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Hello All:

A reminder that the deadline for early-bird registration is next Tuesday, 28 February, for the 2017 International Symposium on Ranaviruses (ISR).  Please see Jesse’s email below for details.

Also, the deadline for abstract submissions is Wednesday, 15 March — abstracts should be submitted here: https://www.rana-2017.com/abstract-submission.  There  are examples of abstracts on the abstract submission website.

The 2017 ISR is promised to be a great European experience with many opportunities to interact and discuss contemporary research on ranaviruses!

All the Best, Matt

From: Global Ranavirus Consortium <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Jesse Brunner <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Global Ranavirus Consortium <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 5:55 PM
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: GRC Membership and Symposium registration

Dear Ranavirus researchers,

We have been making some behind-the-scenes changes to the ranavirus.org website to 1) make it easier to keep up on GRC membership and 2) allow for an easier registration process for the upcoming International Ranavirus Symposium and International Symposium on Viruses of Lower Vertebrates in Budapest this June. Since the early-bird deadline for registration is rapidly approaching (end of February!)  I wanted to clarify how this process will work and encourage you to become a member and register for the symposium. 

The short version is you should 1) become a member or renew your membership at https://www.ranavirus.org/register/ and then follow the direct link provided in the confirmation email to 2) register for the Ranavirus Symposium (and International Symposium on Viruses of Lower Vertebrates) with the 20 euro member discount. 

The longer version is below.

Best wishes, 

Jesse

Membership: You can become a member or renew your membership at https://www.ranavirus.org/register/ . The new system is set up for annual registrations and will send emails when your membership is about to expire. You can also click the box so that your membership will automatically be renewed next year (you can log in and change the billing credit card later, if you need). The membership remains the same same low prices: $15 for students and $30 for everyone else. 

These membership dues help support our general mission and outreach, keep the website running (if not up to date… any volunteers to help me?!), and help support the International Symposia. Current membership also provide you with a 20 euro discount on IRS conference registration! If you register you will receive a direct link to a registration site with this discount included. 

Symposia Registration: We are now providing registration for the ISR and the International Symposium on Viruses of Lower Vertebrates on our website: https://www.ranavirus.org/store/ (But again, if you become a member/renew your membership first you will get a link to our site with reduced member prices.) We can support payments with credit cards, but this comes with a 3% fee to cover the costs of our card processing company. This means that the full amount of your registration fees can go to support the symposium activities. If you wish to avoid these fees you can follow the bank transfer instructions on the conference website (https://www.rana-2017.com/registration). 

The abstract registration process will still take place on the conference website (https://www.rana-2017.com/registration). 

Website and security: We recently changed our website service provider (some of you may have seen the site offline for a few days), which should make the site more responsive. We also now have a SSL certificate, which means our site communications are encrypted. It is worth noting, however, that any information associated with credit card transactions have never and will never pass through our website; they go directly to/from our credit card processor, Stripe.com, which uses industry standard encryption. 

You will notice that some site functionality is reduced for a little while. Our theme, which allowed for publications and other posts, conflicted with the new membership plug in. I will work on finding someone who can fix this soon, but for now the site will look a little different and some parts may not be very helpful. 




From: Matt Gray <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, January 30, 2017 at 9:41 AM
To: Global Ranavirus Consortium <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: Matt Gray <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: 2017 International Symposium on Ranaviruses, Ranavirus Course, and GRC Elections

Dear GRC Members and Colleagues:

 

Please see the announcement below and attached.  The Fourth International Symposium on Ranaviruses (ISR) will be held 7-10 June 2017 in Budapest, Hungary.  Preceding the ISR (4-7 June) will be the International Symposium on Viruses of Lower Vertebrates at the same location.  Details can be found at: 

 

https://www.rana-2017.com and

http://kabafalvi.wixsite.com/isvlv-2017

 

In addition to the amazing location, the ISR is promised to be a professionally rewarding and fun experience – filled with three days of professional and student presentations, organized discussions, field trips, and social interactions.  Early registration ends 28 February 2017,so please register as soon as possible.

 

All GRC members receive a 20-euro discount.  The 2016 Memberships ended 31 December, so most folks need to renew their memberships, which can be done here.

 

http://www.ranavirus.org/store/ ($15 USD for students, $30 USD for professionals)

 

 If you want to receive the membership discount on ISR registration, please renew your membership prior to registering.

 

The GRC Board and its members have been very active over the past 3.5 years --- some accomplishments include:

 

1)   Hosting the First International Course on Ranaviruses

2)   Launching the Global Ranavirus Reporting System (GRRS)

3)   Publishing the First Book on Ranaviruses

4)   Creating a Website with Various Resources on Ranaviruses

5)   Hosting International Symposia with Professional Development Workshops.

 

Regarding the Ranavirus course that was instructed in 2016, there have been several inquiries about offering it again.  The GRC Board is having discussions about this possibility, and if approved, it will probably be in a slightly different format.  All lectures from the 2016 course were saved as MP4 videos, so we are considering offering the course online, where the entire content or individual lectures could be purchased. We’d also like to automate assessment with online testing, and as before, completion certificates would be provided for continuing education training.  We will be discussing various options for the course at the 2017 ISR. 

 

Also in 2017, the GRC will hold elections; an announcement for nominations will be forthcoming (in March).  Elections will occur for the Associate Director, Secretary/Treasurer, and each of the regional representatives (North America, South/Central America, Europe/Africa, Asia, and Australia).  Here are our bylaws, which describe the role of each position:

 

http://www.ranavirus.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/GRCBylawsFinal-1-8-2015.pdf  (see sections 1-4)

 

Jesse Brunner (current Associate Director) will take over as the GRC Director at the 2017 ISR, and I will move into the Past Director position.  Please consider running for a position on the GRC Board!

 

We look forward to seeing everyone at the first ISR held in Europe!! 

 

All the Best, Matt


______________________________________________________________

Matthew J. Gray, Ph.D., Professor

Director, Global Ranavirus Consortium 

Co-chair, PARC National Disease Task Team

Associate Director, Center for Wildlife Health

University of Tennessee 
274 Ellington Plant Sciences Building
Knoxville, TN 37996-4563
865.974.2740 [ofc]                [log in to unmask]
865.974.4714 [fax]                http://fwf.ag.utk.edu/personnel/mgray.htm


For more information about Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries at UTK, 
Please visit http://fwf.ag.utk.edu/ or call 865.974.7126
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