The announcement came as the 5th World Congress closed on 17 October in Madison, Wisconsin, USA with a presentation from Manchester Conference Ambassador, Dr David Haley from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).

The five day meeting in 2015 will bring 1,500 delegates to the city in a deal estimated to be worth approximately £3.9m for the local economy.

The conference was secured through a partnership approach between Visit Manchester, Manchester Central, Manchester Metropolitan University’s conference office, Meeting Makers and Dr David Haley, Professor Phil Wheater (MMU) and Richard Scott from Landlife, The National Wildflower Centre. The bid to host SER2015 in Manchester was supported by The Biospheric Foundation, Positive Impact and Creative Concern, with over twenty endorsements from other UK and international environment sector institutions.

SER plans to use Manchester Central for the main assembly and MMU for pre-conference meetings. Both venues have been praised for their sustainability initiatives which include Manchester Central being one of the first UK venues to achieve ISO20121 international accreditation whilst MMU recently ranked as the UK’s greenest university.

The International team at Marketing Manchester, also managed to secure a subvention fund from the City Council that will help delegates from developing countries attend, and contribute to a funded PhD studentship. This will underpin the legacy of the event by maintaining an on-going relationship between the Manchester partners and SER to 2017 and beyond.

Manchester’s industrial history and location will provide many examples of scientific expertise in ecologically restored landscapes.

The conference title, 'Resilience Ecology: Urban, Rural and Wild Restoration', will be developed through the cross-cutting themes of Science, Culture, Art and Education. Manchester-based arts company, UHC, will use this opportunity to initiate a city-wide programme of community based eco-arts projects. Meanwhile, the city’s galleries are being approached to show work by internationally acclaimed ecological artists like Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison from the USA. Young, local innovators like, Vincent Walsh (Biospheric Foundation) are already booked for keynote presentations, together with invitees like James Lovelock and Vandana Shiva.

Manchester’s industrial history and location will provide many examples of scientific expertise in ecologically restored landscapes, while its past and present trade have evolved a truly worldwide culture, enhanced by the world-class universities. All of this represents great opportunities for Manchester to creatively expand the field of ecological restoration and contribute to the sustainability sector, across disciplines and cultures, internationally.

Main image: Steve Bosak, Chief Executive, Society for Ecological Restoration and Vincent Walsh at the Biospheric Foundation, Salford, Greater Manchester, July 2013 (Photo. D.Haley).