bcss
Biodiversity Conservation Society Sarawak
Pertubuhan Konservasi Biodiversiti Sarawak
 

About BCSS
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Trainers' area
Past workshops
Workshop Materials:

UNIMAS Boot Camp

Postgrad courses:
Workshops and training:
 

"Boot Camp" in wildlife study design and data analysis

The 10-day "Boot Camp" is intended for those involved in wildlife research using techniques such as presence/absence surveys or mark-recapture - or those who need to understand the results of this research. More details are here. See also Who we are.

After an enforced hiatus of two years due to covid-19, we've now run two Boot Camps in Malaysia and we're ready for international projects. We've run lots of workshops in S and SE Asia, and now we've added Africa! Then we come back to Sarawak in August.

 

College of African Wildlife Management

Mweka, Tanzania, 4 - 15 July 2022

in conjunction with

This workshop is now over. See a brief report here.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)

Kuching, 1 - 12 August 2022

 

This workshop is now over. See a brief report here.


Bayesian analysis with JAGS and R - online tutorial

We introduce Bayesian concepts in the Boot Camp, but to go beyond the simplest cases, you need to get to grips with JAGS software. Here we show how to use JAGS for typical analyses of wildlife data and provide skills to go further.

Still plenty of topics not yet covered: feel free to give your ideas on what should be the priorities in the comments.


Specialist workshops for wildlife researchers

In 2018, we ran workshops on Simulations and Modelling, Bayes with JAGS, Data Exploration, and GIS with QGIS and R. Details are included on our Past Workshops page. Announcements of GIS and JAGS workshops are at the top of this page. We currently have no plans to run other specialist workshops; email workshops@bcss.org.my if you are interested in hosting one.

Note that all these workshops focus on techniques used for terrestrial vertebrates; they can usually be modified for use with invertebrates or plants, or for aquatic systems, but our examples will be for terrestrial systems.

Introduction to GIS with QGIS and R

Geographic information system (GIS) tools are essential today for understanding what is happening around us. QGIS software is free, open-source, cross-platform software that is constantly updated for greater performance. This workshop is intended for those who want to learn the basics of GIS but do not have access to proprietary software. More details of the content are here. Our plans for the workshop in Kuala Lumpur are on hold.

Simulations and Modelling in R

Simulations are an important tool for wildlife biologists when designing a study. It enables you to explore different sample sizes and sampling strategies, to see how best to collect data to answer your research question. In addition, setting up simulations forces you to think through how the data might be generated, ie, to create a model of the system you are studying. More information here.

Data Exploration and Display with R

Checking, organising and exploring the data are vital before starting on any analysis. Here we discuss the process from recording in the field to ready-to-use data in R and the presentation of the data and results using charts. Details of topics to be covered are here.

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Updated 21 August 2022 by Mike Meredith