The two-day international conference and excursion on scrub and woodland on coastal dunes will be held at Liverpool Hope University. As this would be a contribution to marking the 20th anniversary of the Habitats Directive, the conference will primarily be set within the context of the habitats of the Atlantic Biogeographical Region but will seek to draw on research from a wider geographical area.

The conference will follow our aim of linking science and management and we would like to invite papers and contributions to the programme. The topics we wish to address include:

• research on the development of woodland and scrub habitats in north-west Europe
• an evaluation of Atlantic Dune Woodland in the Atlantic Biogeographical Region including the potential of developing this habitat in the British Isles
• the biodiversity value of native dune scrub.

More background and conference themes are detailed on the website.

The meeting will also be an opportunity to review dune forestry practices (in the UK and northwest Europe), evaluate the research on alien species and, for the UK, develop a new national strategy for Sea Buckthorn.

We have interest and support from the UK statutory agencies and the Mersey Forest, and would welcome proposals for presentations, sponsorship and links to other initiatives. We would particularly welcome offers of research papers or discussion papers which could be circulated before the meeting. The proceedings will be published.

This is a good value conference with prices starting at £55 and a range of flexible options including residential packages.

There is a call for papers: deadline 15th March 2012.