BCRA NEWSLETTER MARCH 2024

[SHEARSMITH]

BCRA NEWSLETTER MARCH 2024
Our Social media news outlets...
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/groups/britishcaver
• BCRA News forum: http://bcra.org.uk/forum
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/bcra_speleology
• UK Caving http://ukcaving.com/board/?board=86.0
In this newsletter
• Next online seminar via zoom
• Information on the rest of this year’s seminar programme
• Other planned seminars up to June
• The 2024 BCRA Cave & Karst Science Symposium and AGM
• Changes to BCRA membership system
• Student membership
• Changes to BCRA publications
• Next Council Meeting
• Supporting BCRA
The next online seminar is on:
Mon 08-Apr, 19:30 to 21:00 via Zoom
The Archaeology of Caves in the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland , with Marion Dowd, Atlantic Technological University, Sligo, Ireland. For further information, including details of how to log on, see bcra.org.uk/seminars. Last-minute changes to the programme will be posted to our Facebook page. BCRA Monthly seminars.

Information on the rest of this year’s seminar programme
Seminars through to June has been organised by Rob Watson to whom BCRA are very grateful. There will be a break in July and August, but the Seminars will start again in September with Ruairidh Macleod [ r at palaeome.org ] as the new organiser so if you have suggestions for speakers, please send them to him.

Other planned Seminars currently are:
Mon 13-May, 19:30 to 21:00 via Zoom
Exploring Ancient Environmental Genomes in Cave Sediments, with Mikkel W. Pedersen, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen. For further information, including details of how to log on, see bcra.org.uk/seminars. Last-minute changes to the programme will be posted to our Facebook page.
Monday 10th June, 19.30 to 21.00 via Zoom
What do karst and Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) have in common? with Spela Conc, Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia. For further information, including details of how to log on, see bcra.org.uk/seminars. Last-minute changes to the programme will be posted to our Facebook page

The 2024 BCRA Cave & Karst Science Symposium and AGM will take place on Sat 12 Oct, 09:30 to 17:00 at Northumbria University, hosted by Mike Rogerson. (The date is provisional and has yet to be confirmed). This will be a live event and will be streamed via Zoom. Further information can be found on the forum. This will be a live event but, hopefully, we will be able to stream it live via Zoom. Further information, including a timetable, abstracts, and directions to the venue will be available later in the year on the BCRA News forum. Last-minute info will be posted to our Facebook page.

Changes to the BCRA membership system
Following our Council meeting on the 27th of March it was decided that we would join the BCA in moving to a new membership system later this year . The new System is called Just Go and those of you who use the BCA training system will already be using a version of it. We are hoping this will simplify our system to enable more people to engage with BCRA by having everything in one place.

Student membership to BCRA
Just a reminder to students that if you are a member of BCA , membership to BCRA is free of charge
Students are defined as under-18s or full-time undergraduates.
Further information is available on the website at the following link
https://bcra.org.uk/detail/fees.html

Changes to BCRA Publications
Following our meeting on the 27th of March it was decided that one of our publications Caves and Karst will be available in future through open access. Our other publications advertised on the BCRA website will continue to be available to members as part of their membership to BCRA

The next council meeting will be held on Wednesday 15th May at 8pm via Zoom

Supporting BCRA. We are looking for someone to support IT for the BCRA and in particular our website as one of our IT volunteers is looking to step down from the role. For more details initially contact the secretary of the BCRA.

The next newsletter will be at the end of April 2024