Southern Europe Regional Meeting 2023
Event Report
This spring, between the 15th and 21st of May, LC Dren from the Faculty of Forestry, Landscape Architecture, and Ecoengineering “Hans Em” in Macedonia hosted the 2023 edition of SERM. After the earthquakes in Southeastern Turkey, LC Istanbul could not host SERM. Therefore LC Dren applied to organize it in less than two and a half months.
Over 40 students from four continents visited our Faculty and country. We had a packed schedule full of lectures, time for socializing and fun, and some off-schedule activities, which spiced things up!
1. Lectures
Opening conference
The first day started with a conference, opening remarks from the dean of the faculty, prof. Dr. Kiril Sotirovski.
After that, representatives from the newest National Park, “Shar Planina,” came to present interesting facts and curiosities about the National Park and Shar Mountain as well.
2. Faculty presentation
The conference proceeded with a presentation from most departments of the Faculty.
Department of Phytopathology
Department of Botany
Department of Organisation and Economics
Department of Entomology
Department of Dendrology
Department of Zoology
3. Biodiversity presentations
We figured there was no better way to meet everyone than to give them a chance to talk about nature in their home country. So we had each LC present the biodiversity of their region in 5 minutes while also presenting themselves!
Team Slovenia
Team Bulgaria
Team Slovakia
Team USA
Team Japan
Team Italy
4. Lectures-on-foot
While travelling, the professor of Dendrology and Plant Ecology, Dr. Jane Acevski, travelled with us and provided us with a detailed explanation of the natural processes in each place we visited. Also, the National Park officials were very keen on giving us an into the work they are putting into the ecosystem they manage.
Lecture at the Pchinja River
Lecture on Mountain Kozhuf
Visiting Arbutus andrachne localities
Lecture at NP “Pelister” and Pinus peuce localities
National Park “Galichica”
National Park “Mavrovo”
5. Traveling
The Regional Meeting mainly consisted of traveling from one place to another. These are all the places we visited:
Wooden bridge on the Pchinja River
Prespa Lake
Ohrid Lake
6. Fun
Apart from all the lectures and knowledge-packed sessions, we set the right conditions for relaxation and socialising to get the most out of this event! From bar parties to bonfires by the lake to photography competitions…
Movie projection on the first night. We chose to screen the Oscar-nominated documentary film “Honeyland” from Macedonia, portraying the horrific effects of our selfish relationship with nature.
Opening party at the plant nursery ”Foja.”
Bonfire by the Ohrid Lake
The photography competition in Ohrid consisted of a three-level evaluation. The participants were split into seven equal groups according to the alphabetical order of their names. They were given maps of the Old City of Ohrid and tasked with photographing seven different highlights of the city and taking one creative group photograph at a specific location, different for every team. Apart from that, we also gave them points according to the time they needed to complete it. The competition winner (Amphitheater Photography) won a trip with the submarine to Ohrid Lake.
Closing party at the plant nursery ”Foja”
7. IFSA activities
As a part of the tradition, on the 4th day, we opened the voting for the new Regional Representatives of Southern Europe as well as the next host of SERM. Applicants for the position of RR’s were Petar Krstevski from LC Dren and Ena Zarkovic from LC Belgrade, and they are currently pre-selected for this position. They should officially start their work in August of this year.
As a pay-off for this year, the only applicant for hosting SERM was LC Istanbul again, and it will be the host of SERM 2024 with a wonderful program presented in front of the participants.
Apart from that, we also held an auction for the IFSA fund. It was an amazing and fun experience where a lot of LCs had brought stuff from their Faculties, and through selling, we managed to raise a little less than 800 euros for IFSA.
7. Last words from the hosts
As a small Faculty with a lot of progress ahead of us, the opportunity to host SERM 2023 was amazing! It gave us a chance to provide all of our students a new broader perspective on their professional prospects through this network we built in the meeting. It was a great pleasure to be chosen to welcome so many guests from very different backgrounds and cultures. For all of this, we are grateful.
LC Dren
- Authors:
Petar Krstevski, Nadica Kremshovska, Anastasija Miloshoska, Ivana Peneva, Petar Nikolovski, Danche Kojova, Davor Petrovski, Elena Kitevska, Dina Nikolovska
SERM Guidebook : Here
