IUBS BioNews

Since the successful Science Forum held last December in Cali, Colombia, we’re pleased to announce that the full report summarizing the sessions co-organized by IUBS and its partners is now available. This event showcased the crucial role of science in supporting biodiversity-related policy, and the report provides a valuable overview of the insights shared.
Earlier this year, we invited members to contribute to the IUBS response to CBD Notification 5 on climate change and biodiversity. Drawing from your feedback and the expertise of our Committee on Relations with the CBD*, we submitted our contribution in March 2025. We greatly appreciate your involvement and plan to continue consulting members regularly on future CBD-related matters.
IUBS representatives, Gillian Bowser and Kofi Akamani, both members of our CBD Committee, took part in a hybrid technical meeting focused on enhanced cooperation and policy coherence across the Rio Conventions on 15th June 2025. These exchanges are key to ensuring that scientific perspectives inform coordinated environmental action.

Looking ahead, the Committee on Relations with the CBD has submitted two side event proposals for the upcoming Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological (SBSTTA) meeting in Panama this October. One, led by Kofi Akamani, focuses on “ecosystem based approaches to enhance social-ecological resilience and the nexus between biodiversity and climate change”. The second, coordinated by Lily Rodriguez with United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as partners, aims towards “mobilizing the scientific community to support GBF implementation action”. We will keep members informed as these proposals progress, and we encourage those interested in contributing to contact the IUBS Secretariat.

*The Committee on Relations with the CBD is composed of: Kofi Akamani, Véronique Allain, Renee Borges, Gillian Bowser, Karl-Josef Dietz, Nathalie Fomproix, and Lily Rodriguez

An exciting opportunity is coming up for early-career researchers, with a workshop being organized in partnership with International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) and several IUBS scientific members, including International Society of Zoological Sciences (ISZS), International Organisation of Palaeobotany (IPO), International Federation of Palynological Societies (IFPS), and International Association for Aerobiology (IAA). The workshop will take place just before the IUBS General Assembly in Bangalore and is designed to bring together up to 25 early career scientists working at the intersection of past and present biodiversity research.
Participants will explore how palaeobiology can inform our understanding of climate change impacts on biodiversity today. A key goal is to develop two collaborative research proposals eligible for global funding, illustrating the value of interdisciplinary approaches. Methodological training and the identification of analytical gaps will also be part of the program. Local accommodation and meals will be free of charge and financial support for travel expenses will be available for some applicants.
Application information is available here.

Support for Conferences and Early Career Scientists

We’d like to remind members that IUBS continues to offer modest seed funding to support the organization of conferences in member countries. This funding is intended to foster scientific exchange and collaboration, particularly in areas aligned with IUBS priorities. Applications are reviewed quarterly and must be submitted between four months to one year before the conference date. Detailed guidelines and the application form can be found here.
In parallel, IUBS supports the participation of Early Career Scientists (ECS) in conferences through dedicated grants. Eligible ECS, with less than 7 years of PhD duration or 5 years of active research after PhD completion, must have an accepted oral or poster presentation. Grants are awarded to conference organizers to support several ECS, with an emphasis on inclusion: at least half of supported participants should be from the Global South or underrepresented groups, with balanced gender representation and international diversity is encouraged. Please visit here.

The following conferences have recently benefited from IUBS grants:

“International Symposium on Ciliate Biology 2025 (ISCB 2025)”: held from 6, 7th February 2025 in India

“Behaviour 2025”, to be held from 25-30th August 2025 in Kolkata, India,

“27th International Diatom Symposium” to be held from 3-8th August 2025 in South Africa

The mission of the International Science Council (ISC)

The visibility and the impact of the ISC increased since its foundation in 2018 when the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC) merged. IUBS is a Category 1 founding member of the ISC, and IUBS representatives participate in various programs and activities, e.g. at the ISC General Assembly (GA) in Muscat (Oman) in January 2025. Nowadays, 25 ISC staff members drive the business of ISC. In addition, regional focal points have been established like the ISC Regional Focal Point for Latin America and the Caribbean. In Muscat, ISC and the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation of Oman, signed a letter of intent to establish a Regional Focal Point to strengthen cooperation on science, technology and innovation within and beyond the region. All these activities follow the overarching request for science as a global right. However, instead of facilitating and supporting science, current trends frequently indicate a threatening of financial support for science and the freedom of science. During the meeting, ISC released the Muscat Declaration on Global Science (Muscat Declaration) emphasizing the eminent role of and freedom for science. The first Global Knowledge Dialogue took place prior to the ISC GA.

António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, had sent a message to the ISC GA emphasizing the role of science for shaping our sustainable future: “This spirit is central to the pact for the Future adopted by the United Nations Member States in September 2024. The pact recognizes the crucial role of science and technology cooperation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and supercharging progress around the world.”
IUBS actively participated in the ISC General Assembly held in Oman. Prof. Renee Borges, the IUBS Secretary General of IUBS, chaired ISC side event on “Union Membership Issues: Retention, recruitment and geographic representation”, and the IUBS Executive Director Nathalie Fomproix took part of the session on “Science education for our future – building capacity for global challenges” at the Muscat Global Knowledge Dialogue.

ISC is a convenor of actors to drive dialogue, to achieve consensus and steer change in science systems (About us). Topics to be addressed are geopolitical and societal polarization, old and new geopolitical divides and conflicts, science and technology as tool for competition, disillusionment with the multilateral system, decreasing trust in science and institutions, rise in misinformation and dis-information, inequalities among countries in access to and benefit from science and technologies.
In addition to the reports from the committees and the presentation of recent and planned activities, we draw your attention to

• The right to participate in and benefit from science (Right to Science)
• Shaping the future of science systems (Centre for Science Futures)
• Empowering the next generation of scientists (EMCR)
• Connecting science, policy and society (UN Global Policy).

Other major points of discussion were the securing of the financial solidity, the decision on a new structure with two rounds of elections, the shift of ISC towards policy advice and the important role of Scientific Unions like IUBS in providing disciplinary advice, and ensuring that scientists’ voices are heard in global discussions.

Building Stronger Connections Across ISC Member Organizations

In a follow-up to the January 2025 meeting in Oman with other ISC Category 1 members, IUBS has been actively engaging in a series of regular meetings with fellow Unions and Associations. The most recent gatherings took place on 15th April and 10th June, with upcoming sessions scheduled for 16th September and 25th November.
These exchanges serve as a platform to share experiences, identify collaborative opportunities across disciplines, and explore joint initiatives. One such initiative currently under discussion is a future webinar series aligned with the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD). These efforts reflect IUBS’s broader commitment to strengthening the voice and impact of science in addressing global challenges.

We invite all members to take part in a global survey launched by the IAP-ISC-SCGES initiative (Inter Academy Partnership-IAP, International Science Council-ISC, Standing Committee on Gender Equality in Sciences-SCGES). This qualitative survey seeks to better understand how scientists experience participation in scientific organizations, including access to leadership roles, benefits and barriers, and organizational culture.
Your responses will help shape actionable recommendations to promote equity and inclusion across scientific institutions worldwide. Scientists of all genders, and from all types of organizations, academies, unions, societies, and young academies, are encouraged to participate.
The survey takes approximately 50 minutes to complete and is open until 5th August 2025. You can access it here.

SCGES recommendations are now published on our website and also as a pdf file. They provide a roadmap to foster systemic change and advance gender equality in science in Scientific Unions, and promote it in their scientific communities. They rely on the Gender Gap in Science (GGS) Project findings.

The Zoological Society of Southern Africa (ZSSA) was founded in 1959 mainly to promote Zoological research across all sub-disciplines in southern Africa and to support the interests of Zoologists in southern Africa.
More specifically, the objectives of the ZSSA are:

• To promote, facilitate and encourage Zoological research in southern Africa;
• To preserve southern African fauna and to support legislation to this end, and, if necessary, to oppose legislation tending to have adverse effects thereon;
• To be actively concerned with the welfare of animals; Co-ordination and Education;
• To assist in the coordination of Zoological research in Southern Africa using congresses, meetings and publications covering current research work, and to have contact with foreign Zoological societies and international organisations dealing with Zoology, wherever possible;
• To co-operate with public authorities and to act in an advisory capacity where asked to do so;
• To stimulate public interest in Zoology through publications, meetings, Film shows and any other means;
• Scientific Publications
• To publish a Zoological journal

The main products of the Society are biennial conferences held in various regions (mostly in South Africa, but not excluding other southern African Countries) and a peer-reviewed scientific journal African Zoology published by NISC in partnership with the international publishing house, Taylor & Francis. The journal is also electronically available at BioOne and SABINET

The Sociedad de Biología de Chile, with a 97-year history, is the oldest scientific institution in the country within its field, bringing together leading professionals and academics across diverse biological disciplines. It's areas of work encompass molecular biology, cellular biology, physiology, ecology, biodiversity, microbiology, biotechnology, environmental conservation, genetics, neurosciences, and public health. The Society manages the prestigious journals Biological Research and Revista Chilena de Historia Natural. Additionally, it actively promotes interdisciplinary research, scientific outreach, and engagement with society, contributing to dialogue, policy development, and sustainable progress in addressing Chile's scientific, social, economic, and environmental challenges.

The Sociedad de Biología de Chile will hold its Annual Meeting at the Main Campus of Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso from December 10-12th, 2025. The meeting will include the following activities:
a) Free Communications (poster/oral sessions)
b) Symposia
c) Plenary Lectures
d) Book Launches
e) Video Featuring Women Pioneers in Science

Deadline for the abstract submission is 30th August 2025. Further information about the event are available here

IUBS Centenary Webinar Series: Eighth Lecture Focused on "Navigational abilities of the Australian Bogong moth"

Eric Warrant is Professor of Zoology, head of the Division of Sensory Biology and Head of the Lund Vision Group at the Department of Biology at the University of Lund in Sweden. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University and Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia. Warrant obtained a degree in Physics from the University of New South Wales and a PhD in Visual Science from the Australian National University before heading to Lund for a postdoc, where he has stayed ever since. Warrant leads an active research group studying vision and visual navigation in animals from extremely dim habitats (nocturnal and deep sea). Using electrophysiological, optical, histological, behavioural and theoretical approaches, Warrant studies how animals as diverse as nocturnal insects, deep-sea cephalopods and fast-swimming predatory fishes are able to see well at very low light levels, and his research has led to the discovery of neural principles that permit vision in dim light.
Warrant is a past-President of the International Society of Neuroethology, a Corresponding Member of the Australian Academy of Science, a Fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, a Member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and Fellow and President of the Royal Physiographic Society. He also sits on the Senior Editorial Boards of the Journal of Comparative Physiology A and Austral Entomology and is also on the Academic Advisory Board of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

In recent years, Warrant’s group has turned its attention to the sensory basis of long-distance migration in the Australian Bogong moth, particularly the role of the Earth’s magnetic field and the stars in migratory navigation.

Don’t miss this fascinating journey into the frontiers of animal navigation.

Among the key developments was the official establishment of the Committee on Relations with the CBD¹, reinforcing our institutional commitment to this area. We also launched a working group to revise the IUBS statutes², in line with resolutions adopted at the last General Assembly. Regular updates on the work of these groups will be shared with members moving forward.

¹The Committee on Relations with the CBD: Kofi Akamani, Véronique Allain, Renee Borges, Gillian Bowser, Karl-Josef Dietz, Nathalie Fomproix, Lily Rodriguez.
²The Committee on IUBS statutes: Renee Borges, Gillian Bowser, Karl-Josef Dietz, Nathalie Fomproix.

The 35th General Assembly of IUBS will be held at the National Science Seminar Complex, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Besides the regular business events requiring voting and participation by IUBS members, this GA will have a series of scientific and pedagogical symposia.

Proposed Symposia are on the following themes:

• One Health
• Science for conservation policies in Africa
• Marine/mangrove conservation
• Technology to map and monitor biodiversity
• Precision agriculture
• Pastoralism
• Geology–Biology interface
• Chemical Ecology in the Anthropocene

Confirmed speakers at this GA:
Keynote Address: Pavan Sukhdev, Green Economist, UNEP Goodwill Ambassador and much more

Plenary Speakers:

• Soumya Swaminathan, former Chief Scientist, WHO
• Vandana Prasad, Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences
• Teatulohi Matainaho, President, Pacific Academy of Sciences

There will also be a four-day pre-GA proposal-writing workshop for Early Career Researchers (How Palaeontological Proxies can inform us about Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity). This will be for 25 selected ECRs and will also be at the Indian Institute of Science. For more details, visit here.