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SORTEE 2025 Conference

By Sofia Paraskevopoulou

The Society for Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary biology (SORTEE) is a grassroots organization dedicated to improving how science is practiced and shared. SORTEE’s mission is to promote open science, reproducibility, and a more collaborative and equitable research culture in ecology and evolution.

As part of this mission, the SORTEE Conference is anything but traditional. Designed to be virtual, accessible, and community-driven, the conference prioritizes meaningful interaction over passive attendance. Instead of long lecture-style sessions, the program is built around three core formats:

  • Unconferences: informal discussions around a specific topic.
  • Hackathons: collaborative sessions for building tools, resources, or ideas.
  • Workshops: practical, skill-based sessions covering topics like open data, and pre-registration.

This structure not only encourages active engagement, but also ensures that the conference remains inclusive across career stages, geographic regions, and disciplines. Low-cost registration, flexible scheduling across time zones, and a strong focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) make it easier for more voices to be heard.

Being part of SORTEE and its conference committee has shown me that scientific gatherings can be more equitable, more interactive, and more effective. I am very proud of this effort.

You can find more information about the upcoming SORTEE 2025 conference program here. For registration please visit the official website sortee.org.

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Protistology Nordics 2023: Exploring the Depths of Protistology

by Sofia Paraskevopoulou

On May 2, 2024, Protistology Nordics came to life in Lund, Sweden, bringing together 35 researchers from across the Nordic region to celebrate and advance the study of protists—our fascinating and often-overlooked microbial eukaryotes. Hosted in the historic setting of Kulturen, the conference offered a full day of cutting-edge science, collaboration, and inspiration.

The program opened with Mahwash Jamy (SLU), who highlighted the power of long-read sequencing in unraveling protist diversity and evolution. She was followed by Micah Dunthorn (University of Oslo), who explored the ongoing challenge of estimating the number of free-living ciliate species. Megan Gross (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau) introduced digital PCR as a precise tool for measuring ciliate abundance, while Yash Pardasani (Uppsala University) presented exciting research on Paulinella amoebas and the origin of photosynthetic eukaryotes.

The afternoon featured talks from Staffan Svärd on the dual identity of Giardia, and Jon Jerlström Hultqvist, who shared structural insights into protist symbiosis. Courtney Stairs (Lund University) closed the session with a compelling talk on protist adaptations to anaerobic environments.

The day ended with a walk through Kulturen’s open-air museum, grounding our microbial discussions in the cultural landscape of Skåne. Awards for Best Oral Presentation and Best Flash Talk went to Yash Pardasani and Nina Pohl, respectively.

You can see pictures and relevant material in this link.