A few of us recently took to the European Congress of Entomology in Tours, France to present our work, meet some exceptional entomologists from around the world and enjoy the atmosphere of a thriving hub of international research! Read below for some of the highlights!
Presentations
Throughout the conference, Ben, Mia, Rosy and Jordan all presented in different sessions! Ben gave an excellent talk on some of his recent PhD results, comparing different sample/trap types for metabarcoding of agricultural invertebrates. Mia presented a beautiful poster on her experimental setup for assessing the impact of artificial light on arthropod foraging and nutrition. Rosy gave a fabulous talk on her PhD research on flower crab spider commensalisms and her community science project, Spider Spies. Jordan gave a talk on a long-running side project applying Google Trends data to ecological questions. It was great sharing our research with the attendees of ECE 2026, and we had some brilliant conversations with people about it afterwards!
One of the most exciting parts of going to conferences is, of course, getting to see your collaborators, friends and colleagues presenting super cool work that they’ve been up to! There were some exceptional talks from FERG friends, old and new, including some on research we’ve contributed to. A highlight was Patry Ortega-Ramos’ talk, which included some parasitoid metabarcoding work in collaboration with Jordan which should be hitting a journal near you very soon!
Approaches in Entomology launch
In amongst a packed programme of presentations and workshops was the official launch party for the new Royal Entomological Society journal, Approaches in Entomology! As Editor-in-Chief, Jordan gave a short address introducing the journal and inviting submissions to its various article types. It was a lovely event with an impeccable crowd of entomologists! Festivities centred on a string of games of pétanque which gradually drew everyone in at various points. A fantastic celebration of all of the exciting things to come with Approaches in Entomology!
Gala dinner
Among the final agenda items of the conference was, of course, the gala dinner! We had the inordinate pleasure of sharing some exceptional company for this, while we sampled intriguing local delicacies. Intermittently amongst the food and conversation, there was a troupe of dancers, mostly dressed in entomological attire, who dazzled the crowd and provided plenty of inspiration for discussion at each of the tables! A joyous time was had by all!
It was a fabulous week in Tours with some splendid scenery, exceptional entomofauna and, most importantly, impeccable company! We all had a great time and have returned to Newcastle inspired, excited and eager for the next event! See you at the next European Congress of Entomology in Valencia, Spain in 2030, or the International Congress of Entomology in Cape Town, South Africa in 2028!
Foraging Ecology Research Group 