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The benefits of IAVS membership; what do you get?

Benefits 

• Be part of something bigger than yourself and participate in setting the agenda for vegetation science.

• Gain the professional development, recognition and credibility that come with belonging to and participating actively in the primary world-wide organization for professional vegetation scientists.

• Quickly discover jobs, scholarship opportunities, conference information, and other opportunities of interest to vegetation scientists, and announce these to others through the IAVS website, listserv and FaceBook page.

• Meet, interact and network with other vegetation science professionals in numerous ways, ranging from finding jobs and developing scientific collaborations to obtaining critical advice and insight.

• Be eligible for IAVS awards including the young scientist awards and travel grants.

• Low member rates for subscriptions to the IAVS journals - Journal of VegetationScience and Applied Vegetation Science.

• Significantly reduced prices for attendance at the annual IAVS Symposium and the associated field excursions.

• 20% discount on all Wiley, Wiley-Blackwell,  ForDummies and Frommers books.

• Seamless web access to all IAVS journals to which you subscribe.

• Access to the IAVS Bulletin.

• Participate in topical Working Groups, Regional Sections and special committees.

• Access to the member-only portion of the website, including resources and data for vegetation scientists, job announcements, and the Member Directory.

• Access to regional events, representation on international scientific committees, and media profile
  

Remarks from the President
Robert K. Peet

Why should you belong to IAVS?  What is the advantage to you as an individual member?  Since 1939 IAVS has been the premier international organization for students of vegetation science, and as such it has served us well.  Although the character of science and scientific communication is changing rapidly, the leadership of your Association is dedicated to keeping IAVS a modern, vibrant organization, dedicated to serving its members in new ways while retaining its traditional strengths. If you think of new and better ways IAVS can serve you or its membership, please do not hesitate to contact me or other members of the Executive Committee.

The IAVS statutes include five primary aims of the Association, which I think provide a useful framework for summarizing some of our many on-going IAVS activities and benefits to its members.

(A) “to promote research and education in vegetation science” IAVS has long promoted research and education through excellent publications, symposia and excursions. However, we are developing new approaches. We expect our website to become a critical source for discipline-specific resources such as software tools and training aids. We are working to establish international standards and best practices, such as for data exchange and classification of vegetation. Also, we have moved to an expanded and entirely digital IAVS Bulletin, so as to allow inclusion of more and different types of information and distribution to more individuals.

(B) “to promote the publication of research results in vegetation science” Journal of Vegetation Science andApplied Vegetation Science continue to flourish under the leadership of our dedicated Chief Editors. Subscriptions to these journals are available to members at a substantial discount.

(C) “to facilitate scientific and personal contacts among vegetation scientists of all countries” The annual meetings and associated excursions of IAVS have been the central focus of the Association for its log history.  In 2008 we met in South Africa, in 2009 we met in Crete, and in 2010 we will meet in Ensenada in the Baja region of Mexico. Moreover, IAVS maintains Working Groups to advance specific subdisciplines and Regional Sections to facilitate regional interactions and activities. In addition, new digital tools are becoming available that facilitate scientific and personal contact. We have created an IAVS group on Facebook to facilitate social networking among vegetation scientists.  We have also created a public email list for those of you who wish to exchange ideas with a larger community. Currently there are 456 subscribers to the list, and you can join at http://tinyurl.com/6hd77w. Finally, the IAVS Global Fund Committee is working to assure that vegetation scientists with limited financial resources are able to take advantage of the various member services the Association provides.

(D) “to promote applications of vegetation science;” and (E) “to increase awareness and to disseminate knowledge about vegetation.”  The leadership of IAVS has recently reaffirmed the dedication of the Association to promoting vegetation science beyond the community of members.  We believe that vegetation scientists should make critical contributions to how society addresses many contemporary issues such as preservation of biodiversity, mediation of the impacts of global change, and land-use planning. One recent IAVS foray into this arena was the passage of a resolution on Biofuels. We would welcome other for how IAVS might further advance the application our field.

In conclusion, I see a bright future for IAVS with many innovations over the next several years and look forward to working with you to realize them. All of you can help! Please let me and other members of the Executive Committee know of your ideas and willingness to help. 

(adopted from Bulletin 11, 2008)