ALERC is pleased to announce that it has appointed the first National Coordinator.  Tom Hunt, currently the Records Officer at rECOrd - The Local Biological Records Centre serving Cheshire, Halton Warrington and The Wirral, has been appointed to the post.  

Tom will start in his new role on Jauary 18th 2012

As posted by Teresa on the ALERC Forum, Paula Lightfoot of NBN has asked us to publicise the following funding opportunity:

"This is an opportunity for English LRCs to apply for funding to deliver training to data providers, specifically aimed at encouraging the use of online recording.  We would like to receive proposals from:

•    LRCs who are already running an online recording scheme and would like to deliver training to increase participation in the scheme by biological recorders in the voluntary, commercial, academic or public sectors.  
•    LRCs who are planning to set up an online recording scheme and would like to run a workshop or other kind of training to raise awareness of the benefits of online recording and gather feedback and commitments to engage (e.g. by providing verification support) before the scheme goes ‘live’.

The training must be delivered by the end of March 2012 and the deadline for applications is the 12th January.  As a guideline we’re suggesting up to £1,000 per proposal, but we will consider larger contributions if it is justified by the scope of the proposal.  As this is funded under the Defra/NBN contract it is only available for English LRCs, unfortunately."

Further details and an application form can be downloaded below.

Mark