survey:
1. SCB members are generally satisfied with meetings, congresses and conferences, access to information and networking to share knowledge. SCB members also indicate the high quality publications as a large part of their satisfaction with SCB.
2. The largest source of dissatisfaction with SCB is about the communications on a local and regional level and communication about how to get involved in SCB.
3. Survey respondents did not see SCB as effectively bridging the gap between research, management and policy, although respondents listed this as a top area of concern in the conservation field.
4. Survey respondents did not turn to SCB to help them solve day-to-day professional challenges.
5. Respondents were most interested in SCB focusing on enhancing collaboration and dialogues between a diversity of players in the conservation filed and increasing the use of quality science in decision-making and influence in policy and change a the regional (as opposed to global) levels around the world.
6. There are many other important conclusions in the survey that speak to demographic differences (age and stage of career, geographical location), need for training, career and mentoring opportunities, lack of access to financial resources, and members looking to SCB to fill those gaps.
As the staff of SCB’s Executive Office, we serve at the direction of the Board of Directors, who the members have elected including the Section Presidents. In view of the survey and the reinvigoration of the SCB Strategic Plan for 2016-2021, please contact us, if you have any ideas on how to make SCB serve your needs. There are volunteer opportunities on all Board Committees, as well as Section Committees and of course Chapter initiatives. Please let us hear from you.
Geri Unger
Executive Director
Society for Conservation Biology