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NEWSLETTER ESEB
May 2025

News

Letter from the Executive Committee

Dear ESEB members,

Welcome to the May 2025 ESEB newsletter!

We are excited to announce the results of the recent ESEB elections:

Sara Magalhães (University of Lisbon, Portugal) has been elected as our new incoming ESEB President (2025-2027); Deepa Agashe (National Centre for Biosciences, India) as ESEB Vice President (2025-2027) and Jonna Kulmuni (University of Helsinki, Finland) as new ESEB secretary (2025-2029).

Thank you Sara, Deepa and Jonna for taking on these vitally important roles from August 2025!

Thank you also to the Election Committee Trine Bilde, Inon Scharf and Hannah Dugdale for overseeing the selection process.

We are also delighted to welcome the following new ESEB Council members (2025-2027), who will also start in August 2025:

Neetika Ahlawat, IIT, India
Luisa Diele-Viegas, University of Mississippi, USA
Rui Faria, CIBIO & University of Porto, Portugal
Ewan D. Harney, University of Sheffield, UK
Steven Ramm, University of Rennes, France
Yuval Sapir, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
Martijn Schenkel, University of Groningen/University of Mainz, Netherlands/DE

Welcome all to the ESEB team, we look forward to working with you.

Of course, with a new intake of ESEB officers and councillors, it means that we will be saying goodbye to the following ESEB colleagues in August:

Astrid Groot (ESEB Past President), Ellen Decaestecker (ESEB secretary) and Josefa Gonzalez (ESEB Vice-President).

We cannot thank you enough Astrid, Ellen and Josefa, for your hard work, dedication, generosity of time and expertise, and overall excellent stewardship of ESEB. We would like in particular to thank Astrid, for her strong, efficient and incisive leadership of ESEB. We are greatly indebted to you, and you are a hard act to follow.

The following ESEB Council members will also end their terms in August:

Deepa Agashe, NCBS, India
Jon Bridle, University College London, UK
Florence Débarre, iEES-Paris, France
Isabel Gordo, Gulbenkian Institute, Portugal
Yannis Michalakis, IRD CNRS, France
Amanda Moehring, Western University, Canada
John Pannell, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Craig Primmer, University of Helsinki, Finland
Jane Reid, NTNU, Norway
Carla Sgrò, Monash University, Australia

Thank you all for your excellent work and dedicated service to ESEB, it is greatly appreciated.

Since the last Newsletter in Dec 2024, we have held very productive Steering and Council meetings. Major topics covered have been discussions of our congresses, finances, policy plans and our journals (Journal of Evolutionary Biology and Evolution Letters, the latter shared with the Society for the Study of Evolution) - the lifeblood of our society. These are challenging times for society journals and so it is very pleasing to see our highly respected journals performing well and holding their own in an increasingly competitive market. For this we thank our EiCs Max Reuter (JEB), Judith Mank (EVL) and respective Managing Editors Nicki Cook and Melinda Modrell. We also thank Exec VP Kees van Oers and ESEB Manager Ute Friedrich for all their hard work to maintain ESEB on a sound financial footing.

Looking ahead, preparations for the upcoming congress are increasing in intensity.

ESEB 2025, Barcelona is being led by Toni Gabaldon and his team, and we thank them all for their hard work so far. Abstract submissions are now closed, and we are pleased to report we have received well over 2000 abstracts. Early bird registration, with discounted rates, remains open until 17 June 2025, so please sign up today! Thanks to all of you who have registered for this meeting and given your support to what is shaping up to be a fantastic congress, with exciting and varied symposia, satellite and outreach events.

ESEB 2025 will feature plenary talks from our ESEB President, Mike Ritchie and from our 2025 Distinguished Fellow Dieter Ebert as well as prize winning talks from our JMS winners Hiroshi Arai and Paul Jay, our Under-represented ECR achievement awardees, and the Stearns Prize winners of the last three years.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

ESEB 2027 will be our first dispersed hub congress, with the 4 hubs located in Munich (lead, Aurelien Tellier), London (Max Reuter), Gothenburg (Kerstin Johannesson) and Istanbul (Mehmet Somel). Aurelien is leading, with assistance from the other hub leads and Kees van Oers (ESEB Exec VP). Work continues apace to set out the arrangements and technical details. At the end of April 2025, ESEB Steering visited the excellent proposed location for the London hub at UCL. The 2027 congress promises to be an innovative experiment in sustainable congress organising, and we are proud to be leading on this.

As ever, all participants at these upcoming congresses will abide by ESEB Code of Conduct (https://eseb.org/eseb-policies/) and ESEB Code of Ethics (https://eseb.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ESEB_COE_2022-10-05.pdf) to ensure safety and inclusion for our members in ESEB-facing activities.

These continue to be turbulent times for research and researchers. You will have seen our letter to the ESEB membership on 17th February [ESEB news section] in which we expressed our profound concern about the negative impacts of interruptions to the scale, scope and continuity of research funding in the US. We are continuing to work with our fellow scientific societies to unify and amplify support, and we continue to welcome your suggestions for how to be most effective in supporting science and our fellow scientists.

Thank you for your support,

Tracey Chapman (President), Kees van Oers (Executive Vice-President), Ellen Decaestecker (Secretary).

New Officers 2025

We are pleased to report the results of the ESEB elections in 2025. About 37% of ESEB members voted in the recent elections for President, Vice-President and Secretary.

The results are the following:

Sara Magalhães has been elected to serve as incoming President from 2025 till 2027.
Deepa Agashe has been elected to serve as Vice-President from 2025 till 2027.
The nomination of Jonna Kulmuni to serve as Secretary 2025-2029 has been approved.

We thank all candidates for their willingness to serve the Society.

The ESEB Election Committee 2025,
Trine Bilde (Chair), Hannah Dugdale, and Inon Scharf

New Council members 2025

We are welcoming the newly appointed Council member who will serve from August 2025 till August 2029:

Neetika Ahlawat, IIT Bombay, IN
Luisa Diele-Viegas, University of Mississippi, US
Rui Faria, CIBIO & University of Porto, PT
Ewan D. Harney, University of Sheffield, UK
Steven Ramm, University of Rennes, FR
Yuval Sapir, Tel-Aviv University, IL
Martijn Schenkel, University of Groningen/University of Mainz, NL/DE

John Maynard Smith Prize 2025

Dr Hiroshi Arai

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellow,
Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
University of Liverpool, UK

Dr Arai will give the JMS Prize 2025 talk at at the ESEB2025 congress in Barcelona this year.

ESEB Under-represented ECRs Achievement Award 2025

Two annual awards highlight the achievements of under-represented early-career researchers (ECRs) who have faced difficult circumstances while conducting their work. Applicable difficult circumstances may be but are not limited to disabilities, social/cultural/political persecution, refugee status, single parenting or other caring responsibilities that have created unequal opportunities. Two awardees will be able to attend ESEB2025 and give a talk in the JMS Prize/EUEA award symposium.

Winners 2025

Danielle H. Drabeck, University of Minnesota, United States – I am an evolutionary biologist specializing in vertebrate evolution, with a particular focus on the genetic, historical, and biophysical bases of repeated and coevolutionary adaptations. My research has explored venom resistance in mammals, metabolic adaptations in hibernators, and the evolution of sensory systems in cave-dwelling fishes. My current work focuses on utilizing genomic data across vertebrates to understand the genetic basis of convergent “extreme” adaptations that allow organisms to adjust to extraordinarily difficult environmental and biotic challenges. I am tremendously grateful and honored to be selected for this award, and am excited to use this opportunity to inspire young scientists with similar limitations to pursue this field and contribute to a more inclusive future.

Sophia Siome, Netherlands – This year, International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31, 2025) quietly passed as just another Monday, not acknowledged by my institution or any of my colleagues. I, myself, kept quiet and did little more than the day’s work preparing for a public presentation later that week, thinking it was better not to draw attention to the day or my connection to it. This urge to shrink and hide—to not be visible seems to be a growing sentiment within parts of the transgender community over the past few years. With trans people being murdered at increasingly higher rates[1] and trans identities continuing to be politicised [2], it should come as no surprise that, for many, the notion of visibility rings hollow.
[1] https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/anti-trans-national-risk-assessment
[2] https://transrespect.org/en/trans-murder-monitoring-2024/

Read more about the winners

Runners-up 2025

May Shehady - I am a first-year PhD candidate researching host-parasite interactions in freshwater ecosystems, focusing on Daphnia. Coming from a background that is both underrepresented and often politically constrained, it's not always possible for me to share my identity or story openly. Outside of academia, I’m also involved in theatre and art, which are important parts of my life. Being recognized by the EUEA prize is an encouraging reminder that there is space for researchers like me in this field. I’m grateful for communities that value inclusion and quiet resilience as much as academic achievement.

Adithya Sarma, Netherlands - I am about to defend my PhD in the field of neurosciences at the University of Groningen, where I study how social interactions influence sleep and the consolidation of social memories using mice and fruit flies. I was diagnosed with acute leukemia during my Master’s in Groningen, and the treatment spanning several years continued well into my PhD. When my student insurance withdrew from paying mid-treatment, the financial burden fell heavily on my family and me, forcing us into long-term debt to cover life-saving care. Despite these challenges, I completed my research on time, published my work, and my particular case helped kickstart much-needed policy changes to improve insurance protections for international students with serious illnesses. I am honored to be recognized as a runner-up for the EuEA award, and grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a more inclusive and compassionate academic community.

Stearns Graduate Student Prize 2024

ESEB and the Journal of Evolutionary Biology (JEB) award an annual prize for the best graduate papers published in the journal in that calendar year. We are excited to announce the winners in 2024:

Théo Bodineau

Paper: "Breeding phenology drives variation in reproductive output, reproductive costs, and offspring fitness in a viviparous ectotherm"

https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae086

Quinn McCallum

Paper: "Pronounced differentiation on the Z chromosome and parts of the autosomes in crowned sparrows contrasts with mitochondrial paraphyly: implications for speciation"

https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae004

Marion Leménager

Paper: "Evolution of intraspecific floral variation in a generalist–specialist pollination system"

https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae028

Kane Stratman

Paper: "Within-population variation in preference functions reveals substantial among-female disagreement in mate assessment"

https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae109

A meeting report published in Evolutionary Applications highlights the symposium "Evolutionary Applications" which ESEB contributed to last year's 3^rdJoint Congress on Evolutionary Biology. The virtual symposium featured six talks on a diversity of topics: domestication of cheese-making fungi, coral reef conservation, restoration of long-lived bird populations, antibiotic and herbicide resistance, and gene-drive systems for biocontrol of Malaria vectors.

Besides a summary of the symposium, the report provides brief general introductions to the topics and discusses connections between fields of application. Reading it, young scientists can thus learn by a set of exciting examples how evolutionary biology can contribute to addressing contemporary problems in conservation, agriculture and food production, and medicine and public health.

Picture created with deepai.org; prompt "crested ibis eating cheese"

Read the report

Congresses

ESEB 2025 Congress

This year, ESEB congress will take place from 18-22 August 2025, in Barcelona, Spain, organized by Toni Gabaldón and hosted by the the Spanish Society for Evolutionanary Biology.

Early bird registration deadline:
June 17th, 2025.

For further details please visit the congress website at https://eseb2025.com/ .

EMPSEB 2025

The 30th European Meeting for PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology (EMPSEB) will take place from will take place from 2–6 June 2025 in Milovy, Czechia.

More information is available at the EMPSEB 30 website:
https://sites.google.com/view/empseb30/

Journals

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

The Journal of Evolutionary Biology (JEB) is the flagship journal of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology. We seek to publish articles that advance our understanding of the evolutionary process and are of interest to a broad evolutionary readership. You can read the latest issue of JEB here. Proceeds from publishing JEB are channelled back into the evolutionary biology community via ESEB initiatives such as travel awards for Early Career Researchers, networking and meeting opportunities and supporting the ESEB biennial congress.

Editorial Board

In early 2025, we welcomed several new members to our editorial board whilst saying goodbye to editors who have served the journal for a long time. Our editorial board consists of a small group of Handling Editors supported by a wider board of 38 Associate Editors. Their expertise covers a vast range of topics that fall within the scope of our society journal.

We would like to introduce our new Commissioning Editor Richard Meisel from the University of Houston. Rich is focused on increasing the diversity of topics covered in our Special Issues and Review articles. If you have an idea for a Special Issue or Review Article in JEB, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch with Rich by email.

JEB on tour

The journal will have a presence at ESEB2025 in Barcelona this August. Please do stop by the exhibition area at the congress to find out about our latest activities and how you can get involved with the society journal.

Evolution Letters

Evolution is the process that unifies biology. Evolution Letters, our fully open-access journal, publishes research in all areas of evolutionary biology, spanning genes, genomes, and phenotypes. Evolution Letters primarily publishes original research articles, or Letters, that substantially advance the field or are of broad interest, and Comment and Opinion pieces that discuss timely new research developments or themes. We also recently launched a new article type: Reviews. Although mostly commissioned, we welcome submissions that highlight important recent advances and emerging impact.

For more information on article types, see our Author Guidelines page or contact our Editorial Office.

If you need more reasons to publish with us, check out our Why Publish with Us page.

Visit us at Evolution 2025 in Athens, GA and ESEB 2025 in Barcelona!

Exciting news! Evolution Letters will be at two congresses this summer: Evolution 2025 in Athens, GA, USA, June 20–24, and ESEB 2025 in Barcelona, August 17–22. If you are in there, be sure to swing by our booth, talk with our editors, and learn more about our society’s jointly owned, fully open-access journal!

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European Society for Evolutionary Biology
office@eseb.org
https://eseb.org

NEWSLETTER ESEBMay 2025