December 15, 2020
Dear ISEB members and biogeochemistry community,
Since we last met November 2019 in Potsdam, Germany, the ISEB25 Organizing and Planning Committee has been planning our next International Symposium on Environmental Biogeochemistry for 2021. As you can imagine, planning a future symposium surrounded by the uncertainty of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been difficult. Although vaccines are now being developed and distributed around the world, public health concerns continue to linger, as does uncertainty associated with future travel.
After consultation with members of the International Advisory Committee and the Executive Board, we made the difficult decision to postpone ISEB25 until 2022. We understand that this will be the first postponement for a ISEB symposium in the organization's history, after almost 50 years. But, we simply could not find a way to provide a successful symposium in 2021 that would be in the best interest of everyone’s health and wellbeing, and be economical and inclusive of our entire international membership.
We will work to identify new dates and will announce the new symposium timeline as soon as it can be confirmed. We hope to gather in Banff, Canada, but may need to explore other venues. We are optimistic that we will see each other soon, and we appreciate your understanding and continued support of our society during this time.
ISEB25 Organizing and Planning Committee:
Chris Omelon, Chris Weisener, Ernest Chi Fru, Danielle Fortin, William Ghiorse, Annette Engel
Mission Statement
- promotion of scientific knowldege of biogeochemistry and related fields through discussions, reports and publications.
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Stimulation of scientific investigations, planning, organization and administration of biennial international symposia on biogeochemistry, as well as other meetings and publications for the advancement of scientific knowledge in this interdisciplinary field.
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Improvement of education in biogeochemistry and related subjects.
Biennial Symposia
The first International Symposium on Environmental Biogecohemistry was held at Logan, Utah, USA, 22 to 24 March 1973. Since then, symposia have taken place regularly every two years at different venues around the world.
Past Symposia
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XXV
2021Postponed until 2022 - XXIV 2019 Potsdam, Germany
- XXIII 2017 Palm Cove, Australia
- XXII 2015 Piran, Slovenia
- XXI 2013 Wuhan, China
- XX 2011 Istanbul, Turkey
- XIX 2009 Hamburg, Germany
- XVIII 2007 Taupo, New Zealand
- XVII 2005 Jackson Hole, USA
- XVI 2003 Oirase, Japan
- XV 2001 Wroclaw, Poland
- XIV 1999 Huntsville, Canada
- XIII 1997 Monopoli, Italy
- XII 1995 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- XI 1993 Salamanca, Spain
- X 1991 San Francisco, USA
- IX 1989 Moscow, USSR
- VIII 1987 Nancy, France
- VII 1985 Rome, Italy
- VI 1983 Santa Fe, USA
- V 1981 Stockholm, Sweden
- IV 1979 Canberra, Australia
- III 1977 Wolfenbüttel, W Germany
- II 1975 Hamilton, Canada
- I 1973 Logan, USA
History of ISEB
The initial concept for this organization was developed in 1970 by D.A. McLaren and J. Skujins; specifically, a meeting with no overlapping sessions devoted to environmental biogeochemistry where participants would be exposed to discussions not only in their own field of expertise, but also to discussions in other cognate disciplines.
Skujins subsequently organized an informal meeting in 1971 with P. Givens, T. Brock and H. Ehrlich that gave shape and form to the idea of a international symposium on biogeochemistry. In 1973, the first symposium was held at Utah State University in Logan, USA. Since then the symposium had become a regular biennial event with formalization of the organization through incorporation as a not-for-profit company under the name of Symposia on Environmental Biogeochemistry, Inc. (SEB). At the 19th biennial symposium in 2009 at Hamburg, Germany, the International Committee of SEB established the International Society for Environmental Biogeochemistry.