One of the flagship courses at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has been its two year Master’s programme (Wildlife Science), affiliated to the Saurashtra University, Gujarat.  It has been twenty six years since the start of the first course in 1987. A well trained and competent pool of 117 wildlife professionals from thirteen courses has been created, which is actively engaged in serving the cause of wildlife conservation. And, it is now time to celebrate, share the achievements and experiences gained so far and to plan how current and emerging challenges to wildlife conservation can be effectively addressed by the WII alumini. For this, a meeting of alumni will be organized on 21-22^nd August 2014 in conjunction with the Annual Research Seminar at Dehradun. As one of the events of the alumni meet it is proposed that two representatives from each batch deliver a personalised talk (15 - 20 minutes) detailing the experiences, contributions and achievements of all their batchmates. The alumni presentations will be held in the afternoon of 21^stAugust, 2014 and in the afternoon of 22^nd August, 2014 a meeting of the alumni will be held. The main purpose of the meeting will be to discuss future activities of the group, specifically on how each of the alumni can better contribute to the Master’s programme and also in the research and training activities of the Institute. Ideas about activities including poster session(s) and cultural extravaganza to be organized during this meet are welcome. While most alumni meets are a voluntary activity, however for this first such meeting WII will provide travel support in the form of 2AC train ticket to and from Dehradun. Additionally, accommodation and meals during the two day event will also be provided by the Institute.

A core organizing committee comprising Dehradun-based alumini has been constituted (Annex 1), which would be expanded on getting your response.  A tentative list of presenters (Annex 2) and a registration form for the alumni meet is also placed (Annex 3). An alumni e-mail group has been created (wiimsc [at] wii [dot] gov [dot] in) which would be jointly coordinated by Bivash Pandav (bivash [dot] pandav [at] wii [dot] gov [dot] in) and R. Suresh Kumar (suresh [at] wii [dot] gov [dot] in). We look forward to your response on the above, asap.

| Annexure 1 | Annexure 2 | Annexure 3 |