ASAB Autumn Newsletter 2026

🍂 Good morning, and welcome to another edition of the ASAB Autumn Newsletter! 🍂

While it’s beginning to feel a bit cooler and more autumnal, it’s been quite a summer, with some of the hottest temperatures on record. ‘Wild’ fires, floods… it’s concerning to say the least how this has been impacting our wildlife and fellow human beings. Making our joint summer meeting with ECBB particularly pertinent ‘Animal Behaviour in the Anthropocene’. One line in particular from that conference has really stuck with me though ‘life finds a way’! Which should give us hope!

“Hope is what enables us to keep going in the face of adversity. It is what we desire to happen, but we must be prepared to work hard to make it so.”

Jane Goodall 💚

So, what can you expect in this issue of the newsletter? Full conference report from the joint ASAB-ECBB Summer meeting, call for nominations for the Christopher Barnard award, ASAB Medal 2027 and EDIA award, news from the ASAB Grants & Education Committees and the Animal Behaviour Journal. And if that wasn’t enough there’s a ‘Meet ASAB’ piece on our outgoing Editor of the Journal Animal Behaviour: Andy Radford. You can also find information about our upcoming conferences!!

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 ASAB council members, you can find their contact details here - we’re always happy to answer your questions!

Happy reading!

Sophia Daoudi-Simison (ASAB Communications Officer)

Reminder to vote for your ASAB Council!

We invite our ASAB membership to elect new ASAB Council Members, for the positions of:

Ordinary Member
Membership Secretary
Social Media Officer
Communications Officer

You can find information about each of the candidates, along with a link to cast your votes: https://asab.wildapricot.org/ASAB-Council-Nominations

Please make sure that you are already logged in to the ASAB membership website before casting your vote. Note that each member may only vote once for each available position. Please vote by Midnight (UK time) 15th October 2026.

Results of the election will be announced at the ASAB AGM during our winter meeting and circulated in the next ASAB newsletter.

For any issues with logging into the membership website, or registering your vote, please contact our membership secretary: Prof Anna Wilkinson (membership@asab.org).

Call for Award nominations!

🌈✨🏆 The ASAB EDIA Committee is seeking nominations for the EDIA Award (click here for more details). Deadline 1st October 2026. Nominations should be sent to the Secretary of the EDIA committee: Claudia Wascher.

✨🏆 ASAB Council is seeking nominations for the:

the Christopher Barnard Award for outstanding contributions by a new investigator (click here for more details), and
the ASAB Medal for contributions to the science of animal behaviour (click here for more details).

Council would very much like to receive nominations for these prestigious awards by 1st December 2026. Further information about the awards including eligibility, lists of previous recipients and details of how to nominate can be found on the ASAB website.

Nominations should be sent to the Secretary of the Society, Elisa Frasnelli.

Meet ASAB: Andy Radford (outgoing Editor of the Journal Animal Behaviour)

In 2021, Andy Radford became the ASAB executive editor of the Animal Behaviour journal, a joint venture with our sister society, ABS. With them and a great support team, Andy has worked hard to bring out an issue every single month – a not inconsiderable challenge! Andy is a professor at the University of Bristol, where he studies social behaviour and communication, and runs the long-term dwarf mongoose research project. A lot of his work has focused on the use of vocalisations for cooperation/conflict, as well as the impacts of anthropogenic noise.

Before becoming executive editor and a council trustee, Andy was a consulting editor for the journal, and an ordinary council member of ASAB. As executive editor, he has been involved in making several significant changes: There are now paper prizes to support students, ECRs, and low-middle income countries, as well as a switch to online-only publishing for sustainability, and added requirements for mandatory data and code provision to improve reproducibility. He also negotiated the new 7-year publishing contract that underpins the vast majority of the funding that ASAB can provide for its members.

In addition to his work for ASAB, Andy is a passionate and excellent teacher and supervisor, for which he’s won a number of awards. Most recently, he was invited to give a great plenary at ECBB 2026 – a perfect ending to his tenure as ASAB executive editor of the Animal Behaviour journal. Andy you will be missed!

Written by Jennifer Colbourne (Social Media Officer)

Animal Behaviour Journal News

As of 1st September 2026, we have a new Executive Editor: I am delighted to welcome Prof. Bob Wong (Monash University, Australia) to the role. Bob was an outstanding Editor for the journal when I first took over as Executive Editor, he has edited books in efficient, calm, organised and friendly fashion, and has over a decade of experience on ISBE Council (and thus an extensive track record in helping to run a society). I therefore know that he will be a wonderful Executive Editor and that the journal is in excellent hands moving forward. It has been a privilege to hold the role, and be an ASAB Trustee, for the last 5 years – I am very grateful for the opportunity and the support that has been provided by so many, but especially Angela Turner, John Skelhorn, Justine Fox, Dave Hosken, Paula Stockley, Melissa Bateson, Mike Siva-Jothy and Eli Frasnelli.

I am also very pleased to announce this year’s winners of the Animal Behaviour paper prizes:

🏆 Student prize: Clara Garcia-Co (University of Antwerp, Belgium)

🏆 Early-career prize: Ivan Vinogradov (Australian National University, Australia)

🏆 Geographic prize: Jinhong Luo Central China Normal University, China)

Full details will be available shortly at: https://www.asab.org/animal-behaviour-journal-awards

It was a pleasure to see so many people at the ‘Meet the Editor’ event at the recent ECBB in Cambridge. Thanks to Claudia Wascher for organising it.

A reminder that ASAB are able to support so many animal behaviour endeavours (e.g., three conferences a year, a wide range of grant options and many educational activities) because of the funding that we receive from the publisher (Elsevier) of our society journal, Animal Behaviour. That funding will only continue to exist if the journal remains a success. There are three main ways that you can help:

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.
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 on 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 Bob (bob.wong@monash.edu) for more information.

Thank you!

Andy Radford (Outgoing Executive Editor)

ASAB-ECBB Joint Meeting Animal Behaviour in the Anthropocene, hosted by ARU 𓅣 Cambridge

Conference Report by Sophia Daoudi-Simison (Communications Officer)

I’d like to start this section off by saying a massive thank you to the organising committee and volunteers for all your hard work in the lead up to the conference and behind the scenes! The range of talks, symposia and posters showcased the fantastic work that the animal behaviour community are doing 💚

Photo of ECBB organising committee from left to right: Çağlar Akçay, Francesca M. Cassola, Krishna N. Balasubramaniam, Claudia Wascher, Ariana Weldon, Jacob Dunn and Anna Nekaris (Roberta Blake and Andrew Smith were not present for the photo)

Photo of ECBB volunteers and conference organisers

I was very excited to see the list of plenary speakers, and boy did they all deliver!

Kicking off the first evening was our former Editor of the Animal Behaviour journal Prof Andy Radford talking about his research on ‘Life in a noisy world’ the findings indicated that playbacks are a great way to measure different behaviours (e.g., cooperation, conflict) in a variety of species (birds, mongooses and fish), and may even be used to help restore coral reefs! – find out more about his work here. What also stuck out for me though, was his take home message, which was about the importance of surrounding yourself with supportive people to get through the various challenges of academia. A valuable message indeed for any career stage, but particularly to our students and ECRs.

Day 2 began with Prof Lauren Brent’s plenary on the ‘Friend origins and the adaptive function of social relationships’ introduced us to her adaptive relationships framework to the macaque population at the Cayo Santiago Field Station – see more here. And after lunch Associate Prof Christopher Schell’s plenary ‘The behaviours of ghosts: How societal legacies impact urban animal behaviour’ took us on a journey reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. We all thought that the coyotes were the ghosts, but plot twist! It’s us (humans) who were the ghosts! What happens to the behaviour(s) of other animals when we remove ourselves from the environment(s)? You’ll have to check out his research to ind out more.

From left to right: Christopher Schell, Bibiana Roja, Tim Caro, Lauren Brent and Tinbergen Prize Plenary Ahana Aurora Fernandez (Andy Radford and Mariella Herberstein were not present for the photo)

On day 3 Prof Tim Caro is the word on the evolution and ecology of animal coloration (I refer to their work on the function of having stripes as a deterrent against biting insects in my teaching), his plenary on ‘how behaviour can help us interpret coloration in mammals’ noted that we should be cautious in our application of Gloger’s rule (that endothermic animals living in warm and humid regions tend to have darker pigmentation than related populations in cold and dry regions), especially in bears! They do not appear to follow this rule.

In the afternoon Prof Mariella Herberstein’s plenary on ‘The evolution of deception: ant mimicry in spiders and the power of museum collections’ began by getting us to think about our academic journeys, at the start we often think it’s a clear linear path to success, but most of the time we just going one step at a time through a dense fog, the path isn’t always clear and again having a good support network is what gets you through! Going back to mimicry, one of the first slides showed what looked like an ant, until you took a closer look at its face and saw that there were too many eyes! Spiders show a varying degree of ant mimicry (some were definitely better than others) – see if you’re able to distinguish between an ant and mimic in this fun interactive activity: https://jimmcl.github.io/EatUp/ (not to brag but I got 19 out of 21 – can you beat me?). If you’re an insect or spider eating predator it’s important to be able to distinguish between species to avoid any unpleasant defences. Additionally, we need to make better use of museum collections, they provide a valuable resource to investigate phenotypic differences across time, amongst other things.

On day 4 Associate Prof Bibiana Rojas’ plenary titled ‘Living on the edge: poison frog behaviour, morphology and life history under anthropogenic stress’ showcased the incredible parenting of some poison frogs, who will carry their tadpoles and deposit them in pools from the ground, all the way to the top of the canopy – the human equivalent of that would be carry a heavy backpack and climbing a skyscraper!! Sadly, amphibians are one of if not the most threatened vertebrates on the planet, we’ve all heard about the chytrid fungus, and the impact of climate change, but now we’re also seeing the negative impact of mercury poisoning caused from gold mining in forests. But all is not lost, Bibiana has found that tadpoles with high levels of mercury appear to be able to shed/reduce this when metamorphosing into a frog – there is clearly a lot that we still do not understand about this process! You can find out more about their research here.

Finally, last but not least, Dr Ahana Aurora Fernandez delivered the Tinbergen Prize Plenary on ‘Social learning and vocal communication in bats’ – there is much more to bats than echo location! Ahana has explored their vocal communication and production system as well as their social organisation and mating strategies, she has even found evidence for social learning. Greater sac-winged bat pups produce babbling behaviour (similar to that of a human infant babbling) and receive maternal feedback. If you want to learn more then click here.

In addition to all the wonderful talks and posters, the ARU team put together a fun variety of social events including conference Bingo and a pub quiz at the Cambridge Blue – that was honestly one of the most challenging quizzes I have ever done, particularly the palaeontology round. Somehow our team made up of the ASAB education student committee + Social Media and Communications Officers came third!

Photo descriptions: ECBB Bingo top left; team ASAB winning 3rd place in pub quiz middle right; ASAB student subcommittee middle left; Homerton College and Conference dinner bottom right.

Also a big thank you to our ASAB Education Officer Charlotte and the Student subcommittee for covering the ASAB table, bringing all the ASAB swag – stickers, posters and colouring in books, and taking some great photos of conference attendees rocking their animal!

It was a bit of a trek to the conference dinner at Homerton College, but it was worth it for the reception. The ringing of the gong announced we should take our seats for dinner, which was followed by a Ceilidh. It was great seeing so many people on the dance floor, the band and caller were fab (and incredibly patient).

After the final talk there was the option to go on a walking tour of historic Cambridge or group punt along the river Cam.

And that’s a wrap! Thanks again to all the organisers and volunteers, these conferences wouldn’t be possible without you!

I honestly can’t wait until the next conference! Hopefully see some of you in Edinburgh

Upcoming Conferences

Get your calendars out and save the following dates!

❄️ASAB & PSGB Winter Meeting❄️

When: 8th & 10th December 2026

Where: Edinburgh Royal College of Physicians, Scotland

🌸 ASAB Spring Meeting 🌸

When: 7th-9th April 2027

Where: University of Portsmouth, England

☀️ Behaviour/ASAB Summer Meeting ☀️

When: 23rd-28th August 2027

Where: Vienna, Austria

Grants News

🚨 Next deadline is 1st October! 🚨

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.

Reminder of application deadlines for the following grants - 1st October, 1st February and 1st June:

Grants awarded in the June 2026 application round

Research Grants

We had 17 applications, which were all eligible. The committee decided to fund three proposals:

Thomas Green “Same-sex sexual behaviour in animals and humans: what can we learn from each other?” (£9579.25)
Nicholas Jones “Does shelter mitigate the negative impacts of elevated temperature on decision accuracy?” (£3884)
Juliane Kaminski “Do dogs understand Syntax?” (£8694)

Undergraduate Project Scholarships

We had three applications, one of which was ineligible. We awarded the funding for one application:

Kinga (Wiola) Stachowicz “Associative learning in orb-weavers through extended phenotypes” (£1990)

Conference Attendance, Childcare & Accessibility Grants

We received 13 eligible applications for DC applicants. Seven were ineligible, and two were funded (£1902 and 2500).

There were 58 non-DC applications, 18 of which were not eligible. 34 were funded, for total funding of £22539.60.

There was one Accessibility Grant application, which was funded (£250) and three Childcare Grant applications, two of which were funded (£500 and £485.54).

Education Committee News

Spread the word, the ASAB Infographic Competition is back! In celebration of Biology Week 2026 and open to young people between the ages of 7 and 21. This competition is to design a poster that contains images and information about the animal behaviour of one, or multiple species of non-human animals.

Entries can be drawn, painted, sketched or digitally created artwork that captures the behaviour of animals. There are no restrictions on the type of drawing, painting or poster that can be created, it must include information on the behaviour of the animals highlighted.

The winning infographic in each category will be published inside the scientific journal Animal Behaviour.

Email a picture of your infographic and completed entry form to education@asab.org by midnight on the 18th of October 2026. Entry forms can be found here, and you can also see last year’s winners.

Visiting schools and science fairs, inspiring curiosity and sharing animal behaviour with young people, is still our favourite thing. A massive thank you to Robyn Roach from Queen Mary’s University London. At the beginning of July, we went to the primary STEM fair Enfield. During the day we saw 187 students, from 14 Enfield schools, in a whirlwind of 30-minute workshops. Robyn shared her experiences of being a scientist and explained her research, whilst engaging the young people in practical activities. Following is a copy of the feedback: “Of the 15 groups who attended your session the vast majority either agreed or strongly agreed that they enjoyed the session, learned something new and wouldn't be able to learn what they did outside of school. Comments included it being interesting to learn about behaviours and similarities between chickens and humans. The children loved learning from an expert. The animal facts were interesting, as were the human facts about unique smells. It's a real testament to how well your session was received. Thank you for your support.”

Did you Know? The ASAB education committee awards the following:

Undergraduate Recognition Award which recognises undergraduates who have engaged with the study of animal behaviour in an outstanding manner.
Postgraduate Recognition Award which recognises Masters level students who have engaged with the study of animal behaviour in an outstanding manner.
Animal Behaviour Educator Recognition Award which recognises inspirational teachers of animal behaviour.

🏆 We awarded seven Undergraduate Prizes, so far this year and we always 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.

This is Prof Andrew King, (Swansea ASAB rep) presenting Shannon Williams, BSc Zoology student with her certificate. Shannon also receives a year’s ASAB membership.

Congratulations also go to, Indigo Swift (University of York), Keeley Andrews (University of Portsmouth), Kinga (Wiola) Stachowicz (University of Portsmouth), Sadie Wallen (Liverpool John Moores), Lucy Wallis (Newcastle University) and Minx Fisher (University of Lincoln).

Articles Available from the Royal Society

The following issues from Royal Society Publishing Philosophical Transactions B are now their most highly cited and widely read and are mainly FREE TO ACCESS ONLINE:

Evolutionary functions of consciousness compiled and edited by W. Tecumseh Fitch, Colin Allen and Adina Roskies and the majority of articles can be FREELY accessed atwww.bit.ly/PTB1939

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

Evolutionary functions of consciousness compiled and edited by W Tecumseh Fitch, Colin Allen and Adina Roskies and the majority of articles can be FREELY accessed at www.bit.ly/PTB1939

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

from left to right: Sophia Daoudi-Simison (ASAB Communications Officer) & Jennifer Colbourne (ASAB Social Media Officer)

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! Looking forward to catching up with you in Edinburgh for the Winter Meeting!

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