Pre-Congress Workshops

Workshop Registration

All ACH Pre-Congress Workshops are designed as limited-capacity training programs to maximize interaction between instructors and participants. Registration will operate on a FIRST PAID, FIRST CONFIRMED basis.

Workshop capacities range from 20 to 40 participants depending on the level of hands-on instruction, equipment requirements, and teaching format. Once the maximum number of paid participants is reached, registration for the respective workshop will automatically close.

Participants may register for more than one workshop provided that their selected workshops do not overlap in the final timetable.

Computer-based workshops require participants to bring their own laptops. Detailed software, equipment and preparation instructions will be provided to registered participants before the workshops.

Individual workshops will be subject to minimum enrollment and instructor availability. ACH reserves the right to repeat high-demand workshops or to reschedule, combine or cancel workshops where necessary.

Certification

Participants who successfully complete a workshop will receive an official ACH Certificate of Training indicating the workshop title and training duration.

W01. R for Herpetologists: From Data to Publication

Duration: 3 days (19–21 August 2027)
Capacity: 30 participants
Level: Beginner–Intermediate
Target Group: Students, early-career researchers, ecologists, and researchers working with biological datasets.

Core Content: R/RStudio fundamentals, data organization and cleaning, exploratory analyses, descriptive and inferential statistics, data visualization, GLMs/GLMMs, interpretation of statistical results, publication-quality figures and reproducible analytical workflows using herpetological datasets.

Requirement: Participants must bring a laptop.

W02. Ecological Modelling & Species Distribution Modelling

Duration: 2 days (22–23 August 2027)
Capacity: 25 participants
Level: Intermediate
Target Group: MSc/PhD students, ecologists, conservation researchers and biodiversity analysts.

Core Content: Species-occurrence data, environmental variables, ecological modelling principles, species distribution models, MaxEnt, model calibration and evaluation, spatial bias, uncertainty, climate projections and applications to conservation planning.

Requirement: Participants must bring a laptop.

W03. GIS & Spatial Analysis for Herpetology

Duration: 2 days (24–25 August 2027)
Capacity: 30 participants
Level: Beginner–Intermediate
Target Group: Students, field biologists, taxonomists, ecologists and conservation practitioners.

Core Content: QGIS, coordinate systems, georeferencing, occurrence databases, spatial layers, species-distribution maps, elevation and climatic data, habitat analysis, EOO/AOO concepts and publication-quality biodiversity mapping.

Requirement: Participants must bring a laptop.

W04. Integrative Taxonomy: From Field Specimen to Species Description

Duration: 2 days (20–21 August 2027)
Capacity: 25 participants
Level: Beginner–Advanced
Target Group: Taxonomy students, systematists, museum researchers and graduate students.

Core Content: Specimen documentation, morphological characters and measurements, photography, comparative material, molecular and bioacoustic evidence, species delimitation, diagnoses, type series, type localities, differential diagnoses, distribution and natural-history data, and preparation of taxonomic species descriptions.

W05. Zoological Nomenclature & the ICZN Code in Practice

Duration: 1 day (22 August 2027)
Capacity: 30 participants
Level: Beginner–Advanced
Target Group: Taxonomists, graduate students, museum personnel, journal editors and reviewers.

Core Content: Availability and validity of names, Principle of Priority, synonymy, homonymy, authorship, dates, type specimens, holotypes, syntypes, lectotypes, neotypes, type localities, replacement names, electronic publication requirements and practical nomenclatural case studies.

W06. Phylogenetics & Molecular Systematics for Herpetologists

Duration: 2 days (23–24 August 2027)
Capacity: 25 participants
Level: Intermediate
Target Group: Graduate students, taxonomists, evolutionary biologists and molecular researchers.

Core Content: Molecular datasets, sequence preparation and alignment, marker selection, substitution models, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetics, branch support, genetic distances, tree visualization and interpretation, species-delimitation concepts and integration of molecular and morphological evidence.

Requirement: Participants must bring a laptop.

W07. Museum Collections, Type Specimens & Biodiversity Digitization

Duration: 1 day (25 August 2027)
Capacity: 25 participants
Level: Beginner–Intermediate
Target Group: Taxonomists, curators, collection managers, students and museum researchers.

Core Content: Specimen preparation and preservation, cataloguing, type specimens, tissue collections, specimen photography, collection databases, digitization, historical georeferencing, loans, collection ethics, sensitive locality data and integration of physical collections with modern molecular and digital biodiversity research.

W08. Scientific Writing: From Research Results to a Publishable Paper

Duration: 2 days (22–23 August 2027)
Capacity: 30 participants
Level: All levels, particularly students and early-career researchers
Target Group: Undergraduate and graduate students, early-career researchers and scientists preparing manuscripts for international journals.

Core Content: Developing a scientific argument, manuscript structure, titles and abstracts, introductions, methods, results and discussions, tables and figures, scientific language, citations, manuscript revision, cover letters and responding effectively to reviewers.

The emphasis will be on scientific reasoning and effective communication, rather than English grammar alone.

W09. Publishing Science: Peer Review, Research Ethics & Choosing the Right Journal

Duration: 1 day (24 August 2027)
Capacity: 40 participants
Level: All levels
Target Group: Students, researchers, reviewers and editors.

Core Content: Journal selection, Scopus and Web of Science indexing, journal metrics, editorial screening, peer review, authorship, plagiarism, data and image integrity, conflicts of interest, predatory publishing, open access, corrections and retractions, responding to reviewers and responsible use of generative AI in scientific research and writing.

W10. Scientific Presentation & Communication Masterclass

Duration: 1 day (25 August 2027)
Capacity: 30 participants
Level: All levels
Target Group: Students, early-career researchers, and first-time conference presenters.

Core Content: Scientific storytelling, structuring a 15-minute presentation, slide design, effective presentation of photographs, graphs and statistics, speaking techniques, timing, body language, audience engagement, managing nervousness, answering questions and responding professionally to scientific criticism.

Practical presentation exercises and feedback may be incorporated.

W11. Field Methods for Amphibian & Reptile Research

Duration: 2 days (19–20 August 2027)
Capacity: 25 participants
Level: Beginner–Intermediate
Target Group: Students, field researchers, ecological consultants and conservation practitioners.

Core Content: Research and survey design, Visual Encounter Surveys, transects, quadrats, time-constrained searches, trapping approaches, standardized field data, environmental and microhabitat measurements, GPS documentation, individual identification, handling principles, biosecurity, animal welfare, permits, ethics and field safety.

W12. Bioacoustics & Automated Biodiversity Monitoring

Duration: 1 day (21 August 2027)
Capacity: 25 participants
Level: Beginner–Intermediate
Target Group: Amphibian researchers, ecologists, students and biodiversity-monitoring professionals.

Core Content: Amphibian calls, recording equipment and protocols, acoustic variables, spectrograms, call analysis, passive acoustic monitoring, automated recording units, acoustic databases, automated species detection and introductory AI-assisted acoustic classification.

W13. eDNA & Molecular Biodiversity Monitoring

Duration: 1 day (22 August 2027)
Capacity: 20 participants
Level: Beginner–Intermediate
Target Group: Molecular researchers, ecologists, graduate students and conservation practitioners.

Core Content: Environmental DNA principles, sampling design, water and soil sampling, contamination control, preservation, extraction concepts, marker selection, species-specific assays, metabarcoding, reference databases, detection probability, false positives and negatives, rare-species detection and interpretation of eDNA results.

W14. IUCN Red List Assessment for Amphibians & Reptiles

Duration: 1 day (23 August 2027)
Capacity: 30 participants
Level: Beginner–Intermediate
Target Group: Conservation researchers, students, NGOs, government personnel and taxonomists.

Core Content: IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, EOO, AOO, population decline, fragmentation, number of locations, continuing decline, generation length, threats, uncertainty, distribution mapping, documentation and preparation of scientifically defensible assessments using Asian herpetofaunal examples.

W15. Wildlife Trade, CITES & Conservation Forensics

Duration: 1 day (24 August 2027)
Capacity: 30 participants
Level: All levels
Target Group: Researchers, conservationists, government and enforcement personnel, NGOs and students.

Core Content: Legal and illegal amphibian and reptile trade, CITES, permits, species identification, captive breeding and laundering, online wildlife trade, market monitoring, trade databases, supply chains, sustainable use, wildlife trafficking and morphological, molecular and forensic approaches to enforcement.

W16. Snakebite, Venom & Antivenom: Connecting Herpetology with Public Health

Duration: 1 day (25 August 2027)
Capacity: 40 participants
Level: All levels
Target Group: Herpetologists, toxinologists, medical and public-health researchers, healthcare professionals, conservationists and students.

Core Content: Medically important Asian snakes, species identification, venom diversity and geographic variation, toxinology, snakebite epidemiology and prevention, antivenom principles and production, antivenom effectiveness and accessibility, emerging therapeutic approaches and collaboration among herpetologists, clinicians, toxinologists, public-health specialists and antivenom producers.