Dear ASAB members,

Good morning and welcome to the latest edition of the ASAB newsletter!

There’s a lot to get through, but first I’d like to start by thanking the ASAB Spring organising team at the University of Bristol for putting together such a great programme of talks, plenaries, workshops and poster sessions!

In this newsletter you can find:

• News from ASAB Council & Positions Available

• ASAB Spring 2026 Meeting Report

• Upcoming Meetings (Cambridge & Edinburgh)

• Grants News - June 1st 2026 deadlines

• News from the journal Animal Behaviour

• Education News

• Other News

As always, if you have any questions about ASAB's activities please get in touch at webeditor@asab.org. You can also keep up to date with announcements on animal behaviour opportunities in between our newsletters by joining our Animal Behaviour JISCMail!

If you want to contact specific members of the ASAB council, you can find their contact details here - we are always happy to answer your questions!

Happy reading everyone!

Sophia Daoudi-Simison (ASAB Communications Officer)

News from ASAB Council

Quite a few of our council members are coming to the end of their term in December 2026, including all but one member of the ASAB Trustees. Given the significant turnover and the substantial effort required to run the society smoothly, council took a vote at the recent Spring Meeting and unanimously agreed that Melissa Bateson should extend her term as ASAB President for an additional year to ensure continuity.

Positions Available on ASAB Council

There are four positions available on ASAB Council to begin in January 2027.

The positions are: Membership Secretary, Social Media Officer, Communications Officer, and one Ordinary Member.

If you are interested in being nominated for one of these positions, and contributing to the work of ASAB, please send a 150-word statement outlining your motivation, experience and suitability for the role to the current ASAB Secretary, Elisa Frasnelli (elisa.frasnelli@unitn.it) by 20th June 2026.

Your nomination should be supported by at least two members of ASAB, also by email to elisa.frasnelli@unitn.it by 20th June 2026.

Nominated candidates will be put forward for an online election by the membership of ASAB. Council may nominate candidates and reserves the right to add nominations after the closing date in the event of a lack of suitable candidates. Council also reserves the right to generate a short-list of not less than three candidates per position for online elections. Officers and ordinary members of ASAB Council will normally serve three calendar years, commencing 1st January. Reasonable expenses are reimbursed to support attendance at Council meetings and associated ASAB conferences, and a small annual research grant is provided for ASAB Council Officers in support of animal behaviour research activity. Further information on the roles is provided below and on our website. For more details or to discuss the Officer roles, please contact the current Secretaries (contact details provided below).

Best regards,

Elisa Frasnelli (ASAB Secretary)

Further information:

Membership Secretary

The Membership Secretary is a full member of ASAB Council, and has responsibility as first point of contact for membership enquiries, for maintaining the membership database, over-seeing the smooth running of the subscription process, including new members and renewals, and for liaising with Elsevier to ensure members have the requisite access to Animal Behaviour online or as hard copy. The Membership Secretary will provide Council will relevant information about membership as required, and contribute to the development of strategies to grow our membership and improve the member experience. We are currently developing our new website using proprietary software, and so some familiarity with website development would be extremely useful. A good knowledge of ASAB and its membership would also be expected, and so we would not expect this role to suit new or student members. The position comes with a small research grant to help defray some of time spent on this important role, and as a member of Council, the Membership Secretary will attend our three ASAB meetings each year, during which the Council meetings take place.

The Membership Secretary will normally serve three calendar years, commencing 1st January.

Current Membership Secretary: Prof Anna Wilkinson (AWilkinson@lincoln.ac.uk)

Communications Officer

The Communications Officer will have primary responsibility for preparing the ASAB Newsletter and managing our website and wikipedia page. The role also involves attending three ASAB Council meetings a year, and contributing to the affairs and decision-making of Council. Council meetings coincide with the three annual ASAB conferences, the Spring, Summer and Winter Meetings.

The ASAB Communications Officer will normally serve three calendar years, commencing 1st January, although the role would ideally start before January with support from the outgoing Communications Officer.

Current Communications Officer: Dr Sophia Daoudi-Simison (webeditor@asab.org)

Social Media Officer

The Social Media Officer will have primary responsibility for managing ASAB’s social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon. The role also involves attending three ASAB Council meetings a year, and contributing to the affairs and decision-making of Council. Council meetings coincide with the three annual ASAB conferences, the Spring, Summer and Winter Meetings.

The ASAB Social Media Officer will normally serve three calendar years, commencing 1st January, although the role would ideally start before January with support from the outgoing Communications Officer.

Current Social Media Officer: Dr Jen Coulbourne (socials@asab.org)

Ordinary Member of ASAB (x1 position available)

This role involves attending three ASAB Council meetings a year, and contributing to the affairs and decision-making of Council. Council meetings coincide with the three annual ASAB conferences, the Spring, Summer and Winter Meetings, with the ASAB Annual General Meeting held at the Winter Meeting. As an Ordinary Council Member, you may be requested to help in promoting ASAB’s activities, for example by joining or contributing to the work of our committees.

This job involves far more than setting up meetings and taking minutes – she is responsible for elections, prize nominations, the AGM, being the contact point for members/officers, and much more behind the scenes. Moreover, she is one of the four trustees legally responsible for ASAB.

In addition to all of her work for us, Elisa is an Associate Professor at the University of Trento. She loves this stage of her career, as she can freely follow any interest… and she has a lot of interests!

Elisa actually was originally a physicist, and got into animal behaviour through mathematical modelling. She has worked on such topics as lateralization, social structures, spatial cognition, pain and sentience. And, although she has largely focused on bees, she has also worked with octopus, cuttlefish, pheasants, cats and dogs.

However, perhaps her biggest passion is her students. As academia and the world are changing, she believes more than ever in the importance of mentorship and listening to students. She also facilitates opportunities for students to go on exchange – having lived in so many countries herself, including Austria, Japan, Australia, the UK and the USA; Elisa thinks such experiences are invaluable for expanding student views, and enabling scientific and cultural exchange. In fact, she is the delegate of internationalisation within her institution.

This outlook makes her a great fit for a multi-national organisation like ASAB, which she first began volunteering with as a council member in 2020. Thanks Elisa for all of your hard work so far, and all the work to come in your term as secretary!

Written by Jennifer Colbourne (ASAB Social Media Officer)

ASAB Spring Meeting Report 2026

The ASAB Spring meeting is typically focussed on our student and ECR members, but it’s great to see many senior members also attending in support. This year’s event took us to the University of Bristol, kicking off with a solid day of workshops on: two led by Dr Sean Rands (ASAB Spring Conference Organiser) on Good practice and integrity and data handling and Animal research ethical review, and publication ethics, and a third led by Dr Clemency White and Lauren Giroux on Pathways to positive fieldwork.

There were two really interesting plenary talks given over the two days including: (1) Prof Alistair Lawrence - The biology and relevance of positive animal welfare: a work in progress, (2) Prof Elva Robinson - Dynamic inter-group cooperation in ant nest networks. There were also some compelling discussions around animal ethics, particularly in relation to insect 🐛 research. However, it was not just the plenary sessions that impressed attendees; the contributed talks, posters along with our video competition winners presented by the students/ECRs were of an exceptionally high quality. In particular congratulations to the ASAB Spring 2026 student/ECR winners:

🏆 Congratulations also to Patrick Kennedy (pictured above right, with Prof Andy Radford [editor of the journal Animal Behaviour] on the left), this year’s recipient of the prestigious Christopher Barnard Award! He delivered an inciteful talk titled “Life advice for selfish genes” – I definitely learnt a lot!

In addition to the educational sessions, the conference organisers also planned a fun conference dinner and ceilidh at Zero Degrees🍻 — a hidden jem not too far from the conference building, with a great selection of craft beers and pizza! We danced the night away without too many injuries (apologies to our socials officer, I was too vigorous spinning her on the dance floor 😂).

Once again thank you to Sean and everyone on the organising team! These conferences cannot happen without you and all the hard work you put into it! If you are interested in hosting a future Spring Meeting or want to find out more about the process, then please contact our lovely meetings secretary Vivek Nityananda: meetings@asab.org

Looking forward to seeing you all again at the next meeting in Cambridge!

Sophia (ASAB Comunications Officer)

Upcoming Meetings

Get your calendars out, it's time to plan for this year's ASAB meetings! Alternatively, we have an ASAB Google Calendar, that you folks can subscribe to and get reminders of upcoming grant deadlines and events. If you have anything to add to the calendar, please email webeditor@asab.org

☀️ ECBB/ASAB Summer Conference 2026

Visit the conference website for information and registration.

When: 1st-4th September 2026

Where: Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

Conference attendance grants more than £750 (only Developing Country applicants): 1st April 2026 (see also childcare & accessibility grants)

Conference attendance grants up to £750: 1st June 2026 (see also childcare & accessibility grants)

Abstracts submission deadline: Check conference website

Early Bird Registration deadline: 31st March 2026

Join us for ECBB 2026, a joint meeting with the 2026 Summer Meeting of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB).

The theme of this conference is 'Animal Behaviour in the Anthropocene. Come hear more about these and many other topics in behavioural biology.

❄️ ASAB/PSGB Joint Winter Meeting 2026

Visit the conference website for information and registration.

When: ASAB 8th-9th / PSGB 10th December 2026

Where: Edinburgh, Scotland

Conference attendance grants more than £750 (only Developing Country applicants): 1st August 2026 (see also childcare & accessibility grants)

Conference attendance grants up to £750: 1st October 2026 (see also childcare & accessibility grants). Others requiring an early decision may also apply in this round

Abstracts submission opens: 1st July 2026

Abstracts submission deadline: 15th August 2026

Registration opens: 1st July 2026 - The venue’s capacity is limited and so registration will be essential!

Conference Theme: This year’s ASAB Winter meeting theme is on Social Learning and Culture. The last joint ASAB/PSGB meeting was held in 2015 on the same theme, at the ZSL London Zoo. More details to follow!  

⭐ If you would like to host a Spring Meeting or organise a Winter Meeting in Edinburgh then please get in touch with our Meetings Secretary: Vivek Nityananda – meetings@asab.org

Grants News

Details of how to apply for ASAB Research Grants, Undergraduate Project Scholarships, Conference Attendance, Childcare and Accessibility Grants, and Interdisciplinary Workshop Grants can be found at https://www.asab.org/grant-overview.

The next application deadlines are:

• 1st June 2026 for Research Grants and Undergraduate Project Scholarships

• 1st October 2026 for Interdisciplinary Workshop Grants

• 1st June 2026 for Conference Attendance, Childcare and Accessibility Grants for ECBB 2026, Cambridge, UK.

Grants awarded in the February 2026 application round

🔬Research Grants

We had 16 eligible applications. The committee decided to fund 2 proposals:

Vittoria Roatti, “Being a parent during global warming: linking nest temperature to seabird breeding behaviour” (£10000)

Inon Scharf, Tel Aviv University, “Social isolation and changes in altruistic rescue behavior in desert ants” (£10700)

💰 The total to be awarded is £20700.

🎓 Undergraduate Project Scholarships

Of the 9 eligible applications, the committee decided to fund 3 proposals:

Hayat Vaziuddin Alvi, Queen Mary University of London, “Temporal Sequence Discrimination in Bees: Investigating Visual Order Learning in a Free-Foraging Paradigm” (£4900)

Anna Horiunova, University of Edinburgh, “Effect of heatwaves on separate phases of parental care in burying beetles: Are there sex-specific or temporal differences?” (£4020)

Oliver Neilson, University of the West of Scotland, “The effect of temperature on the thanatosis response in the blue death feigning beetle Asbolus verrucosus” (£3805)

💰The total awarded was £12725.

📅 Conference Attendance Grants for Spring 2026 (Bristol)

We received four eligible applications for DC applicants and one was awarded. There were 39 non-DC applications. 14 were ineligible as they lacked a supporting statement. There were no applications for accessibility or childcare grants for this conference.

💰The total awarded was £11,858.35, to the remaining 25 awardees.

ASAB are able to support three conferences a year, a wide range of grant options and many educational activities (among other member benefits) because of funding from the publisher (Elsevier) of our society journal, Animal Behaviour. The amount of that funding is tied to the success of the journal. Please do therefore help in one or more of these important ways:

• Submit your great work to us. We publish primary research, methods and dataset papers, as well as reviews and commentaries: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/animal-behaviour/publish/guide-for-authors. There are six prizes (each worth £2k) to be won every year!

• Accept reviewer invitations from our journal. If you are understandably limited in the time you have, please prioritise reviewing for society journals.

• Become part of the editor team! The journal has both Editors and Consulting Editors.

  • Editors are assigned manuscripts that they select reviewers for and then make decisions about following review.

  • Consulting Editors are asked to provide speedy reviews in two situations: either when there have been long delays on a paper (e.g., reviewers have not responded) or when there is a split decision between initial reviewers. Being a Consulting Editor is often a stepping stone to becoming a full Editor.

  • If you are interested in being part of the editor team for 2027, please contact the Executive Editor, Andy Radford (andy.radford@bristol.ac.uk) for more information.

Thank you!

Education Committee News

We have been out and about, busy inspiring curiosity and sharing animal behaviour with young people galore. A big thank you to all the people who have joined in, helped and spread the science this spring.

At the Purbeck School Science Fair, Wareham), families enjoyed a lively afternoon with Liz Evesham exploring science alongside organisations including the Dorset Wildlife Trust and the Institute of Physics. The ASAB stand was a constant hub of activity, with visitors testing their senses of touch and smell, competing in reaction time challenges, and learning how animals use their senses to communicate, find mates, and detect danger. Many left not only with stickers and colouring books, but also a new appreciation for careers in biology and animal behaviour.

Natasha reported: We saw three classes of year seven students and discussed how and why animals behave the way they do and challenged the students to communicate with each other only using sounds and smells, discovering how well adapted animals are. Next, we turned our attention to honeybees, focusing on their importance to our food production through pollination. The infamous waggle dance was taught, and the students had a go at locating prizes around the room through the medium of dance. I also had the opportunity to share my research on the feasibility of reintroducing elephants into North America with the students (which they were they strong proponents for!) and talk about de-extinction science. Louisa spoke about her project with Dr Seirian Summer and changing people’s attitude to wasps.

Did you Know? We have an Educator Award! 👀

Students and staff can nominate an inspirational teacher or lecturer in the area of animal behaviour.  Awardees will receive:

• a certificate,

• a year’s free membership of ASAB, and

• will be featured on the ASAB Education webpages.

Look here for more details.

🏆 We awarded eight Undergraduate Prizes last year and want to award more!

If you would like to be your university representative please let us know. If you have a worthy undergraduate please nominate them here.

🚨 New ASAB Award 🚨

ASAB have a new EDIA Award deadline 1st October.

The ASAB award for Advancing Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Accessibility in Animal Behaviour recognises an individual or group who have actively promoted inclusivity, equity, and diversity in the field. Recipients will have made sustained and demonstrable contributions to improving equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in animal behaviour by creating a welcoming and supportive environment for all researchers, educators, and students in animal behaviour, raising awareness of barriers faced by underrepresented or historically excluded groups in academia, and highlighting effective practices for addressing them.

Check out our website for more details!

Conference that may be of interest?

Ethology, literature and the Arts: The Science of Animal Behaviour and its Influence on Creativeness

When: September 23-27, 2026
Where: Erice, Sicily, ITALY

Workshop Organisers: Augusto Vitale (ex-Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma – Secretary of the ASAB Ethical Committee); Simone Pollo (Università di Roma 'La Sapienza')

Purpose of the Workshop: to discuss how ethological studies have influenced different non-scientific disciplines, such philosophy, literature, movies, and various forms of artistic expressions. the idea is to look at how the teachings of the great figures of ethology can be traced in humanistic and artistic expressions.

More info on the website: https://centromajorana.it/ethoart2026/

News from the Royal Society

Royal Society Publishing has recently published a theme issue of Philosophical Transactions B under the 'Subscribe to Open' 2026 initiative: The evolution of collective intelligence compiled and edited by Cathal O’Madagain, Sarah Alami, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Edmond Seabright, José Segovia Martin, James Winters and Andrew Whiten and the articles are FREE to access at www.bit.ly/PTB1948 

The following issue is now highly cited and widely read:  Animal culture: conservation in a changing world compiled and edited by Philippa Brakes, Lucy Aplin, Emma L Carroll, Alison L Greggor, Andrew Whiten and Ellen C Garland and the articles are FREE TO ACCESS at www.bit.ly/PTB1925

A print versions are also available at the special price of £40.00 per issue from sales@royalsociety.org

Thinking About Studying Animal Behaviour?

If you're passionate about animal behaviour — or know students who might be — be sure to check out (and share!) these fantastic courses where they can dive into the subject. It's a great way to explore the science behind behaviour, from fieldwork to theory, and start building a career in this exciting area of research!

Here are a few places that offer taught postgraduate degrees in Animal Behaviour:

• University of Exeter: MSc Animal Behaviour

• University of Chester: MSc Animal Behaviour

• University of St Andrews: MSc Animal Behaviour

• Manchester Metropolitan University: MSc Animal Behaviour & Evolution

• University of Edinburgh: MSc Applied Animal Behaviour & Welfare 

• University of Stirling: MSc Human-Animal Interactions

• University of Lincoln: MRes Animal Behaviour & Welfare

• Newcastle University: MRes Animal Behaviour

• Utrecht University: MSc Environmental Biology

• University of Groningen: MRes Behavioural & Cognitive Neurosciences

• Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: MSc Behaviour, Ecology & Wildlife Management

Please note that this is not a comprehensive list, f you offer a relevant course and would like to share it with our members then please feel free to post them via our Animal Behaviour JISCMail!