The date of the conference: 9th November 2018. Friday
Venue: Budapest Zoo and Botanical Gardens
Cave Hall (plenary section) and its instruction area (presentations: Darwin-hall, Felfedezőtér, Tanodú).

Opened by: Prof. Dr. Miklós Persányi, Director of the Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden

The event was organised as a professional meeting for a wide range of people interested in different aspects of education starting from the integrity of live animals in teaching, through people involved in environmental education to psychologists dealing with young people’s and students’ development and integration in education. During the lectures in the plenary section, participants had the opportunity to gain an insight into different fields the scientific background of which was discussed by the lecturers. Meanwhile in the workshops running simultaneously, participants in smaller groups familiarised themselves with the training methodology and practice developed in the project.

Lecturers in the plenary section placed emphasis on the following issues:

Presiding chair: István Sándor

• Suhajda Virág is the professional director of the project and the Rogers Foundation for Person-Centered Education. In her talk entitled “People and animals – a live relationship in language, as well” illustrated the change in the relationship between people and animals through linguistic expressions and examined our views and attitudes on the interrelationship with clear examples.
  In original language: Emberek és állatok - a nyelvben is élő kapcsolat
  
• Pléh Csaba, a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and a professor at the Cognitive Science Department at CEU, gave the lecture entitled, “Selection among animal models, while looking for the human”. When we want to understand human beings, we often turn to animal behavioural patterns. His lecture showed how theories of competition and cooperation in modern primatology inspire the understanding of human behaviour.
  In original language: Válogatás az állat modellek között, mikor az embert keressük 
• Barta Zoltán, a Professor of Biology at the University of Debrecen and the Head of the Department of Evolutionary Zoology, in his exciting and surprising lecture entitled “Parental Care with Yeasts?” demonstrated how general parental care is among animals. In his talk he wanted to find the answer to the question, whether this behaviour can be extended to a different group of animals with a much simpler build-up, to yeasts.
  In original language: Utódgondozás élesztőknél?
• Kray Zsuzsa, representing the Commission on Communication and Education of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN CEC), talked about the responsibility of action in her talk entitled “The home for all of us. A good relationship with Nature – a good relationship with ourselves and the Earth”.
  In original language: Mindannyiunk otthona. Jó kapcsolat a természettel - jó kapcsolat önmagunkkal és a Földdel. 
• Pongrácz Péter, assistant lecturer with habilitation at the Department of Ethology at ELTE University, in his lecture entitled “Animal-like humans, human animals - particular features of human behaviour through the eyes of an ethologist” focused on topics such as altruism, loyalty, group-awareness, honesty and deceit, jealousy and love – several characteristics, which are used to describe human behaviour. Do all of them have an equivalent form among animals, too? Can we interpret human behaviour merely in biological terms, and does it make sense to look for “human” characteristics in the case of animals?
  In original language: Állati emberek, emberi állatok – Az emberi viselkedés egyes tényezői az etológus szemével
  

The good practice demonstrations in the workshops were offered to the participants in two different time slots, in repetition, therefore the 70 participants of the conference could choose the appropriate modules meeting their interests. During the two time-slots the participants had the opportunity to get to know the methodological guidelines and practical demonstrations of four different training materials.