SEFS14: A personal reflection
20 August, 2025
Join Paul Leonard for his reflections on SEFS14, the 14th Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences, held in Bolu, Türkiye, 21-25 July, 2025.
Paul Leonard BSc (Hons), FSRP, CRadP., C. Biol., FRSB., CSci., C MarSci., FI MarEST, FRPSL, FMBA, FLS. Paul was the Head of a Science Unit in Defra for 12 years. He is a former member of the FBA Council and represented the UK internationally for several years.
Established in 1992, Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University is situated approximately 250km east of Istanbul. This was the first time SEFS has been held in a non-European country, but this did not deter over 200 participants from 45 countries that included China, Russia, Nepal, the USA and Australia.
It was a pleasure to meet so many enthusiastic students, speaking about their work through sessions covering topics including freshwaters in a changing climate, nature-based solutions, integrating international policies to support achievement of environmental quality objectives, to name a few.
Introducing SEFS14
SEFS14 was led by Prof. Dr. Okan Kűlkőylűoĝlu who—supported by an army of students and other early career helpers—made an amazing contribution, adapting to the ever-changing needs of the symposium and its diverse participants. In organising the conference, Okan had sterling support from FBA international Fellow and Chair of the European Federation of Freshwater Sciences (EFFS, the SEFS convener) Prof. Mary Kelly-Quinn (University College Dublin), as well as colleagues including FBA Fellow Prof. Rachel Stubbington (Nottingham Trent University).
The first plenary speaker was FBA Fellow Prof. Steve Ormerod (Cardiff University) who summarised his career path, noting the importance of the FBA in his talk “Pattern, process and purpose: Freshwater science and the plight of freshwater ecosystems”. He covered acid rain, the importance of Llyn Brianne as a stream observatory, and the use of invertebrates as indicators of ecosystem health. It was an excellent talk.
FBA Fellow, Steve Ormerod speaking at SEFS14.
FBA international Fellow Prof. Antonio Camacho (University of Valencia) was also a plenary speaker, with his presentation on “Wetlands, our climate allies, and vice-versa?” highlighting how human interactions with wetlands can enable these ecosystems to support climate change mitigation.
Presentation of the EFFS Award for the best PhD in Freshwater Sciences
On the final day, Rachel had the honour of presenting the EFFS Award for the best PhD in Freshwater Sciences 2023–24. Dr Mathis L. Messager (then University of Lyon, France and McGill University, Canada) was the worthy winner for the truly impressive body of work in his thesis “Putting intermittent rivers on the map: integrating non-perennial rivers and streams in the sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems”, which has transformed the global discipline of intermittent river science. The FBA nominated Duncan O’Brien (University of Bristol), who was second placed for his thesis “Complexity and regime shifts: testing the predictability of ecosystem transitions”.
Dr Mathis Messager speaking at SEFS14.
Additional speakers at SEFS14
Other speakers included FBA Early Career Network members Jake Dimon, Xi (Tina) He and Tabitha Richmond (all students at the University of Nottingham). Jake and Tabitha both spoke about their research into the impacts of palm oil plantations on tropical streams, with Tabitha’s excellent presentation focusing on freshwater mussel communities. Closer to home, Tina’s talk explored the ecological and social impacts of ‘freshwater rewilding’ in the UK, focusing on the Boothby Wildland project.
FBA Fellow Dr Laurence Carvalho (Norwegian Institute for Water Research) and Dr Sebastian Birk (University of Duisburg Essen) convened the conference’s biggest special session: Restoring freshwater ecosystems for landscape resilience. Laurence spoke about delivering successful and sustainable freshwater restoration to benefit nature, society and the economy in the context of new EU environmental regulation.
Mary also co-convened a popular special session: Freshwater biodiversity – status, advances & future priorities, in which her own presentation—coauthored by an impressive range of pan-Europe collaborators including FBA Fellow Iwan Jones—asked “What do we know or not know about the occurrence of freshwater invertebrate species in Europe?”.
Rachel also convened a special session, with Dr Mathis Messager (National Center for Scientific Research, France): Science and management of non-perennial rivers and streams. Speaking in this session, Rachel outlined work done in collaboration with the Environment Agency to enable assessment of nutrient pressures in dry rivers.
Some of the attendees at SEFS14, the 14th Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences.
Adventures beyond the SEFS14 symposium auditorium
The Wednesday was taken up with off-site excursions including some serious canyon trekking, national parks or a less arduous tour of Bolu and local heritage. I choose the latter but those on the trek got back after midnight and then appeared ready for the Thursday sessions at 9.00am local time. That evening was the Gala Dinner with local musicians, lots of dancing and back by midnight. Yes, lots of stamina needed for a SEFS meeting.
My contributions were much more modest, Bolu is strongly Muslim and calls to prayer started at 4.30am. So an early start for revision of which sessions to choose before breakfast, which included lots of fruit and of course, Turkish tea. My hotel had a Turkish bath and served a local beer. I gave two presentations, one about Natural Flood Management and the other on Nature Based Solutions and following my field trip with Okan, was invited to address local school children on the enjoyment of a career in environmental science, which included handing out SEFS promotional material.
Delegates were impressed with the scientific sessions and wonderful hospitality. A summary of up to 12 papers will be produced in a special issue of the Turkish Journal of Zoology. Alan Hildrew has offered to be one of the editors but was greatly missed at the conference.
Looking towards SEFS15
On the final day, it was announced that SEFS15 will be hosted in the Netherlands by a team led by FBA Fellow Prof. Suzanne McGowan (Utrecht University) and Prof. Lisette de Senerpont Domis (Netherlands Institute of Ecology) in summer 2027. We look forward to seeing you there!
Further information
You can find out more about SEFS14, the 14th Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences on their website: sefs14.com.
More information about the European Federation for Freshwater Sciences on their website: www.freshwatersciences.eu/effs.
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