Professional Development from ESA
Get your professional development from your professional society! These scientific, technical and professional virtual events are a benefit to members and certified ecologists, and a resource for the community. Keep note of this page and our webinar schedule — and your email inbox — for opportunities to gain valuable skills at a fraction of the cost you’ll find elsewhere. And as always, ESA members save the most!
Contact webinars@esa.org with questions about sessions. Stay subscribed to ESA communications to ensure you receive the event recording and follow-up materials.
We are offering fee waivers for those affected by reductions in the federal workforce and research funding. Please contact esahq@esa.org
Please be aware that registration will be closed 1 hour before the event.
Upcoming Sessions
Understand Color in the Natural World – Using Color Pencil
Facilitated by Nancy Lowe
From warning coloration to iridescence to floral color that attracts pollinators, color is sending all kinds of signals in the natural world. Color pencil can liven students’ observational drawings in the field, and the process of color-mixing can help them understand how color works. This one-hour online workshop will share basic color pencil techniques for observational drawing. No previous drawing experience is required. A supply list of $20 of materials will be shared with those who wish to practice the techniques.
- Who is this for? Anyone interested.
- Career Level: All career levels.
- Prerequisite Education or Experience? None.
November 12, 2026 noon-1:00 PM ET
Register
Participation worth 0.25 CEUS toward ESA recertification in Category I(b)
Survey Design: How to Develop a Cohesive Survey Design to Support Robust Analysis and Inference while Balancing Design Tradeoffs
Facilitated by Leigh Ann Starcevich
This 3-hr workshop will help attendees understand why survey design is important and the utility of thinking through the entire process from data collection to data analysis to inference. We will review types of inference (e.g., design-based and model-based inference), membership designs, temporal revisit designs, replication, and survey design choices. We will discuss nonsampling error sources, which occur when the survey design cannot be implemented as planned due to frame error, nonresponse error, or detection error. We will review methods for determining the appropriate sample size for a study and how to balance competing objectives in a survey design. The workshop will provide hands-on activities for drawing samples in the statistical programming language R, identifying sources of nonsampling error, and developing a survey design. Participants will leave the workshop with a deeper understanding of the tradeoffs and the iterative nature of survey design.
- Who is this for? Anyone who conducts ecological surveys or is interested in learning about some of the quantitative aspects of survey design
- Career Level: Appropriate for most career levels, from student to mid-career.
- Prerequisite Education or Experience? Attendees should have some experience with R statistical software and experience with basic statistics, estimation, and regression modeling.
November 23, 2026 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET
Register
Participation worth 0.75 CEUS toward ESA recertification in Category I(a)
Creative Nature Journaling
Facilitated by Nancy Lowe
Capturing observations in the field is an ancient art-science practice that can heighten observation skills while capturing useful data. This one-hour online workshop will share more than 20 creative ways to incorporate nature journaling in ecology education. No previous drawing experience is required, and no materials are necessary to participate.
- Who is this for? Anyone interested.
- Career Level: All career levels.
- Prerequisite Education or Experience? None.
December 10, 2026 noon-1:00 PM ET
Register
Participation worth 0.25 CEUS toward ESA recertification in Category I(b)
Tell Us What You Want to See!
We want this program to meet our members’ needs, so if there are any particular topics you’d like to see us offer virtually, fill out this form.