EMBO Workshop
Funded by EMBO for excellence in the life sciences.
This conference will take place at EMBL Heidelberg, with the option to attend virtually.
Registration is not yet open for this event. If you are interested in receiving more information please register your interest.
The focus of this conference series is on interspecies and cell-environment interactions across living organisms, aiming to highlight the latest technological advances, amplify scientific and societal focus on biodiversity, and showcase studies on the vital role of microbes in planetary ecosystems.
Microbes are a major driver of ecological and evolutionary processes. With the advances in omics, microbial diversity can now be catalogued at an unprecedented scale, but the molecular mechanisms that drive ecological and evolutionary changes in microbial populations, phylogenetic clades and ecological communities often remain elusive. To obtain mechanistic insight we need to bridge methods, disciplines and viewpoints, a purpose that this conference has served well in its previous editions.
The 2026 meeting will bring together researchers from a wide range of fields and microbial systems that aim to gain mechanistic insights on major outstanding ecological and evolutionary questions or that develop novel experimental / computational approaches for doing so.
Keynote lectures at the start and end of the meeting will focus on the ecology and evolution of symbiosis. In each of the four sessions invited speakers who are at the forefront of their research domain alongside short talks selected from abstracts will cover a broad range of questions and study systems.
“An incredibly interesting and well-organised event, not only from the scientific side but also on the technical part. As expected from other editions of the meeting, the science was amazing and very variegated. Kudos for the organisation and for the unusually high number of young speakers.“ – Irene Stefanini, University of Turin, Italy
“One of my favourite meetings with a real community feeling. I’ve started collaborations and made great friends here.” – Rike Stelkens, Population Genetics, Stockholm University, Sweden
“A great conference and academic environment – networking opportunities are limitless.” – Jose Antonio Urban Aragon, International Laboratory for Human Genome Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico (LIIGH-UNAM), Mexico
Sponsorship opportunities
We offer a variety of event sponsoring possibilities, with the flexibility to select a set sponsorship package or combine individual sponsorship options to suit your event budget. Discounts are available for companies sponsoring multiple events at EMBL Heidelberg. View other conferences, or contact sponsorship@embl.org for further information on sponsoring possibilities.
If you are interested in becoming a media partner of this event, please visit our media partnerships webpage.
EMBL wishes to warn sponsors of EMBL conferences and courses of fraudulent schemes purporting to offer sponsorship opportunities on behalf of EMBL or affiliated with EMBL officials. One current scam campaign of which we are aware is conducted using the name ‘Judy Eastman’ (judy@gopcontact.a2hosted.com) and entails approaches to sponsors offering sponsorship opportunities on EMBL’s behalf. Please be kindly advised that all relevant communication regarding sponsorship of EMBL conferences, symposia and courses is handled by EMBL directly and is sent from an official EMBL account. EMBL does not work with any external providers on sponsorship acquisition.
Please also note that:
Suspicious communications purportedly from, for or on behalf of EMBL should be reported to EMBL at the following email address sponsorship@embl.de.
Date: 6 - 9 Oct 2026
Location: EMBL Heidelberg and Virtual
Venue: EMBL Advanced Training Centre
Organisers:
Contact: Inna Boesselmann