Ento24: Plenary Speakers

Plenary speakers

We are delighted to welcome the following plenary speakers to Ento24.

Michael Samways
Stellenbosch University

Michael Samways (PhD, London University) is Emeritus Distinguished Professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He focuses on many aspects of insect conservation from philosophy through to strategy implementation, nationally and internationally.

Michael is recipient of the John Herschel Medal of the Royal Society of South Africa, Senior Captain Scott and Gold Medals of the South African Academy of Science and Arts, and Gold Medal of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He received the life-time Stellenbosch University Chancellor’s Award, IUCN/SSC Chair’s Citation of Excellence, and the Marsh Award from the Royal Entomological Society for outstanding and exemplary lifetime contribution in Insect Conservation. His latest book is Conservation of Dragonflies: Sentinels for Freshwater Conservation (CABI/RES, 2024).

Talk title: Caring for irreplaceable insects: effective conservation strategies in biodiversity hotspots

Susanne Foitzik
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz 

Susanne Foitzik is an evolutionary biologist, behavioral ecologist, and internationally known for her work on ants. After completing her PhD in ant evolution and behavior and conducting post-doctoral work in the US, she became a professor at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She now holds a chair at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, where she studies the behaviors, social evolution and genomics of ants. Her work focusses on host-parasite coevolution, behavioral genomics of division of labor and the behavior of slavemaking ants. Her scientific findings have been published in more than 130 scientific papers. She is also author of a popular science book on ants.

Steve Torr
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Steve Torr is a Professor of Neglected Tropical Diseases at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) where he leads the Tsetse Group. He has over 40 years’ experience of research on tsetse flies which transmit trypanosomes causing sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis, HAT) in humans and animal African trypanosomiasis (nagana) in livestock. Steve’s research interests have focussed primarily on field-based analyses of tsetse behaviour and ecology leading to improved and cost-effective methods of tsetse control. In 2024, LSTM was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for leading an international research programme which developed Tiny Targets, a simple and affordable method of controlling tsetse which currently protect ~2.5 million people from sleeping sickness across six African countries. 

Registration

Registration is now open for Ento24. This includes opportunities to join in person and online.