Botstiber Foundation

Annie Rigby

BIAAS: The Botstiber Podcast Episode Two: Dr. Deborah Cohen

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In the newest episode of The Botstiber Podcast, author of Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on a World at War (2022), Dr Deborah Cohen discusses the compelling stories of five American foreign correspondents that were paramount to informing the public during the dramatic interwar period after WWI.

From unimpressed interviews with Hitler to friendly letters with Nehru, listen in to how these reporters balanced high-stakes journalism with their personal lives, all while warning the world of rising dictators and a looming war in Europe.

Professor Reill’s book, The Fiume Crisis: Life in the Wake of the Habsburg Empire (Harvard University Press, 2020), explores the Adriatic port city’s turbulent postwar years spent divided by Great Power politics.

Do you have an idea for a future podcast episode, or video that supports our transatlantic mission? Please contact Program Officer Luke Morgante at Lmorgante@botstiber.org.

BIAAS: The Botstiber Podcast Returns with New Guests and a New Format

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The Botstiber Podcast provides yet another platform upon which stories of the US and former Habsburg lands can be shared. We hope that conversations with past grantees, fellows and more will bring us closer to our mission of strengthening our trans-Atlantic relationships.

Tune into the the first episode of The Botstiber Podcast as Luke sits down with Professor Reill to discuss the crisis city of Fiume, known today as Rijeka, Croatia. Fiume faced immense challenges between 1918-21 after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire left it stateless, leaving room for celebrity poets like Gabriele D’Annunzio to stoke nationalist flames and attempt to benefit from the chaos.

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Professor Reill’s book, The Fiume Crisis: Life in the Wake of the Habsburg Empire (Harvard University Press, 2020), explores the Adriatic port city’s turbulent postwar years spent divided by Great Power politics.

Do you have an idea for a future podcast episode, or video that supports our transatlantic mission? Please contact Program Officer Luke Morgante at Lmorgante@botstiber.org.

BIWFC: Building Bridges to Coexistence

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In the last six months Dr. Giovanna Massei attended conferences in Colorado Springs (USA), Edinburgh (UK), and Arusha (Tanzania), and presented or co-authored eight talks on fertility control for non-native grey squirrels in the UK, for feral cattle in Hong Kong, for baboons in South Africa, and for wild boar in Spain. The topics ranged from a general overview of wildlife fertility control to applications for specific contexts, through to developing new oral contraceptives and delivering them to wildlife. Based on comments and e-mails received after these events, the talks were truly appreciated, with several colleagues mentioning these were “an eye opener”. Most importantly, the information reached hundreds of delegates in at least 50-60 countries.

More “European bridges” to highlight applications of wildlife fertility control were built through blogs, interviews, and webinars. This included an October interview by the UK Squirrel Accord on the grey squirrel project which had 251 views; in December Dr. Massei wrote a blog on “Exploding animal populations – how can we co-exist?”; in February, she was interviewed by the Foundation for Advice and Action in the Defense of Animals (FAADA) on fertility control for wild boar and parakeets. In June, Dr. Massei advertised the upcoming “Wildlife Research Special Issue on Fertility Control for Wildlife” to the 580 delegates from 40 countries of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare’s conference on Advancing Animal Welfare Science. Events in the pipeline include next September’s 13th International Symposium on Wild Boar and Other Suids in Spain and October’s Pathways Europe 2022: Human Dimensions of Wildlife. The latter accepted a BIWFC proposal to host an Organized Session entitled “Too many? Wildlife fertility control to share landscapes” with 5-6 speakers invited. This is particularly important because human dimensions now represent a key aspect of mitigating human-wildlife conflicts. Lastly, the director of the Singapore National Parks invited Dr. Massei to talk about wild boar management at a wild boar workshop, which will raise awareness about the BIWFC’s work beyond Europe and continue to build strong bridges and facilitate human-wildlife coexistence.

To learn more, visit the BIWFC website.

BIWFC: Cheryl Asa Receives 2022 Trailblazer Award

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During the 9th International Conference on Wildlife Fertility Control, BIWFC Advisory Board and Conference Committee member Cheryl Asa was presented with the 2022 Trailblazer Award. This award recognizes and honors an individual who has had a profound impact on our field, one who has an exemplary reputation, and one who serves as a model, especially for emerging practitioners and researchers.

The name of this award is appropriate in both the figurative and literal sense. Cheryl has devoted 30+ years to research, writing, and teaching to advance an understanding of reproductive strategies, their differences and adaptive value. Cheryl established and served as director of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Reproductive Management Center, formerly the AZA Wildlife Contraception Center, for over 27 years. She concurrently directed the Saint Louis Zoo’s Reproductive and Behavioral Sciences Department.

For more than 20 years, Cheryl supervised 27 graduate and post-doctoral students and taught courses in Animal Behavior at Washington University and in Endocrinology and Behavioral Endocrinology at Saint Louis University. Cheryl has published 180 scientific articles, co-edited the book Wildlife Contraception: Issues, Methods and Application, and was lead author on the Fertility Control chapter of the National Academy of Sciences report on feral horse management.

Even in retirement, Cheryl continues to blaze trails in wildlife fertility control. In addition to her service to The BIWFC, she chairs the AZA Reproductive Management Center Advisory Board and is a Scientific Advisory Board member of the Found Animals Foundation and the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs, as well as the IUCN Equid and Canid Specialist Groups. She also continues to run the gene banking program for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Mexican wolf recovery program.

Congratulations Cheryl!

To learn more, visit the BIWFC website.

BIWFC: Call for Papers

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Wildlife Research plans to publish a special issue on Wildlife Fertility Control in 2023.  We invite you to submit your best paper and publish alongside your colleagues in the field.  See details here. We are interested in receiving papers that engage with the following topics:

  • Human dimensions
  • Recent research in contraceptive development
  • Advancement in practical applications
  • Modelling the effect of fertility control on populations
  • Socio-economic aspects of fertility control applications
  • Ethics, health, & welfare
  • Advancement in delivery methods
  • Regulatory, legal, & political challenges

For additional information, please contact Giovanna Massei (gmassei@botstiber.org) or Stephanie Boyles Griffin (sboyles@humanesociety.org).  Submission deadline is July 30, 2022.

To learn more, visit the BIWFC website.

BIAAS: The Recharging Austrian-American Relations Conference

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The Recharging Austro-American Relations Conference asks scholars, together with commercial, cultural, and political leaders to open a discussion whose subject is the profound long-term relationship between Austria and the United States. Organized around four panels and two round tables, with topics ranging from restitution, economic history, culture, and high technology to Habsburg historiography and an assessment of the current predicament, the conference is both an ambitious, two-day review of Austro-American legacies, and a rare opportunity to consider globally-situated Austria and the United States in a bilateral context. “Recharging Austro-American Relations” is devoted to revisiting and learning from the past; it is an occasion to highlight new research; and it is an invitation to discuss what should come next. Jointly hosted by the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies (BIAAS) & the Diplomatische Akademie Wienin cooperation with the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation.

Where: Diplomatische Akademie Wien | Favoritenstrasse 15a, 1040 Vienna, Austria
When: June 9-10 with panels and lectures from 9:30am until 6:00pm

Know of an event, exhibit, or any relevant news that may be of interest to BIAAS subscribers and should be included in the next newsletter? Have an idea for a blog post, podcast episode, or video that supports our transatlantic mission? Please contact Program Officer Luke Morgante at Lmorgante@botstiber.org.