NEWSLETTER
  Animal Behavior Society

The 63rd Animal Behavior Society Meeting was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA at the majestic Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza! We hosted over 500 attendees from 16 countries for an exciting scientific program, with 7 engaging plenaries, 3 timely and intriguing symposia, 250 contributed talks, and 2 poster sessions. The conference also included workshops, social gatherings, meetings for our standing committees, the awards ceremony and closing banquet, Public Day, an outreach fair at the Cincinnati Museum Center, and a conference-wide BINGO game! We also celebrated Zuleyma Tang Martinez’s 50th (!!!) consecutive year of attending ABS conferences. In addition to the in-person meeting, ABS is now hosting the conference virtually which attracted an additional 53 registrants and numerous virtual presentations.Thanks to everyone that has made the in-person and virtual conference possible!

Save the Date:
Join your local hosts, Jennifer Fewell and Emilia Martins, in Phoenix, AZ, USA next year, July 14-18, for ABS 2027. In preparation for the conference, please keep your eyes out for the call for symposia, workshops, and special sessions towards the end of August. The September 30 deadline is already approaching, so start working on your applications! Feel free to reach out to your Program Officer ([email protected]) for feedback or guidance on your applications. 

All non-USA citizens will need a valid passport (and in some cases, a travel visa) to travel to the USA. Additional information for visas will be available soon.

Thanks for a great 2026 meeting!

Organizing Committee:
Michele Johnson, Trinity University, Program Officer
Kasey Fowler-Finn, Saint Louis University, Program Officer-Elect
Erica Westerman, University of Arkansas, Past Program Officer
Nathan Morehouse, University of Cincinnati, Local Host
Michal Polak, University of Cincinnati, Local Host

We look forward to seeing you in Phoenix, Arizona, USA next year!

To organize a symposium, a special session of invited presentations, or a workshop for the ABS Annual Meeting, you should first contact the Program Officers to discuss your ideas. We ask you to propose your topic to the Program Officers to make sure that there is no conflict with existing plans and topics. A symposium should be a stimulating review of an important subject area that currently is a major focus of research. It should include a thorough treatment of past work and current research advances, and should be of general interest to the majority of ABS members. Limited funding is available from ABS to assist with travel, registration, and other expenses for symposia. A special session is a grouping of presentations that focus on a particular topic of interest, but ABS does not offer funding to support these sessions. A workshop is a hands-on exchange of ideas in a more informal setting, and will generally occur on the opening day of the meeting, July 14, 2027. Some funding may be available from ABS for expenses related to workshops.

Proposals for symposia, special sessions, or workshops for the 2027 meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, must be submitted online here (https://fs10.formsite.com/spltrak/uxr2ai1vpq/index.html). The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2026 (midnight in the last timezone on Earth).

Further information can be found on the ABS website or by contacting the ABS Program Officers:

Kasey Fowler-Finn, Program Officer
[email protected] 

Aimee Dunlap, Program Officer-Elect
[email protected]

Michele Johnson, Past Program Officer
[email protected]
 

Dear ABS colleagues:

It is a great honor to be serving as your President for the next year. I have been a member of ABS for nearly 40 years and this is an important opportunity for me to “give back” to a society that has been so central in my career. We have an excellent team of officers (see the full list: https://www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/about-officers.php) and I look forward to working with them to keep ABS at the forefront of all elements of animal behavior.

Although this is a challenging time for science, I remain optimistic about the future of our discipline. The annual meeting in Cincinnati was filled with excellent research, enthusiasm for behavior, and an incredible sense of community. Every first-time attendee that I spoke with indicated that they were having a great experience and plan to return in future years. More seasoned meeting attendees consistently expressed how good it felt to be together again to share science and camaraderie. This mix of exciting research and remarkable collegiality is the core of ABS and is a big part of why we remain so strong as a professional society.

Here’s to another great year in the making!

Eileen Lacey

Presidential Transfer of Power: 

Stepping down as Past President: Emily DuVal

Past President: Beth Jakob 

President: Eileen Lacey

1st President-Elect: Greg Grether 

2nd President-Elect: Tamra Mendelson