Inaugural Western Asia Bat Research Conference

UPDATE: Titley Scientific will donate a Chorus bat detector to be given as a prize for the top student/early-career researcher talk! Submit your abstracts now!

Overview

We are excited to host the Inaugural Western Asia Bat Research Conference from 20-21 September 2023. This conference will be held virtually through Zoom and will focus broadly on ‘Bats and Western Asia’. All are welcome to register and attend the conference (see below for information regarding registration), however, we ask that all abstract submissions be limited to bat-related research occurring within the Western Asian region*.

*Western Asia is a region recognized as a geopolitical entity but not always clearly defined across international agencies (e.g., UNESCO, WHO, OECD, UNIDO, IUCN). To delimit “Western Asia” for the purposes of our network, we include the following 20 countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Georgia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. While Afghanistan and Pakistan are often considered part of “Central” or “South” Asia, we include both in our network as they serve as an important biogeographic gateway linking bats and (potentially) their associated pathogens with Asian countries to the east.

Summary

What: The Inaugural Western Asia Bat Research Conference
When: 20-21 September 2023
Time (All times in Eastern Daylight Time, EDT):
- Day 1 (Wednesday, 20 September): 6:00 – 8:25 AM EDT
- Day 2 (Thursday, 21 September): 6:00 – 8:15 AM EDT
Venue: Held virtually through Zoom
- *Note: Upon registering for the conference in Zoom, you will receive a unique Zoom link that you should use to attend the conference.
  - Do not share this Zoom link with others, as it is unique to you.
  - This Zoom link will allow you to participate in both days of the conference.
Theme: Bats and Western Asia
Who Can Participate: Anyone interested
Scope of Abstracts: Any bat-related research occurring within the Western Asian region. May include conservation, ecology, morphology, parasitology, disease research, genetics, education/science communication of bat-related research, and more.
Abstract Submission Deadline: Accepting ‘late-breaker’ abstracts. Deadline extended to 11 September 2023
- UPDATE: Titley Scientific will donate a Chorus bat detector to be given as a prize for the top student/early-career researcher talk! Submit your abstracts now!
Cost of Attendance: Free (no charge)

Registration

STEP 1 – Register for the meeting

Click here to register for the conference.

*Note: At the bottom of the registration form, you will be asked to fill out a separate Zoom registration form. You must complete this Zoom registration form, as doing so will provide you with a unique Zoom link that you will need in order to participate in the virtual conference.

STEP 2 – Submit an abstract (OPTIONAL)

Follow the link in your registration confirmation email for our abstract submission form. This step is optional and only required if you plan to present your work at the conference. *Note: All presentations will be presented orally – there will be no poster presentations.

Abstract Submission (Submission is now CLOSED)

As stated above, you must first register for the conference in order to submit an abstract. Upon registering for the conference, you will receive a confirmation email containing a separate link for submitting an abstract. We strongly encourage students and Early Career Researchers (ECRs)* to submit abstracts for this conference. *An Early Career Researcher is defined as an individual currently undertaking a graduate degree or postdoctoral program, or an individual who has completed their degree within the last 5 years.

Before submitting an abstract, please make sure to:

Review this helpful Abstract Checklist (created by the North American Society for Bat Research (NASBR))
Create your own document or download this Abstract Template file (created by NASBR). This Word document has pre-formatted fields to ensure format compliance. Fill out all the fields by clicking on each field and typing the text. Then save the file as described in the Guidelines. If you choose to copy and paste text into these fields (not recommended), do confirm all formatting with the checklist.
Review the Abstract Checklist once again and make sure that you have followed all the guidelines and that your abstract looks like the sample abstract below.

Sample Abstract

Abstract Acceptance Policy

We will accept submitted abstracts in the order they are received. Every effort will be made to include all submitted abstracts in the program. We encourage all registrants considering a presentation to submit their abstracts early and not wait until the submission deadline.

Important Dates

Abstract Submission Deadline (Submission is now CLOSED)	11 September 2023
Final Selection Notification by	8-15 September 2023
Conference Dates	20-21 September 2023