ABS meetings, open to ABS members and those interested in the science of animal behavior, are among the most respected scientific meetings in the animal behavior community. ABS is committed to providing a safe, productive and welcoming environment for all meeting participants and ABS staff. All participants including, but not limited to, attendees, speakers, volunteers, exhibitors, ABS staff, and service providers are expected to abide by the ABS 2024 Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct applies to all ABS meeting-related events including those sponsored by organizations other than ABS but held in conjunction with ABS events, in public or private facilities.
Expected Behavior
All participants, attendees, ABS staff, and vendors are treated with respect and consideration, valuing a diversity of views and opinions.
Be considerate, respectful, and collaborative.
Communicate openly with respect for others, critiquing ideas rather than individuals.
Avoid personal attacks directed toward other attendees, participants, ABS staff and suppliers/vendors.
Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants. Alert ABS staff if you notice a dangerous situation or someone in distress.
Respect the rules and policies of the meeting venue, hotels, ABS contracted facility, or any other venue.
In accordance with ABS policy, request permission from speakers to audio record presentations. Request permission of the Executive Committee and the speaker to video record presentations.
Respect presenters’ requests to refrain from disseminating the contents of their presentation on social media or other public platforms. Presenters wishing to opt-out of media dissemination are encouraged to indicate their wishes by including a logo in their presentation, available here.
Unacceptable Behavior
Harassment, intimidation or discrimination in any form will not be tolerated.
Physical or verbal abuse of any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, ABS staff member, service provider or other meeting guest will not be tolerated.
Examples of unacceptable behavior include, but are not limited to, verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, national origin; inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images in public spaces or in presentations; threatening or stalking any attendee, speaker, volunteer, exhibitor, ABS staff member, service provider or other meeting guest.
Disruption of talks at oral or poster sessions, in the exhibit hall or at other events organized by ABS at the meeting venue, hotels, or other ABS contracted facilities will not be tolerated.
Consequences
Anyone requested to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately.
ABS staff (or their designee) or security may take any action deemed necessary and appropriate, e.g., a verbal warning, immediate removal from the meeting without warning or refund, or reporting to the offender’s employer.
ABS reserves the right to prohibit attendance at any future meeting.
If you are the subject of unacceptable behavior or have witnessed any such behavior, please immediately notify an ABS staff member or ABS volunteer in a leadership position. The notifier is not required or expected to discuss the concern with the alleged offender. All complaints will be treated seriously and investigated promptly. Confidentiality will be honored to the extent permitted as long as the rights of others are not compromised.
Anyone experiencing or witnessing behavior that constitutes an immediate or serious threat to public safety is advised to contact 911 and locate a house phone, if available, and ask for security.
ABS shall not be responsible for any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of ABS meeting participants, and shall not be held liable for personal injury, property damage, theft, or damage of any kind suffered by the participants at or in connection with the ABS meeting.
ABS Allies
You may notice that some attendees are designated with a ribbon that reflects their status as ABS Allies. ABS Allies have been trained to offer support to ABS 2024 Annual Meeting participants who are targets of, or who witness, inappropriate behavior which potentially violates the ABS Code of Ethics and Member Conduct. ABS Allies are trained to listen, help targets or witnesses deal with what has happened, and to inform them of their options, including whether to report the conduct. ABS Allies will not participate in any aspect of investigating reports or sanctioning. ABS Allies also commit to creating safe spaces at the meeting by serving as active bystanders.
Reporting Code of Conduct Violations:
Safe ABS Officer Paula Brantner is available during ABS 2024 to assist attendees with reporting potential ABS Code of Ethics and Member Conduct violations.
Please contact Paula using any method below, and she will follow up with you if you wish to confidentially discuss the incident and what next steps you may wish to take. Your identity will not be shared with others without your consent.
To report a potential violation, please use the following form:
https://bit.ly/ABS2024ConductReports
The reporting form is also available in Spanish:
https://bit.ly/ABS-Seguro-1
If you prefer not to fill out the reporting form, please use one of these methods to contact Paula:
e: [email protected]
p: +1 202.688.7297
The banquet will be held in the Great Hall located in Somerville House at Western University from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM.
Dinner will be served and a cash bar will be available. There will also be a DJ and a photo booth.
Tickets are required for this event. If you purchased a ticket, please make sure to bring your badge with you to the event.
You can pick up a free bus pass to use for the duration of the conference at the registration desk. You must show the pass and your badge when using the bus.
Dining Options
Although there are a wide number of dining options in London, there are relatively few of them adjacent to campus. You can view what campus options are currently open here.
Breakfast and Lunch On Campus
Western’s Hospitality Services operates a number of outlets on campus. The Food Hub in the University Community Centre offers a variety of lunch options, including vegan food in a food court style. There are other smaller food options to be found around campus. Campus eateries are listed here
In addition the options operated by Hospitality Services, the student council operates The Spoke on the main floor of the UCC and The Wave on the second floor of the UCC. The Grad Club has food and beverage options and is located in the basement level of Middlesex College.
On Saturday, most campus food outlets are closed. We will have food trucks on campus to provide an on-site lunch option.
Dinner Off Campus
Most food outlets on campus are closed for dinner during the summer. There are a wide range of restaurants downtown. There are also a range of franchise restaurants in the Masonville area to the north of campus. Downtown or Masonville can be reached quickly by car, taxi, rideshare or bus service. Walking downtown will take about 40 minutes.
Several downtown restaurants will offer discounts if you show your ABS 2024 meeting badge:
A list of downtown restaurants with summer patio dining is available here
SPONSORS:
NSF
Wild Animal Initiative
Field Inclusive
SySTEM BioLEAPS
The Founders' Memorial Poster Paper Award is to be given for the best Poster Paper presented at the Founders' Memorial Poster session at the annual meeting. First awarded in 1986, each year the award is named in honor of any one or more of the 38 founders of the Animal Behavior Society that have died during the previous 24 months. In a period in which no founders have died the award shall be simply in honor of all founders of the Animal Behavior Society or in the name of a founder who died prior to establishment of the award; the President shall make the decision. No founder should be honored more than once.
Sadly, we no longer have any living founders, the last founder having passed away in 2017. We do however, have 14 founders who have not yet been honored via the Founder’s Award. Thus, moving forward, the Society will honor one of these founders each year via the Founder’s Award.
Springett ‘Pay and Display’ area is available although it is limited parking. Huron Flats is the overflow lot and is closer to the conference buildings.
The Registration Desk will be open during the following hours:
Tuesday 8:00 am - 7:00 pm
Wednesday 7:00 am - 6:30 pm
Thursday 7:30 am - 8:30 pm
Friday 7:30 am - 8:30 pm
Saturday 7:30 am - 3:00 pm
The desk is located in the atrium of the Physics & Astronomy Building.
The reporting form is also available in Spanish:
https://bit.ly/ABS-Seguro-1
If you prefer not to fill out the reporting form, please use one of these methods to contact Paula:
e: [email protected]
p: +1 202.688.7297
If you prefer not to fill out the reporting form, please use one of these methods to contact Paula:
e: [email protected]
p: +1 202.688.7297
On Saturday after, there will be 3 food trucks available to purchase lunch from located on Kent Drive.
The Speaker Ready Room is located in the Social Science Centre building outside of room 2020 and will be open from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Wednesday-Friday and 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM on Saturday.
Pre-ordered t-shirts can be picked up at the registration desk in the atrium of the Physics and Astronomy Building starting Wednesday afternoon.
A limited number of conference t-shirts are for sale at the registration desk. Shirts are $25 USD and credit cards are accepted.
Western University
1151 Richmond St, London, ON N6G 2V4, Canada
Registration Desk / Information
Physics & Astronomy Building Atrium
Concurrent Sessions
Social Science Centre Building
Plenary Sessions
Natural Science Centre Building
