The Microbiology Society Annual Conference 2023 will take place Monday 17 April–Thursday 20 April 2023 at Birmingham International Convention Centre.
The Conference takes place over four days and consists of scientific symposia, workshops, fora, professional development sessions, Prize Lectures, Hot Topics and much more.
Further information will be announced in the build up to the meeting on our social media channels and you can follow us on Twitter @MicrobioSoc using the hashtag #Microbio23
As part of the preparations for Microbiology Society events due to be held in 2023, the Microbiology Society Council has further discussed the implementation of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 mitigations and has agreed the following:
Attendance at any Microbiology Society event is a personal choice and Council expects delegates to take personal responsibility for their actions in relation to minimising the spread of SARS-CoV-2. The Microbiology Society will continue to ensure adequate ventilation at our venues, with real-time monitoring of CO2 levels where appropriate, and increased spacing particularly during communal activities. We strongly urge all delegates to ensure they are as fully vaccinated as practicable, which we recognise will depend on their age and home country, and to test before travelling to our events. Delegates should not attend if they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, should they wish to delegates should feel comfortable to wear a mask in any of our venues. Masks (FFP3) and lateral flow tests will be made available upon request at all Society events should any delegates feel unwell and wish to make use of them, although these will not be routinely supplied in delegate bags.
The Microbiology Society Council will continue to monitor the situation and update these mitigations as required.The Microbiology Society is a charitable membership organisation and our Annual Conference is run for the benefit of our members and the wider microbiology community. This event is supported by revenue generated from our journals. We therefore request that any delegates working for commercial publishers or competing Society publishers do not engage in any promotional or commissioning work for their own journals while at the meeting. If delegates do engage in any promotional activities, they may be asked to leave the event.
Image credit: iStock/Giuseppe Miglino
Industrial microbiology, biotechnology and green pharma have transformed the landscape of goods and medicinal manufacture. Developments across the life, physical, and engineering sciences have converged to present new opportunities for the eco-friendly synthesis and production of bio-based materials, commodities, chemicals, and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Realising the full potential of these technologies will require further developments in key areas such as scale-up of industrial production and optimisation of the biocatalytic pipeline currently available to industry, including the development of new prokaryotic and eukaryotic production systems, such as microalgae. This cross-divisional session, organised with the European Federation of Biotechnology, will bring together experts from industry and academia with a broad range of expertise to offer insights into the future of sustainable and scalable industrial microbiology. Offered papers and abstracts on scale up of industrial biotransformation, industrial biotechnology, novel production systems and biocatalysis for drug development, fine chemicals or industrial application, will underpin the collective potential from this cross-disciplinary session.
Christopher Cooper (CHARM Therapeutics, UK; Prokaryotic Division), John Morrissey (University College Cork, Ireland; EFB), Jerry Reen (University College Cork, Ireland; Irish Division), Ralf Takors (University of Stuttgart, Germany; EFB), Nicholas Tucker (University of Suffolk, UK; Prokaryotic Division) and Alison Smith (University of Cambridge, UK; Eukaryotic Division).
The poster abstract book for Annual Conference 2023 is now available to download below:
Poster abstracts book Annual Conference 2023
Posters for Annual Conference 2023 will be rotated halfway through this year’s event to reflect the content of the meeting’s live programme sessions.
Posters in each block can be viewed during morning breaks and lunchtimes. Each block also has one dedicated afternoon presentation session, detailed below.
There will be poster prizes available to recognise the best poster presenters over the course of the entire Annual Conference. Please see below for details of each prize.
Each year, the Young Microbiologist of the Year Competition recognises and rewards excellence in science communication by a Microbiology Society member who is a postgraduate student or postdoctoral researcher, having gained their PhD in the last two years.
During the Annual Conference, judges will be viewing posters and listening to offered orals presented by early career members who have entered the competition via abstract submission. Finalists will be notified in early summer if they have been selected and will be invited to give a 10-minute oral presentation (plus five minutes for questions) at the final at the Society’s Showcase in Autumn 2023.
All ECM Forum members presenting a poster at the Annual Conference will be automatically considered for the Poster Prize. The ECM Forum Executive Committee will arrange for all posters to be visited over the course of the conference to determine the top poster presenter. The winner(s) will be notified after the conference and be invited to present their poster again at the Society Showcase in Autumn 2023.
All poster presenters will be considered for the Microbiology Society Journals' 'Most Promising Science Poster Prize’. Four prizes will be awarded to posters that present particularly compelling or novel research within the subject areas of the following Society journals: Microbiology, Journal of General Virology, Journal of Medical Microbiology and Microbial Genomics. This prize will be judged by the Editors, with the winner receiving a small cash prize and certificate. For more information on the journals, visit microbiologyresearch.org.
The Infection Science Award is an exchange scheme that facilitates the most promising trainee and early career presenters from the Federation of Infection Societies (FIS) to present at the Microbiology Society Annual Conference Infection Forum, in an effort to improve the exchange of ideas and the career development of early career researchers and trainee scientists and doctors.
Registration for Annual Conference 2023 is now closed.
The Microbiology Society's Annual Conference is the UK's largest annual gathering of microbiologists, and we welcome everyone from across our community to Birmingham in 2023.
Members get heavily subsidised registration fees for Annual Conference, Focused Meetings and other Society events – both online and in-person. Join now to enjoy these discounts and many other opportunities that are designed for microbiologists at all stages of their careers.
| 1 day Full price | 2 day Full price | 3 day Full price | 4 day Full price | |
| Non-Member | £287 | £574 | £861 | £1,148 |
| Full Member | £162 | £324 | £486 | £648 |
| Concessionary Member | £91 | £182 | £273 | £364 |
| Affiliate Member | £241 | £482 | £723 | £964 |
| Student Member | £80 | £160 | £240 | £320 |
Upon registration, you should receive an automated confirmation email. Please contact [email protected] if this has not been received within 24 hours.
If you need a letter of invitation for a visa application, we will be happy to supply this after we have received full payment. To find out if you need a visa to visit the UK, please visit the UK visa and immigration website.
It is the policy of the Microbiology Society not to supply an invitation letter to any delegate without payment and we will not reply to any request from an unregistered delegate. When the delegate has paid, the Conference office will email back a confirmation/receipt letter and, upon request, a letter of invitation, which may be used to obtain the necessary visa.
Please note that all conference delegates are responsible for their own travel and visa arrangements; the Microbiology Society will not take any responsibility for travel or visa problems.
All registration fees must be paid in full before arrival at the conference. Any outstanding registration fees must be paid before admittance will be granted to the conference.
Refunds are not provided; however substitutions of attendees can be made at any time before the event by contacting [email protected].
Applications for the Society Conference Grant to support members attending Annual Conference 2023 are now open, for two weeks and close on Thursday 16 February (midnight GMT).
This year, awards of up to £380 are available to Full Concessionary and Postgraduate Members who have had their abstracts accepted, for poster and oral presentations alike. Grants will act as a contribution to full attendance costs and can help to cover registration, travel and accommodation expenses.
An additional £500 is available to support the attendance of members requiring caring costs and who would otherwise find attending the Conference difficult. This includes members returning from maternity or paternity leave, those requiring childcare or a carer to attend with them or those with any other similar barrier to attendance.
Members who are not eligible for a Society Conference Grant but need support to present their work at Annual Conference may be eligible for a Travel Grant.
If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
This course has been approved for purposes of CPD by the Royal Society of Biology (140 CPD credits) and from the Royal College of Pathologists (28 CPD credits).
This event has been approved by the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) for 18 CPD credits (excluding refreshment breaks) and accredited by the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) for 140 CPD credits.
This meeting will take place at Birmingham International Convention Centre (The ICC).
Birmingham City is well connected by road, rail, and air. The ICC Birmingham is conveniently located within a 15-minute walk of the city centre.
To support you in securing your accommodation we provide links to our booking and accommodation services via First Choice.
First Choice have secured negotiated rates at hotels to suit a broad range of budgets.
Book accommodation
If you require any further information for personal or group hotel bookings, please email [email protected] at any time.
The Society is again teaming up with Nipperbout to provide a free crèche at the Annual Conference 2023. The crèche will be available to all children of delegates between the ages of 0 and 12 years.
All registered delegates will be offered the opportunity to make use of these free childcare services, which will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
How to register for a Creche place at Annual Conference 2023
In order to register, visit the Nipperbout portal.
Existing account holders who have already used the system can log into their existing account and register for the event using the event code: MIC170423 under Events and Sessions.
Members who have not used the system before can create an account by clicking register, completing the form and entering the event code: MIC170423. You will then be able to request a place for your child in the creche and create your password.
Booking is on a first-come, first-served basis. Confirmation of your booking will be sent prior to the conference.
Please note that you are entering into an agreement with Nipperbout and not the Microbiology Society.
Nipperbout is an award-winning event childcare company with over 25 years of experience. For more information, please visit the Nipperbout website. If you have any queries about this service, please contact: [email protected].
For further information, please contact: [email protected].
The Microbiology Society Annual Conference is a key feature in the calendar of a microbiologist – from undergraduates to those more established in their career.
The scientific event is designed to provide ample opportunities for formal networking and the social programme offers informal opportunities for delegates to make new friends, forge future collaborations and have fun.
Details of social events will be posted on this page as they become available.
Participants will have the opportunity to take part in games and get to know other delegates, including senior members of the Society and ECM Forum members. This event will be a great way to meet potential collaborators and scientists from the breadth of the microbiology discipline and different career levels.
Whether it's your first time at Conference and you'd like to meet new people and brush up on your networking skills, or you'd just like to come and enjoy an evening of fun and socialising, be sure to join this networking event.
For a second year, our Annual Conference programme includes an LGBTQ+ Networking Event, organised by our members for our members. The event takes place on Wednesday 19 April, 19:00–21:00 at Chai & Crumbs.
Refreshments will be provided.
This event is now fully booked and registration has closed. If you have registered and can no longer attend, or want to be added to the waiting list, please email [email protected].
All our exhibition stands have now sold out.
If you have missed out on exhibiting at Conference, there are still a number of sponsorship opportunities available. We would like to invite companies and organisations who are interested to please download our sponsorship pack or contact [email protected] to discuss packages. We also hold a number of other events throughout the year where you can exhibit or sponsor at. Full details can be found on our exhibitor and sponsorships page.
The exhibition is located in a high-traffic area, where all conference meals, coffee breaks and drinks receptions will be held, offering an excellent opportunity to showcase your products, interact with conference delegates and generate leads.
There are packages to suit varying budgets and promotional requirements, including our Careers Fair, which offers you the opportunity to present in breakout sessions and is designed so you can engage with postdoctoral researchers looking to learn more about the industry, your company and potential job opportunities.
Please download our invitation to exhibit for more details. If you have any questions about the packages available please email [email protected].
Annual Conference 2023 Invitation to Exhibit
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