SORTEE Conference 2026: Registration is now open!

The conference program is now available!

This year’s virtual & world-wide SORTEE Conference will run continuously from 13th October 07:00 UTC to 14th October 9:15 UTC to cover all time zones.

The conference program is now available here!

We are excited to announce our plenary speakers and titles of their talks:

• Dr Lauren Cadwallader (Senior Open Research Manager, PLOS): “Code Sharing in Practice: Lessons from Expanding a Publisher’s Policy”
• Dr Tatsuya Amano (Associate Professor, The University of Queensland): “Is science open across languages?”

Registrations are open and will remain open until the conference, go ahead and register today! ➡️ Register here

The conference is FREE for SORTEE members, and becoming a member can be free too! Join us!

To join the mailing list and receive conference updates, click here. To have an idea of what a SORTEE conference looks like, check the section below “About SORTEE conferences”.

Microgrants

This year we are introducing microgrants. Do you experience any barriers to attending the SORTEE Conference in October? Will a small financial contribution help you overcome this?

➡️ Apply here. Deadline: September 6, 2026.

To join the SORTEE mailing list and receive conference updates, click here. We send a maximum of 8 emails a year.

Accessibility

SORTEE conferences are held online via Zoom. To attend a SORTEE conference, you will need a computer with a reliable internet connection in a quiet space, preferably with a webcam. The online Zoom format was chosen to make the conference accessible to more people, since travel can be expensive or impossible for some. Registration is free for SORTEE members and membership itself may be free depending on your status (join at https://www.sortee.org/join).

Joining from Europe, Africa, the Americas, Oceania or Asia? SORTEE conferences run for over 24 hours to accommodate all time zones, so there will be interesting sessions in yours.

Afraid you won’t understand and won’t be able to participate in English? The conference is fully transcribed, allowing you to read automatic transcripts in real time. At the 2025 SORTEE conference, it was even possible to translate the transcript into your own language instantly. We encourage everyone to participate, regardless of your English proficiency or social confidence. If participants want to contribute or ask a question, they have to raise their hand on Zoom (session facilitators will give them the floor in turn) or write in the chat (all chat comments are addressed and read aloud by the session facilitator). SORTEE has chosen not to record sessions (except for the plenary talk), as recordings can sometimes discourage people from speaking freely.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding accessibility and diversity at SORTEE conferences, or if you face any barriers to attending, please contact us at conference@sortee.org or complete this anonymous accessibility form. Responses are shared only with the SORTEE conference committee and board of directors.

About SORTEE conferences

A SORTEE conference is an online forum featuring many interactive sessions, all about making research in fields related to ecology and evolutionary biology more open, transparent and reliable. At a SORTEE conference, participants:

• Discuss current research practices / tools or develop new ones during unconferences;
• Launch collaborative projects with clear goals — such as data analysis, paper or protocol writing, software development, or advocacy — during hackathons;
• Learn about practical tools and practices during workshops and introductions to open science;
• Get inspired during plenary talks.

Participants connect with a strong community of researchers from around the world and across career stages. Everyone leaves feeling inspired, motivated, and empowered to adopt open science in their own work and to promote it within their wider communities.

Take a look at the SORTEE 2025 conference blog posts to get a clearer idea of what a SORTEE conference is all about. You can also find summaries of past conferences at https://www.sortee.org/past.