The Second Young Environmental Scientist (YES) meeting 2011 at RWTH Aachen University - environmental challenges in a changing world

The second Young Environmental Scientists Meeting (YES Meeting) was hosted from 28 February to 2 March 2011 by the Institute for Environmental Research at RWTH Aachen University, Germany http://www.bio5.rwth-aachen.de webcite. This extraordinary meeting was again initiated and organized by the Student Advisory Council (SAC) in liaison with the local organization committee and the scientific committee under the umbrella of Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe. The chair persons of these committees, namely Markus Brinkmann, Sabrina Peddinghaus (both RWTH Aachen University, Germany), and Dominic Kaiser (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany) ensured a scientifically ambitious and fruitful meeting in a pleasant ambience under the motto "Environmental challenges in a changing world".Just like 2009 in Landau, Germany, this student-only meeting was again exclusively organized by students and with the well-known special benefits for students: no conference fees were charged and every participant received a travel grant. Due to the remarkable financial support by the "Fonds der Chemischen Industrie" (FCI) of the German Chemical Association (VCI), the Rector of RWTH Aachen University, The Interdisciplinary Forums of RWTH Aachen University, ProRWTH, SETAC Europe, the SETAC Europe German Language Branch, Wimek/SENSE, Environmental Sciences Europe, and a number of companies (BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dr. Knoell Consult, Harlan Laboratories Ltd., Hydrotox, Syngenta), it was possible to announce full reimbursements of travel expenses for all participants invited to present their work during the YES meeting.The scientific committee peer reviewed more than 130 abstracts in the field of nanoparticles, omics and biomarkers, aquatic and terrestrial ecotoxicology, modeling, environmental chemistry, management, and remediation techniques and finally invited 90 presenters from all over the world. Due to the selection process, not the financial situation but the q