The first Wednesday of every month, the Canterbury EIANZ branch members (and guests) will meet for drinks and a speaker at Bean Scene Café and Cargo Bar on Lincoln Road in Addington, from 5.30pm.

This month our speaker is Gerard Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald Applied Sociology, who'll be talking about his current work with Landcare Research: 'Trustworthy indicators for monitoring biodiversity, using birds in the first trial'.

There will be a couple of spot prizes for members and non-members and some Christmas nibbles.

About this month's speaker:

Gerard is a social scientist based in Christchurch who has his own small research and consulting business called Fitzgerald Applied Sociology (FAS). FAS specialises in the social and cultural aspects of environment, resources, and technology. Gerard has over 30 years of experience working on science research projects, project developments, resource management, community and stakeholder involvement. He works from time to time in Australia, and the Asia Pacific region, including with international development agencies. He has worked on projects and environmental & resource management issues in Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, China, and North Korea. This work helps keep him windswept and interesting, and forces him to keep his field anthropology skills up to date!

Recently Gerard been involved in research projects with Landcare Research, Forest Research/SCION, DOC, and the Australasian CRC for Invasive Animals - focusing on ecosystems and related services, sustainable livelihoods, invasive species controls, and right now, biodiversity monitoring & reporting. He emphasises that his social science practice is more applied and practical than academic, but he still likes big words.