Plant Diversity: sociocultural dimensions and interdisciplinary projections

We have the pleasure to invite you to take part in the international scientific conference “Plant Diversity: sociocultural dimensions and interdisciplinary projections”. It focuses on the dynamic human-plant interrelations and impacts, the role of plants in the formation and maintenance of the existential basis, social relations, cultural values and symbols, and vice versa the role of man, their cultural and economic orientations and transformation practices in the plant world. The idea for this conference grew out of the research work of a team from the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum and the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, which carries out the project “The Garden: Site of Biocultural Diversity and Interdisciplinary Junction”, funded by the National Science Fund (Project DN10/1/2016). The garden is the place where, the social and cultural contexts of plant biological features and biocultural plant-human interactions are demonstrated in a particularly distinctive way.
With this conference continues the series of discussions with the overall topic “Plant Diversity Towards Society” that started in 2015 with the involvement of researchers from the humanities, biological, agricultural, social and economic sciences to expand knowledge and perspectives in the study, conservation and use of plant genetic resources and traditional knowledge related to their cultivation. Our goal is to contribute to the development of a society that is sensitive to today's environmental and social challenges.
The conference topics aim to demonstrate and further develop the knowledge on human-plant interactions and how they can serve as a specific background for sustainable local development in accordance with the present ecological and socio-cultural reality.
Topics:
1. Conservation and sustainable use of plant and fungi biodiversity. (Ethno)Botany.
2. Plant genetic resources and local development. Folk selection. Local plant races. Neglected species.
3. Cultural ecosystem services. Cultural and economic valorization of plant diversity.
4. Economic dimensions of plant diversity in the context of gardening and small-scale agriculture.
5. Visions, choices and changes in the garden: between economy and esthetics, between conservation and experiment.
6. Traditional/local ecological knowledge and experience. Adaptation to geographic and climatic conditions. Climate change – impacts and responses.
7. Migrations of people and plants. Plant translocations. Sources and circulation of planting material and knowledge, the role of market and social networks in their exchange.
8. Diversity and localization of tastes. Local cuisine. Taste of place and terroir.
9. Plants and memory. Social biography of gardens.
10. Images of plants in cultural expressions (folklore, literature, ritual, etc.)
Language: Working languages of the conference are both Bulgarian and English. Simultaneous translation from/to Bulgarian will be provided upon preliminary request from participants.
PLACE OF CONFERENCE: Sofia, Bulgaria
ORGANIZERS: Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum, BAS Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, BAS

PAPER/POSTER PROPOSALS & REGISTRATION
To submit their proposals interested scientists should use our proposal & abstract form in English or Bulgarian. Please send it as an attached file to the following e-mail address: pdts2015@mail.bg with subject „PDTS 2019 Abstract Proposal” not later than 30 April, 2019.
Not more than two participations (poster and/or oral presentation) by one presenting author will be accepted. Participation with posters is encouraged.
The abstracts will be reviewed and selected by the Scientific Committee. Acceptance decisions will be communicated to the authors by email not later than 31 May, 2019.
The conference has no registration fee. Registration includes full access to all lectures, poster sessions, coffee breaks, digital copies of the abstract book and other conference materials. Financial support for travel, accommodation, posters printing and visas is not envisaged. Presenters will be informed about registration details by a circular email.
The abstracts will be published in an e-book. The authors have full responsibility about the content and linguistic quality of their abstracts. They will be contacted by the organizers for clarifications if needed.
Personal information provided by you will be used for the conference purposes only.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRESENTATIONS
Oral presentations: 20 minutes
In case your oral presentation is in MS Power Point format, please bring them on external disk or memory stick before the beginning of each session. No change of computers will be accepted during the sessions.
Posters: • Maximal size of posters: 70 cm width, 90 cm height
•Mounting materials for posters will be provided by the organizers.
FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION OPTIONS
Full-text articles based on oral or poster presentations could be published in regular volumes of the „Bulgarian Folklore” http://www.bulgarianfolklorejournal.net/ or „Phytologia Balcanica” www.bio.bas.bg/~phytolbalcan/ journals. Please adhere to the Author Guidelines of the respective journal during preparation of your text! The editorial boards of the journals reserves the right to accept or reject the submitted material. The manuscripts submitted for publication should not be either published earlier or being under revision for publication in other journals.
Dead line for submission of manuscripts: 30 December, 2019
IMPORTANT DEADLINES:
Submission of paper/poster proposals with abstracts: 30 April, 2019
Communication of acceptance decisions: 31 May, 2019
Registration: TBA
Submission of manuscripts: 30 December, 2019

To submit their proposals interested scientists should use our proposal & abstract form in English or Bulgarian. Please send it as an attached file to the following e-mail address: pdts2015@mail.bg with subject „PDTS 2019 Abstract Proposal” not later than 30 April, 2019.