School > Planning and content

Contents of the school

Schedule for the DEB2021 School:

Offline work using recorded material (estimated time) :

Active learning via practical exercises                        6.5 h

Theory (lectures)                                                      12.5 h

Live online work via zoom  :

Research question formulation (group discussions)       2  h

Plenary discussion/ scientific debate  1 H

Q/A from lectures with the lecturer present     (live zoom sessions)                   2 h

Individual "Pet projects" working time     (live zoom sessions)                   8 h

Presenting results of individual projects    (live zoom sessions)                   5 h

Total estimated time investment: 19 hours offline and 18 hours online.

Lectures and videos

Information and content of the lectures and videos will be published on the Moodle platform. While the lectures will be available in a pre-recorded format, there will be half-hour live Q/A session running from May 17 to May 22. Each day a panel of lecturers (see teaching team) will be present to answer the Q/A. Questions are to be posted prior to the live session to the moodle discussion board. We will provide in course announcements the links to videos and material to study for each day - from the 17th till the 20th.

Group discussions (2 h)

There will be 10 people per discussion group and 5 discussion groups. Each participant of the practical course is invited to present their topic of research anf highlight how DEB theory will help addressing some of her/his reasearch questions. Each topic will be discussed for about 10 min, 3-4 topics will be presented during a group discussion. The remaining time will be used to address specific or general questions that participants have regarding DEB theory and the course content. These discussions will take place in break out zoom rooms. The compostion of the groups and the group discussion leaders are posted in the MOODLE.

Pleanary discussion (1 h)

There will be a 1 hour general discussion on May 21st. This will include reports of the activities of each of the group discussions during the previous days and a plenary discussion on the topic "What is the status of metabolic theory one century after Pütter invented the von Bertalanffy growth curve?".

Individual "AmP projects" (8 h)

Objective: Parameter estimation on the basis of the AmP procedure method. We will make use of the AmP entry preparation system. Every person will be assisted by the team, and break out zoom rooms will be available as needed.

Several participants from DEB2019 and DEB2017 used the work performed in their project as a basis for work they subsequently published in the 2017 and 2019 Special issues on DEB theory. There is a new virtual issue planned in Conservation Biology linked to DEB2021.

 Tasks: 

Carefully read and follow the instructions on this page: https://bio.vu.nl/thb/deb/deblab/add_my_pet/AmP@DEB2021.html as well as have a github account with the 4 user defined AmP files.

 Assessment:

Pet presentation of main findings.

Pet presentations (5 h live zoom)

We ask successful participants to present their results briefly; experts giving comments. If time allows we will compare the parameter values and give a short presentation of the findings. These live zoom sessions will be held on May 20 and May 21.