Student Forum 2026
30 March 2026 @ 09:00 – 31 March 2026 @ 17:00
Student Forum 2026
Monday 30 March – Tuesday 31 March, 10:00 – 17:00
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
We are delighted to announce details for our 2026 Student Forum! This annual two-day event run by the Royal Entomological Society’s student representatives is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students studying insects.
It provides an opportunity to network and discuss ideas with other students, consider options for your future careers in entomology, and share your research in a welcoming space. The programme also includes talks and careers advice from invited insect scientists and interactive workshops to help develop skills to help further your careers. Please note due to their interactive nature, workshop will only be available to those joining in person.
The 2026 event will be run in-person at the The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Plenary talks will be recorded for members to view after the event, but will not be live-streamed.
Invited Speakers
Matt Rogers, Senior Lecturer, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Matthew (Matt) Rogers is an Associate Professor of Vector Biology in the Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He has more than 25 years’ experience working on different aspects of the biology of Leishmania parasites, their vectors – sand flies and the transmission of leishmaniasis.
Matt graduated from Imperial College, London with a BSc in Biological Sciences in 1994. After a brief research assistantship on the chemotherapy of lymphatic filariasis at the International Institute of Parasitology, St Albans he obtained a MSc in Applied Parasitology and Medical Entomology from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1996.
Matt stayed in the Liverpool School for a further 10 years and completed a PhD in Leishmania-sand fly interactions and two post-doctoral appointments to work on the transmission of leishmaniasis during which he identified new aspects of the life cycle of Leishmania in their vector and the role of a glycan-rich biofilm secreted by Leishmania parasites in the sand fly for transmission and vertebrate infection. In 2006 he returned to Imperial College to work on the immunology of Leishmania infection by sand fly bite as a Wellcome Trust Advanced Training Fellow. During this time he developed an interest in field work through the KALANET programme, a community-wide clinical trial of insecticide-impregnated bednets against visceral leishmaniasis in India and Nepal, where he developed serological tools to measure vector exposure.
In 2009 Matt moved to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as a lecturer and in 2010, secured a prestigious David Phillips Fellowship in the Department of Infection and Immunity to study the immunology of Leishmania infection from sand fly bite in greater detail. In 2013 he transferred to the Department of Disease Control where he is an associate professor in Vector Biology. Matt’s current work focusses on the transmission biology of leishmaniasis and he collaborates with a wide network of molecular biologists, biochemists, glycobiologists, physicists, bioinformaticians and mathematical modellers to understand this process in better detail.
Matt’s lab has been funded by a number of UK and international research bodies, including: the UKRI (BBSRC and MRC), Wellcome Trust, the Royal Society, WHO, EU and BMGF.
At LSHTM Matt is the Programme Director for the MSc Medical Parasitology & Entomology (https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/courses/masters-degrees/medical-parasitology ) and organises several teaching modules – Core Parasitology and Entomology, Vector Biology and Vector-Parasite Interactions modules and the MSc Field Trip.
Lars Chittka, Professor in Sensory and Behavioural Ecology, Queen Mary University of London
Lars Chittka is the author of the book The Mind of a Bee and Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology at Queen Mary College of the University of London. He is also the founder of the Research Centre for Psychology at Queen Mary. He is known for his work on the evolution of sensory systems and cognition using insect-flower interactions as a model system.
Chittka has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of animal cognition and its impact on evolutionary fitness studying bumblebees and honeybees.
More speakers TBC
Sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities
Partnering with us offers a valuable opportunity to showcase your organisation and engage directly with future talent. We offer a range of sponsorship and exhibition options and are happy to create bespoke packages to suit your business needs.
Contact fran.fleming@royensoc.co.uk for more information.
Call for Abstracts
We are looking for in-person talk and poster submissions. All presenters must register as a delegate to attend in-person.
Abstract deadline: 17:00 (GMT), Saturday 07 February
RES Student representatives
Genevieve Kiero Watson
Lancaster University
Idris Adams
University College London
Rosy Christopher
Newcastle University
Registration
Registration is now open at the bottom of this page and covers the cost of both days of the conference, including refreshment breaks, lunches, and a poster session with drinks.
Please note there are discounted rates for student members of the RES, so if you are not a member already, consider joining today. Student membership is just £15 per year with one year’s free trial.
To access the discounted rate, you will need to login to your account.
In-person registration deadline: 17:00 (GMT), Friday 13 March
| In-person | |
|---|---|
| RES Student Member | £50 |
| Non-members | £80 |
