ABS 2026 Workshops

Workshop 1: The Beginner's Guide to Agent-Based Modeling for Animal Behavior

Tuesday, July 14
Organizers: Vanessa Ferdinand and Elizabeth Hobson
Location: TBD

You can register for this workshop on the conference registration form.

In this hands-on workshop, we will give you the conceptual foundations and skills to help you build your own agent-based model (ABM) of animal behavior from scratch - just bring your laptop and your imagination! In agent-based modeling, you define the actions of animals, let them interact with their environment and each other, and observe and quantify the patterns that emerge over time. ABMs are powerful tools for gaining insight into the forces that shape complex systems and dynamics in animal behavior, ecology, and evolution. ABMs are also a great way to improve our theories about animal behavior because they force us to formalize our favorite verbal theories, put all of our assumptions under a metaphorical microscope, and check whether everything plays out the way we’d expect - or not!

Our goal is to make this workshop accessible to all computational skill levels. We’ll provide an overview of what computation and simulations are, when and why to use them in your science, and aim to empower all participants with confidence in their computational skills, whether you’ve been programming for years or just started today. We will exclusively use the R programming language in the workshop, but the concepts we cover can be implemented later in any programming language of your choice. If you’re new to programming, we will provide optional “introduction to coding in R” resources in advance of the workshop. All workshop materials will be provided online afterward, including demo ABMs in R and resources for further learning."

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Workshop 2: Observer reliability in animal behavior research: a workshop

Tuesday, July 14 - 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Co-Organizers: Cassandra Tucker, Sarah J.J. Adcock, Jennifer M.C. Van Os, Carly Moody, Blair C. Downey
Location: TBD

You can register for this workshop on the registration form.

Assessing observer reliability is a way of evaluating similarity of measures or techniques collected by ethologists and can apply to many aspects of the research process. We assess reliability as a way to confirm that our methodology can be understood and uniformly applied by all members of our team to reduce potential bias. We have built a website that outlines our approach (https://www.animalbehaviorreliability.com/). In this workshop, we will examine factors and considerations that affect the repeatability of the dependent variables commonly used in ethology. We will engage in activities that examine the characteristics of robust behavioral definitions and brainstorm about how logistical constraints (e.g., video vs. live recording, camera angles, if the behaviors of interest are rare) affect our approach to assessing observer reliability. Participants will have the opportunity to work in small groups. The groups will discuss sample outcomes from reliability testing, including various forms of visual assessment (e.g., plots from open access behavioral coding software, scatterplots, Bland-Altman) and the outcomes of statistical evaluation using a variety of common metrics (e.g., kappa, ICC, etc.). We will interactively explore examples of when problem solving is needed because good intra- or inter-observer reliability was not achieved with workshop participants. Examples from the workshop will draw upon data and experiments run by our team; they will be realistic and reflect the most common challenges in applied ethology. Our intent in this workshop is that participants will gain concrete, specific skills to apply in their own behavioral research.

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Workshop 3: Weaving the Future of Animal Behavior (WFAB): A professional-development workshop for pre-tenure faculty and postdoctoral researchers in animal behavior

Tuesday, July 14 (Part 2 - in-person)
Co-Organizers: Gail Patricelli, Karan Odom, Kelly Ronald, and Jennifer Smith
Location: TBD

You can register for this workshop on the registration form.

Our goal is to advance the future of animal behavior science by supporting and promoting community and professional development for early career professionals through workshops, symposia, and long‐term, multi‐level mentoring. We strongly believe that the field of animal behavior is better when there is diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our participants in the past have been predominantly women, international scientists, and people from marginalized communities. This workshop series helps build community and a sense of belonging, very important predictors of future success.

We have a career advice panel as part of the in-person workshop (Part I). In addition to the workshop organizers (Gail, Karan, Michele and Jennifer), we will recruit panelists representing diversity of identity, career stage, and career type (R1, SLAC, non-academic). In 2023, the panel included Gail, Karan, Mike Ryan, Gerry Carter and Swanne Gordon. In 2024, the panel included Gail, Karan, Michele, Gerry Carter, and Felicity Muth. In 2025, the panel included Gail, Karan, Michele, Tamra Mendelson, Grace Smith-Vidaurre, and Judith Scarl (Executive Director, American Ornithological Society)."

This workshop is limited to pre-tenure faculty and postdocs working in animal behavior science (for grad students interested in professional development and networking. We particularly encourage women and scientists from marginalized groups in the biological sciences to apply. If you try to register and the workshop is full, please email ([email protected]) as spaces often open up.