20 December 2023 

It is known that some organised events can create up to 2400 metric tonnes of CO2/eq, which has a significant impact in accelerating global warming. Every step taken to decrease the carbon impact of the event industry counts in the fight against climate change, and this is something which The Company of Biologists feels strongly about.

This year, we reinforced our commitment to decrease the carbon footprint of our scientific Workshops, working hard to implement new sustainable strategies during the organisation and implementation of our events.

We are excited to share with you some of our achievements from 2023 in tackling the carbon footprint of multiple aspects of our Workshops:

24 October 2023

Travelling represents the largest carbon impact of an event. It can count for up to 56% of the whole event’s carbon footprint ¹, and the impact is significantly higher when international participants use flights to reach the event.

With this in mind, we were delighted to award a Sustainable Conferencing Grant to Dr Serena Stanga who came with a solution that combined technology with alternative travelling, leading to a reduction in travel carbon footprint for her symposium “In pursuit of healthy brain aging: unveiling the biology of novel age-related mechanisms leading to dementia”, which was part of the 20^th National Congress of the Italian Society for Neuroscience (SINS) ².

24 July 2023

The Forest of Biologists was launched on 13 March 2023. We recently caught up with Steven Kelly, Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford and former Editor-in-Chief of Biology Open, who planted the seed for this project several years ago.

27 February 2023

The British Neuroscience Association (BNA) held their festive symposium, ‘Have your mental health a merry little Christmas’, in Edinburgh on 12 December 2022.

30 November 2022

Written by Mohammadjavad Haghighatnia

The first Student Conference of Plant Biology (SCPB) took place in Prague from 20-22 September 2022 with the motto “by students for students” and “sustainable conference”.

28 November 2023

Accommodation and catering often has the second highest environmental impact of an event after transportation ^{1 2 3} and so choosing a sustainable venue for your event can make a big difference in your environmental impact. Venues are increasingly transparent about their sustainability measures and commitments, and information can be found on their website or by speaking with staff.

So what are the key factors to consider when looking for a sustainable venue?

14 September 2023

Event catering can account for 7-17% of event carbon footprint ^{1 2 3} . Conferences and scientific workshops play a crucial role in the career development of researchers, helping them to spread awareness about their work and connect with like-minded peers ⁴. Equally crucial is environmentally friendly practices at these events. Organisers can make a difference with eco-friendly menus and encouraging conscious choices.

But what does it take to build a sustainable menu? This is a guideline on how to build a sustainable menu for your next scientific meeting.

8 March 2023

By Catherine Mansfield

The symposium ‘Decolonising and Diversifying Biosciences Education’ took place from 19-20 December 2022 at Robinson College, Cambridge. This meeting was organised by Dr Catherine Mansfield, Dr Katharine Hubbard, Dr Tina Joshi and Isaiah Ting, with funding and support from the Society for Experimental Biology.

6 December 2022

The 32nd Cambridge Neuroscience Seminar (CNS2022) was held on 29 September 2022 at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge. This annual meeting brings together neuroscientists from across the University’s Departments to promote collaboration and strengthen the community. A Sustainable Conferencing Grant from The Company of Biologists helped the organisers to reduce the environmental impact of this year’s meeting.

15 November 2022

The third Indian C. elegans Meeting took place in Trivandrum, Kerala, from 27-30 September 2022. The programme featured a diverse spread of the latest research from the nematode community. This year, the meeting also had an environmental focus, with the organisers using one of our Sustainable Conferencing Grants to reduce the environmental impact of their event.