Freshwater Biological Association
The Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) is an independent scientific organisation founded in 1929. Whilst originally created to be a research station it has evolved into a Learned Society whose mission is to "promote the sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems and resources, underpinned by the best available science".[1] The FBA promotes freshwater science through innovative research, maintained specialist scientific facilities, a programme of scientific meetings, production of publications, and by providing sound independent scientific opinion.
The FBA hosts both published and unpublished collections, two specialist libraries and varieties of long term data sets from sites of scientific significance.It is managed by The Chief Executive, Dr Bill Brierley who is assisted by 25 staff (17 full-time equivalents). A board of trustees, elected by the members, guide the strategic direction of the Association in line with the charitable objectives. The FBA is a registered charity, number 214440 and a company limited by guarantee, registration number 263162, England.
Activities
The FBA is involved in many activities which include the support of Science through the use of its location in The Lake District in Cumbria and alongside the River Frome, East Stoke in Dorset and uses its location to support scientific work by providing specialist facilities and equipment.
The FBA is also involved in research through grants and studentships given to young scientists, and has made provisions for information services, from its freshwater libraries, to its information collection titled "FreshwaterLife", to its reference collection "The Fritsch Collection".[2] Finally, many publications and analysis guides are also published by the FBA, with records of freshwater information.[3]
The FBA also runs many meetings and courses for specialism in freshwater biology, holding an Annual Scientific Meeting.
On September 2008 the FBA launched a series of conferences in Aquatic Biology. The first of these was entitled "Multiple Stressors in Freshwater Ecosystems". The second, in April 2010, had the theme of "Integrated Catchment Management".