Gregynog Hall, Wales
APOPO’s Head of Training and Innovation, Dr. Cindy Fast, was invited to deliver the keynote address at the 25th Associative Learning Symposium, traditionally held at Gregynog Hall in Wales (hence, it is sometimes referred to as “Gregynog Meeting”). Gregynog hall is relatively small, so the meeting is traditionally “by invitation only” for the top animal learning, behavior, and cognitive scientists in the world. Each year an exceptionally prominent figure within the field of learning theory delivers the guest lecture.
Following the passing of prominent learning theorist, Nicholas Mackintosh (who has authored many popular textbooks on the topic) in 2015, the Gregynog Meeting renamed the guest keynote lecture to the Mackintosh Memorial lecture in his honor. Due to COVID-19, the meeting was held virtually (for the second year in a row) from March 30th-April 1st, allowing greater global attendance.
Dr. Fast’s hour-long address introduced the audience to APOPO, including both mine action and TB-detection programs (methods, locations, and impact), training methods, research projects, and new applications under development (including wildlife detection, soil contamination, and search & rescue). Her talk was well-received and evoked a lot of interest among the more than 75 scientists in attendance, including a statement from the conference organizer declaring her lecture, “one of the best ever, going back over 20 years.”