Well-known theologian, composer, and author Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, Chairman of the Department of External Relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, delivered an academic address at St. Vlad's on November 8, 2014, on the topic of primacy in preparation for the 2016 Great and Holy Council. He was also given an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree.

Dr. Paul Meyendorff delivers the commencement address at the 2016 graduation at St. Vladimir's Seminary on May 21. Dr. Meyendorff is retiring after 29 years of teaching Liturgical Theology at the seminary.

How do the saints hear our prayers? Why was Jesus so hard on Judas? Plus a call from the United Arab Emirates!

Fr. Evan discusses universal salvation, the symbol of the cross, and more!

Lots of calls and questions on this episode! A nine-year-old asks about shapes of crosses, a teenager about old calendar and new calendar, and much more.

It was non-stop calls for this program as Fr. Evan talked with a listener who is joining the Roman Catholic Church, a 17-year-old catechumen, a 12-year-old boy, and several more.

Another full night of calls with questions about living with a spouse who is not supportive of Orthodoxy, original sin, church etiquette, and much more.

A great program to put a dent in the backlog of email questions to Fr. Evan on a variety of interesting topics.

A variety of calls, emails, and pre-recorded questions tonight to make the show interesting. Including questions about the marriage ceremony, prayer rules with your children, and the right time for chrismation.

In the first half hour, Fr. Evan speaks with Fr. Jim Kordaris, Director of Stewardship, Outreach and Evangelism for the GOA and Thomaida Hudanish, Assistant Director of C.O.M.E - the Commission for Orthodox Evangelism in San Francisco. They give information about the upcoming Bringing Orthodoxy to America Conference in Portland. In the 2nd half of the show, Fr. Evan takes two calls - one on the Orthodox perspective on the sin nature and the other on understanding the role of suffering in our lives.

Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick teams up with Fr. Evan in this episode to tackle a wide range of questions including the role of a spiritual father and speaking to a non-believer about the Faith.

Non-stop calls tonight with questions ranging from free will to groups known as the "True Orthodox" and their claims.

On this 4th anniversary program, we begin with a nice greeting from a listener and daughter who listen in England followed by a mix of calls, pre-recorded, and email questions.

Fr. Evan discussed the priesthood, today's Gospel reading, and exorcisms.

Fr. Steven Ritter, the host of the AFR podcast, The Life of the Church Today, offers his perspective on the upcoming United States election.

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen of the Classical Learning Resource Center (CLRC). Use the coupon code AFRDiscount10 to receive a 10% discount off the CLRC's Christian Study Courses.

November 3-5 are the dates for the 2016 OCAMPR (Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology, and Religion) Conference at Holy Cross/Helenic College in Brookline, MA. We speak with two of the three plenary speakers: Dr. Al Rossi (Psychologist) and Dr. Donald Jenkins (Physician).

Human trafficking is a big problem all over the world. In this year's Project for Awesome, we're supporting the HOPE Project, a new program that connects survivors of human trafficking housing, occupations, potential, and empowerment.

This preface presents the papers included in the eighth issue of the Interdisciplinary Journal of e-Skills and Lifelong Learning (IJELL) special series of selected Chais Conference best papers. The Chais Conference for the Study of Innovation and Learning Technologies: Learning in the Technological Era, is organized annually by the Research Center for Innovation in Learning Technologies, The Open University of Israel. The 11th Chais Conference was held at The Open University of Israel, Raanana, Israel, on February 16-17, 2016.

We are very happy to announce officialy the kunstform BMX Shop Team for the season 2015/2016! Our focus with the choice of riders is to cover every BMX Freestyle disciplines like BMX Park, BMX Street and BMX Flatlen and to give them support and motivation. For BMX Flatland we could get Kevin Nikulski and John Krämer. Shawn Hammer from Berlin and Miguel Franzem from Sindelfingen represent BMX Park. Both of them have a very nice attitude! For BMX Street is riding David "Arthur" Biedermann, a local rider from Stuttgart and Robin Kachfi who won the kunstform "Can you Sponsor me" Video Competition. Jonas Bader and Miguel Smajlji feeling home everywhere! We have planned some projects, so stay tune!

Robin Kachfi - Skatepark Mannheim - BMX Edit 2016

Robin Kachfi is on fire right now. His progress is just awesome! His new Video was taken in his local Skatepark in Mannheim (Germany) and he says about it following words:

"I finished finally my video for kunstformbmxshop & my Crew at my local skatepark in mannheim germany. Thanks to everybody for the additional filming! This is dedicated to a legend of our time! Ride in peace Dave Mirra"

Channel sub: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/robinkachfi

Follow him on:
Instagram - http://instagram.com/robinkachfibmx

Also follow his mazzakacrew crew!
Channel sub: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/mazzakacrew
Instagram: http://instagram.com/mazzakacrew

Robin Kachfi X kunstform BMX Shop - BMX webedit 2016

Ladies and gentlemen,
we're very proud to show you the new webedit of our bro and BMX team buddy Robin Kachfi from Mannheim (Germany)! It's so amazin to see his progression and motivation! He used the winter time very usefull and got ready for upcomin BMX Season 2016! #robinforpresident :-)

Channel sub: www.youtube-nocookie.com/user/robinkachfi

Follow him on:
Instagram - www.instagram.com/robinkachfibmx/

Also follow his mazzakacrew crew!
Channel sub: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/user/mazzakacrew
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mazzakacrew/
Music: Music: Ryan Little - thank you for playing god speed

Göppingen - Skateopen 2016 - BMX Contest

Last weekend (18th of june 2016) was the famous Skateopen in Göppingen which is a BMX, Skate and Scooter event at the Skatepark in Göppignen! All the guys from S.I.S. eV - Skateverein Göppingen did an amzing job with the contest, program and music in the evening! Our friends Miguel Smajlji & Daniel Fuhrmann visited that event and the video is about there trip to Göppingen! Even rain could not stop the positiv vibe and it was a pleasure to be there! Props to Huddl for that awesome day! Visit and support BMX events! #bmxfamily

Shoutout an die Close Up BMX Crew from Ulm https://www.facebook.com/CloseupBmx and all Göppinger Locals!

Video & Edit: Albi
Webisode supported by www.kunstform.org

Follow our youtube account on: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/kunstformbmxshop

Cologne - BMX CGN BMX Contest 2016 - Miguel Smajlji & Robin Kachfi & Kevin Nikulski & Oliver Frömter

We send our new trainee Oliver Frömter (@oliverfroemter18 ) and our team riders Miguel Smajlji (@smilesridesbikes), Robin Kachfi (robinkachfibmx) and Kevin Nikulski (@kevin_nikulski) to the famous BMX Contest in Cologne which is called that time #bmxcologne! So that video is about the trip to cologne, as well some impression of the #bmxcologne and flat tyre of oli's car!

Follow our youtube account on: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/kunstformbmxshop

We are very happy to announce officialy the kunstform BMX Shop Team for the season 2016/2017! Our focus with the choice of riders is to cover every BMX Freestyle disciplines like BMX Park, BMX Street and BMX Flatland and to give them support and motivation. For BMX Flatland we could get Kevin Nikulski, John Krämer and Markus Schwital. Shawn Hammer from Berlin and Miguel Franzem from Sindelfingen represent BMX Park. For BMX Street is riding David "Arthur" Biedermann, a local rider from Stuttgart and Robin Kachfi who won the kunstform "Can you Sponsor me" Video Competition. Jonas Bader,Miguel Smajlji and Sven Avemaria feeling home everywhere! We have planned some projects, so stay tune!

BMX Instagram Compilation 2016 - Sven Avemaria

Here's a short Instagram compilation of clips we posted at our instagram account kunstformbmxshop about our bro Sven Avemarie from the last couple months. We hope you'll like it!

https://www.instagram.com/kunstformbmxshop/ https://www.instagram.com/svenavemaria/

Follow our youtube account on: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/kunstformbmxshop

BMX Instagram Compilation 2016 - Miguel Smajlji

Here's a short Instagram compilation of clips we posted at our instagram account kunstformbmxshop about our bro Miguel Smajlji from the last couple months. We hope you'll like it!

https://www.instagram.com/kunstformbmxshop/ https://www.instagram.com/smilesridesbikes/

Follow our youtube account on: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/kunstformbmxshop

BMX Instagram Compilation 2016 - Robin Kachfi

Here's a short Instagram compilation of clips we posted at our instagram account kunstformbmxshop about our bro Robin Kachfi from the last couple months. We hope you'll like it!

https://www.instagram.com/kunstformbmxshop/ https://www.instagram.com/robinkachfibmx/

Follow our youtube account on: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/kunstformbmxshop

Kunstform Stock Session 2016 Video

You can't wait for the upcoming Stock Session?
Here you can watch our video from last years stock session again!

On the 2nd of december 2017, the kunstform Stock Session 2017 aka the unofficial "BaWü BMX Christmas party" will take place again. This year the session will start again like last year at 3p.m. - 5p.m. at the "Pragfriedhof" in Stuttgart, where you can win "Voucher for Tricks" whether if you're a kid, rookie, amateur or pro! From 6p.m. - 10p.m. the session will take place at the kunstform stock room where you can ride different obstacles like a Subrosastreetrail, wallride, bank and ledge where you have the chance to win some prize money of 1000€. Also we'll open our "Bar" again, to celebrate with you all together! The whole event is supported by Sunday Bikes and Subrosa! #bmx

Adress:
1. Stop
Pragfriedhof Skatepark
Friedhof-/ Eckartstraße
70191 Stuttgart

2. Stop
Kunstform BMX Shop
Rotebühlstr. 63,
70178 Stuttgart


More infos on Facebook.

The 2016 GEO BON Open Science Conference: "Biodiversity and ecosystem Services Monitoring for the 2020 Targets and beyond. Building on observations for user needs" will take place from 4 to 9 July 2016 in Leipzig, Germany. 

Biodiversity Science is facing enormous challenges as the pressures upon the earth’s biotic systems are rapidly intensifying and we are unlikely to reach the CBD 2020 Aichi Targets. But how far or close are we to reach the targets? The GEO BON Open Science Conference on "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Monitoring for the 2020 Targets and beyond" will assess this question. The conference is open to the wide scientific public and is sponsored and co-organized by iDiv, UFZ, SASCAL (others to come).

For more information please visit: http://conf2016.geobon.org

The 2016 European Space Agency Living Planet Symposiumwill be held in Prague, Czech Republic from 9-13 May 2016 and is organised with the support of the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. The event follows previous successful symposia held in Edinburgh (2013), Bergen (2010), Montreux (2007) and Salzburg (2004).

The first announcement has been now released, with a deadline for abstract submission on 16 October 2015.

All received abstracts will be reviewed by a Scientific Committee, notification of acceptance will be provided in early February 2016. Registration to attend the event (free of charge) will be opened in February 2016, after the publication of the preliminary programme.

The objectives of the ESA Living Planet Symposium are to:

• Present  the  progress  and  plans for the implementation of ESA Earth Observation strategy and the relevance of ESA's EO Programme to societal challenges, science and economy.
• Provide an international forum to scientists, researchers and users to present and share state of the art results based on ESA's Earth Observation and third-party mission data.
• Review the development of Earth Observation applications.
• Present the Copernicus space component and operational services.
• Report on ESA’s Exploitation Programmes (i.e. Climate Change Initiative, SEOM, DUE, VAE, STSE).
• Introduce the current and future planned Earth Observation missions.
• Outline ESA’s international cooperation in the field of Earth Observation.
• Provide dedicated thematic tutorials and demonstrations.

For more information, please visit: http://lps16.esa.int 

The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) in Tervuren (Belgium) is part of the FishBase Consortium and responsible for the information on the fresh- and brackish water fishes of Africa in the FishBase database. Through an agreement with the Belgian Development Cooperation and as part of the FishBase program, the RMCA has five (5) grants available for a 3-month training program in the use of FishBase and the taxonomy of African fishes.

The training will have three subsets:

1. A detailed explanation of FishBase in all its aspects;
2. A training in the taxonomy of African fishes;
3. A case study based on data from FishBase or on taxa for which taxonomic problems have been encountered.

This course has been offered annually since 2005 and is held at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Leuvensesteenweg 13, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium). For more information and to apply for this three-month training grant, see: http://fishbase.africamuseum.be or www.fishbaseforafrica.org. Please note that for 2016, this course will be given in French only.

Questions? Contact Dimitri Geelhand de Merxem (dimitri.geelhand@africamuseum.be).

The Distributed European School of Taxonomy (DEST), an initiative under the CETAF umbrella and managed by RBINS, has launched its training programme for 2015-2016.  

Check out the Expert-in-training programme enabling trainees to develop and strengthen their taxonomic research skills through on-the-job-training and the Modern Taxonomy programme offering intensive theoretical courses in various subjects.

The Distributed European School of Taxonomy (DEST) was established within the framework of the EU funded project  European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT) and under the umbrella of the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF). The EDIT consortium agreement lasted from March 2006 until March 2011. Since then, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) remains responsible for the continued management of DEST, organization of courses and related logistical matters. The DEST currently includes a network of around 100 training providers from 60 institutions.

The Museum für Naturkunde and the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum are honored to be hosting the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) as well as the 2nd International Conference on Biodiversity Biobanking of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) in Berlin from June, 20 to June, 25, 2016. The conferences will be held in parallel at the andel’s Hotel Berlin, Landsberger Allee.

• SPNHC conference web site: http://www.spnhc2016.berlin/, conference theme: "Green Museum – How to practice what we preach?"
• GGBN conference web site: https://meetings.ggbn.org/conference/ggbn/2016/index, conference theme: "Meeting the Challenge: How to Preserve a Cross-Section of the Tree of Life"

The registration for both conferences is now open. Please check the conference web sites for information on the conference program, field trips, social events, accommodation, registration and abstract submission. All social events and field trips as well as the opening session on Tuesday are joint events for attendees of both conferences. During lunch and coffee breaks one will have the chance to visit the vendor booths and chat with attendees of both conferences. The sessions of both conferences cover complementary topics to avoid duplications.

Europe’s regions are facing rising sea levels and more extreme weather, such as more frequent and more intense heatwaves, flooding, droughts and storms due to climate change, according to the latest European Environment Agency report published on 25 Jan 2017. The report assesses the latest trends and projections on climate change and its impacts across Europe and finds that better and more flexible adaptation strategies, policies and measures will be crucial to lessen these impacts.

Find a summary of the report's Key Findings, or download the full report.

The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) in Tervuren (Belgium), member of the FishBase Consortium and responsible for the information on the fresh- and brackish water fishes of Africa in the FishBase database, is organizing  the 'FishBase and Fish Taxonomy Training Session 2016'. This course has been offered annually since 2005 and held regularly in the RMCA located at Leuvensesteenweg 13, B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium. Through an agreement with the Belgian Development Cooperation and as part of the FishBase program, the RMCA has five (5) grants available for this year's 3-month training program (from 07 March up to 27 May 2016) in the use of FishBase and the taxonomy of African fishes. To apply for traineeship and for more information, see: http://fishbase.africamuseum.be or  www.fishbaseforafrica.org.

The training course will have three (3) subsets:

1. A detailed explanation of FishBase in all its aspects;
2. A training in the taxonomy of African fishes;
3. A case study based on data from FishBase or on taxa for which taxonomic problems have been encountered.

*For 2016, this course will be given in French only.

Questions? Contact Dimitri Geelhand de Merxem (dimitri.geelhand@africamuseum.be).

European Geosciences Union, General assembly: Interdisciplinary Approaches in Climatic Change Research and Assessment will take place in Vienna from 17 to 22 April 2016.

Adequate response to the challenges associated with climate change requires new formats of scientific research and assessment. In the past, linear approaches, starting from the recognition of climate change, through the analysis of observed or expected impacts and ending with policy recommendations, have been the mainstream. It is now widely recognised that these approaches mostly fail to reach their objectives since they do not account for feedbacks between the physical environment and societal action, nor for the feedbacks in the various subsystems. The objective of this session is to review and discuss the problem of climatic change in all its dimensions, with a special focus on interdisciplinary approaches. Climate change science concerns a number of disciplines, such as physics, biology, economics, social sciences etc. It is essential that new forms for interact between disciplines are found in order to produce innovative results.

We do not expect to cover all the aspects of the climate change science but we hope that as well researchers in physical and natural sciences than researchers in social sciences will find interest to participate at the session to present and discuss a few exciting issues within one of several of these scopes (and more):

- The link between global climate scenarios and the socio-economic developments

- Scenarios for impact studies: from global to local

- Climate services: the relation between scientists and stakeholders

- Ecosystem services: outputs from ecosystems, challenges and responses

- Climate – societal interactions in the last millennia: can we learn from past experience?

- Socio-ecosystems, towards a comprehensive approach to sustainability Science

- The climate change policies to mitigate climatic change

- Climatic change and biodiversity

- How to couple physical, ecological and socio-economic models

- Peoples' perception of risk, how to improve communication

- Sea level change and the problems of low lying areas.

Information: http://egu2016.eu/information/general_information.html

The call for abstracts for the EGU 2016 General Assembly is now open: make sure to submit your abstract by 13 January 2016, 13:00 CET. If you would like to apply for funding from the EGU to attend, please submit your abstract within the next few days, by 1 December. This month the EGU has also open a call for proposals for EGU 2016 co-sponsored meetings and has announced a new grant scheme for EGU members interested in developing an outreach and public engagement project.       

Biodiversity without Boundaries (BWB) 2016 takes place on 18-22 April in the biodiversity-rich, abundant, and beautiful Puerto Rico.

In collaboration with our Puerto Rico Network Partners - the Puerto Rico Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DRNA) and the leading environmental and educational nonprofit Para la Naturaleza - the NatureServe Network’s annual conference will convene hundreds of the world’s leading conservationists for a week of plenaries, symposiums, workshops, panels, presentations, and field sessions.

To register and for more information, please visit the official event's page.

The 2016 European Space Agency Living Planet Symposium follows the previous successful symposia held in Edinburgh (2013), Bergen (2010), Montreux (2007) and Salzburg (2004).

The event will be held in Prague, Czech Republic from 9-13 May 2016 and is organised with the support of the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.

A first announcement has been released, with a deadline for abstract submission on 16 October 2015. All received abstracts will be reviewed by a Scientific Committee, notification of acceptance will be provided in early February 2016. Registration to attend the event (free of charge) will be opened in February 2016, after the publication of the preliminary programme.

Full papers for accepted contributions shall be provided at the event and will be published as ESA Special Publication. An Exhibition will be running from 9 to 12 May 2016. 

The ASEAN-EU STI Days 2016 will be organised in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 10-12 May, 2016. This year’s edition of the event will focus on presenting academic/industry collaborations in and between ASEAN and the EU in the context of common key societal challenges for both regions.

The ASEAN-EU Science, Technology and Innovation Days are a forum style event, initiated by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme funded SEA-EU-NET II project. 

For more information and to register, please go to: http://www.stidays.net

Representatives from science, business and public administration are invited to join the 2016 GEO Workshop for European projects on earth observation from 31 May to 2 June in Berlin.

2016 marks a turning point for the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) with the launch of the new Stategic Plan implementing the Global Earth Observations System of Systems (GEOSS). Now in its 10th edition, the GEO European Projects Workshop 2016 will present and discuss European initiatives contributing to GEOSS.

The conference is jointly organised by the European Commission, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure of Germany, and the Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science.

For further information on the event (programme, registration, practical information) and most recent updates, please regularly check: https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/geo-european-projects-workshop-2016

The 2016 IndexMed Seminar will be held from 6 to 8 June 2016, in Marseille, France.

Following the successful workshops (2014 and 2015), this 3rd seminar will highlight the contribution of recent developments in data-mining using graphs approach for environmental research questions and new hypotheses. It will promote exchanges between participants, the acquisition of practical methods and will explore new ways to organize data.

The aims, after sharing scientific evidences and confronting experiences, are to develop collaborations using/based on graph approaches and new researches around the Mediterranean Sea and across Europe, and to respond to a European H2020 Call next year. The 3-days program (6 to 8 June 2016) will be extensive, including 3 plenary sessions with keynote speakers (international level), social events, a posters session and a 2-days workshop (about 20 places), during which participants will build their first data graphs with their own datasets and learn how to generate metadata and to write data papers.

The 2016 IndexMed Seminar welcomes abstracts for original oral and poster contributions until 15th May 2016. The online submission process will be opened soon (1st April) on http://indexmed2016.sciencesconf.org.

Registration is free and open to any researcher. PhD and Master students are welcome.

Follow the latest news and register for the event here.

The Annual meetings of the LTER-Europe network and the eLTER H2020 project will take place between 13 and 17 June, 2016 in Latvia. 

The annual LTER-Europe meeting will take place during this week, along with the annual eLTER H2020 project meeting. The current outline schedule (subject to change) is:

• Monday 13 June, 18:00 - 22:00: Welcome party
• Tuesday 14 June, 09:00 - 17:00: LTER-Europe meeting
• Wednesday 15 June, 09:00 - 18:00: eLTER H2020 project meeting
• Thursday 16 June, 09:00 - 18:00: eLTER H2020 project meeting
• Friday 17 June, 09:00 - 12:00: eLTER Core Team meeting

For updated information go to: http://www.lter-europe.net/events/lter-europe-2016

The 2016 GEO BON Open Science Conference: "Biodiversity and ecosystem Services Monitoring for the 2020 Targets and beyond. Building on observations for user needs" and the GEO BON ALL-Hands-Meeting will take place from 4 to 9 July 2016 in Leipzig, Germany. Registration for the event is now open!

The GEO BON Open Science Conference & All Hands Meeting will be a major event to bring together all of those interested in developing biodiversity monitoring programs, biodiversity observations research, and sound biodiversity management. The first 2½ days will be organized as an Open Science Conference, with oral and poster presentations in parallel sessions.

There will be also some keynotes from renown speakers. This conference is an opportunity to open GEO BON to anyone interested in joining our community. The second 2½ will be the All Hands Meeting and organized as parallel workshops on specific topics. These workshops may have products (e.g. a guide to monitor an EBV) and/or may lay out a work plan for a working group for 2016-2019. The All Hands Meeting is open to everybody active or wanting to be active in GEO BON.

Deadline abstract submission: 1 April 2016

For more information and to register, please see the official event's page.

The EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) is a biennial, pan-European, general science conference dedicated to scientific research and innovation. Each conference aims to deliver stimulating content and lively debate around the latest advancements and discoveries in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. Now in its seventh iteration, ESOF attracts thousands of delegates to the host city during the week of the conference, which, in 2016, will be held between 23 and 27 July in Manchester. 

ESOF brings together over 4,500 leading thinkers, innovators, policy makers, journalists and educators from more than 90 countries, to discuss current and future breakthroughs in contemporary science.

ESOF is one of the best opportunities for everyone from leading scientists, early careers researchers, business people, policy makers, science and technology communicators to the general public to come together to find out more about how science is helping us advance today.

Registration and more information: http://www.esof.eu/about/introduction-to-esof.html