The annual Aquatic Ecology Group meeting is a friendly and inclusive forum for sharing the latest marine and freshwater research and networking in a small symposium setting. Everyone, including Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and students, are warmly welcomed.
This year we will have a thread of aquatic microbial ecology running through our event, and are teaming up with the Microbial Ecology Special Interest Group of the BES. We are delighted to be hosted by ZSL, London Zoo!
Beginning at 13:00 on the 15th September, we will have a computational ecology workshop on the use of length-frequency data to inform fisheries management (led by Dr Paul Medley), and a debate on whether we should seek to manipulate natural microbial communities (led by Prof Michael Sweet and Dr Kirsty Marsh). We will then convene to the pub for food, drinks, and networking.
On the 16th September, we will have keynote presentations from world-leading researchers and ocean wildlife artist, Olivier Leger. We will also hear from our outstanding 2025 ECR award winner (sponsored by Global Change Biology), and there will be an opportunity for you to present lightning talks (the best ECR talk will win a prize) or 15min talks. We'll finish the day with a drinks reception, to give you another chance to network.
Abstract submission deadline: 1st August 2025.
Registration deadline: 1st August 2025.
Abstract submission
If you would like to showcase your aquatic research at this meeting, you can submit an abstract for:
- Lightning talks (5 mins) - we will follow our lightning talk session with a Q & A panel to capture questions from the audience. We particularly encourage ECRs to submit abstracts for this talk format.
- Presentations (12 mins, followed by 3 mins Q&A) - this format is open to all career stages, we particularly welcome submissions from post-docs and mid-stage researchers for this talk format.
Please submit a title and abstract of 150 words (or less) by email to aquatic@britishecologicalsociety.org. Please state your career stage and the institution with which you are affiliated in your email. The deadline for submitting abstracts for full presentations and lightning talks is 18:00 25th August 2025.
If you’re an Early Career Researcher you can also apply for our annual ECR award by emailing your nominations (1 side A4) and a summary CV (1 side A4) to aquatic@britishecologicalsociety.org. Why should you win the ECR prize this year?!
Our ECR prize includes a keynote talk at the conference (ticket expenses reimbursed), and a chance to work with a Global Change Biology editor to publish a piece of your research.
Meet our keynote speakers!
Dr Sara Benelli Benthic ecologist and biogeochemist at the University of Parma, Italy.
Prof Yin Chen Microbiologist at the University of Birmingham, UK.
Dr Emma Cavan Marine biologist at Imperial College London, UK.
Dr Joe Taylor Molecular ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
Dr Iestyn Woolway NERC Independent research fellow at Bangor University, UK.
Event communication
Keep an eye on our X (ex-Twitter) account (@BESaquaticgroup), BlueSky account (@bes-aquaticgroup.bsky.social), and mailing list (details on how to join here) for news about #BESAG2025
Additional information
- Please be aware that in requesting a refund you will be reimbursed the event ticket price, subject to our refund policy, but unfortunately you will not be reimbursed the Eventbrite fee.
- If you are interested in becoming a BES member to purchase the BES member rate ticket, you can find out more information and join here. Membership starts from £25, or you can get 12 months free membership if you are an undergraduate, masters, or first year PhD student.
- To view the British Ecological Society’s privacy policy please click here.
- If you have any queries about the event, email us at aquatic@britishecologicalsociety.org
