Dear BERGers First, my sincere thanks to Sarah Kraemer who ran the real BERG meetings brilliantly this semester, with Gema's help. I am sorry I missed them, but I was overseas. I am home in Stirling now. I hope you are all home and safe too. We shall now have virtual BERG meetings – starting today! Everybody welcome! This note explains how to join our meeting which starts at 5.30pm today, Wednesday 1st April. I think it will last less than one hour. I hope it will be every Wednesday until we can meet together again. I ask for experienced Zoom users to volunteer to host so I can learn how to do it better. I am quite confident I can do it today though!! The attached document is our topic for discussion (reading time 5 min - 3 hours!). Please do read to the end of this message before you join virtual BERG. I know these instructions work! Before the meeting please set up "Zoom" on the biggest computer screen you have so you can see us (if you want to see us). It should take less than 15 minutes to get it set up if you have not already. It will help if you have a camera on your computer, but this is not necessary. You can even do this on your smart phone! Please do this here - https://zoom.us/ Sign up is free. <https://zoom.us/> Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing - Zoom<https://zoom.us/> Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, conference, huddle, and training rooms, as well as executive offices and classrooms. Founded in 2011 ... zoom.us<http://zoom.us/> If you don’t want to be seen you can just come by audio and look at those of us who are willing to show our faces! Today, 1st April the BERG link is https://us04web.zoom.us/j/931197509?pwd=eG51ZnpFdkMvYUxycVhnZzNMbUNOUT09<… Meeting ID: 931 197 509 Password: 001218 Please start joining after 5.25pm..... Top tips! 1. If you can, please wear something animal themed. 2. Please use the chat button (an icon near the bottom of your screen in a row of functions that will appear if you hover the mouse over the video image). This is good, if for example we cannot hear you. 3. If we have many folk, please also use the “hands up” icon as this allows us to coordinate our chats and not all speak at once! 4. Positive feedback - the “thumbs up” icon might also be appreciated when you like what someone is saying! Troubleshooting Email me or call me in advance of the meeting – but not during the call – see point 2 above. I cannot promise to be able to answer the call, never mind the question, but I will try if time permits. Finally – and importantly – the Topic for Discussion. The pandemic is setting us all challenges. I recognise we all need emotional and psychological support, but I request we do not use the BERG meetings to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic, unless it relates specifically to research. If anyone needs emotional support, I direct you to University services (see the portal). I would also be happy to arrange for a trained counsellor to join an online Zoom meeting. I have two friends in mind. Please just email me. I shall treat all such emails in confidence. Please put “in confidence” as your subject header to help me. Today’s discussion is on the attached document, which I hope is self-explanatory! I like working from home – I’m finding it quite creative! We can’t knock on each other’s office doors now, but we can and we must stay connected. I am excited to see Betsy Herrelko in Washington DC later, and Pawel, and anyone else who can make it. As I said before bring your own drinks and nibbles! Hannah Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland Tel: 01786 467674 Fax: 01786 467641 E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk> Home page: https://rms.stir.ac.uk/converis-stirling/person/11925 http://marmosetcare.com/ http://www.animalconcepts.eu/247animalwelfare/ http://refiningdogcare.com/ ________________________________ The University achieved an overall 5 stars in the QS World University Rankings 2018 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.