Blog
23 Apr 2026
by Kiana Stephens

Annual Conference 2026 – Live from #Microbio26

On 13–16 April 2026, we hosted the Annual Conference 2026 at ICC Belfast. We’ve turned to social media to look back at some of the highlights!

This year, we had 470 poster presentations, 70 invited speakers, and 230 offered talks. We are so grateful to all our Prize Lecture winners, delegates, exhibitors, poster presenters, speakers, session Chairs and organisers for helping to make Annual Conference 2026 a success.

We were pleased to welcome over 1,100 registered delegates and to see how excited the whole community was for #Microbio26!

A lovely warm welcome to ICC Belfast, as delegates arrived ready for an exciting few days of science and networking. A lot of new and familiar faces were seen!

LinkedIn post from Joy Yau jetting to Belfast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Some of us made our way by bus, ferry and train 🚆⛴️🚌 However we travelled, our destination was the same:

The journey to #Microbio26 begins. En route to Belfast via train, bus, and ferry. Looking forward to a great conference 🧫 @microbiologysociety.org

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— Conor Feehily (@sligomicrobe.bsky.social) 12 April 2026 at 10:58

 

Some got to reconnect with old friends:

 

While others journied through Belfasts' ends:

Irish sightseeing ✅️ Now we are excited for @microbiologysociety.org #microbio26 to begin! Today we have the adoptees @carolinejarvis.bsky.social (34&35), @jcihorton.bsky.social (37) & our @eh-hayles.bsky.social (39) presenting their #genetics & #genomics forum presents. Cool science here we come 😎

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— Emma Waters (@emmabeansworth.bsky.social) 13 April 2026 at 11:38

 

Some could not wait to see the scientific content that lied ahead:

 

To open #Microbio26, warm congratulations were said:

Emma Waters' LinkedIn post

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Which conveniently leads us to our...

 

Prize Lectures

We are always gratified to host the series of Prize Lectures that takes place throughout the week. They were presented by our eminent microbiologists Dr. Landon J. Getz, Dr. Nicholas de Mojana di Cologna, Katie L. Barnes, Dr. Bruno Francesco Rodrigues de Oliveira, Dr. Edel Pérez-López, Professor Paul Williams, Professor Alan Parker, Professor Antonia Ho, Professor Mark Buttner and Dr Lindsay Broadbent.

Their talks emphasised key scientific developments in microbiology from an international community. Prizes presented by our president Professor Gordon Dougan:

 

Awards and Hot Topic

Another round of applause for the 2026 winners of the Tony Trinci award Stephen Dolan, Shafi Mondal, as well as presenter of this year's Hot Topic lecture, Professor Jonathan Stokes:

 

Exhibitors

Our exhibitors were active on social media throughout the Conference, showcasing innovative products, creative stands and engaging activities:

Abbexa came into clutch with the brollies when the rain came to say hello!

 

Revvity's LinkedIn post at microbio26
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Metasystems microbio26.png
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Zymo's LinkedIn post at microbio26
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From eye-catching displays to interactive experiences, there was plenty to explore in the Exhibition Hall.

 

Scientific sessions

The scientific programme at #Microbio26 featured symposia, workshops and presentations from both invited and submitted speakers.

These sessions provided a platform for early career and established microbiologists alike to share their research and exchange ideas.

Here are some highlights:

Cracking talk from @nreddy.bsky.social about her PhD work - designing polymers based on AMPs to kill troublesome biofilm bacteria, or to help antibiotics kill these bacteria #Microbio26

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— Freya Harrison (@friendlymicrobe.bsky.social) 14 April 2026 at 14:59

 

Poster presentations

With hundreds of posters on display, delegates had the opportunity to present their work, receive feedback and spark new collaborations:

@c-cornbill.bsky.social has has TWO posters at #Microbio26! find out about antibiotic resistance evolution in our cystic fibrosis lung infection model at no. 124

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— Freya Harrison (@friendlymicrobe.bsky.social) 15 April 2026 at 11:43

Interested B-lactam/B-lactamase inhibitor combination resistance? Ever wondered how we can remove evolutionary constraints to identify and map a wide range of inhibitor resistant mutations? Head to poster A057 and speak to Hawa about her awesome work! #Microbio26

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— Alasdair Hubbard (@dralhubb.bsky.social) 14 April 2026 at 16:20

Come and see my posters at #microbio26 A034 and A035 to hear all about my work with transposon sequencing, DNA supercoiling and location-based transcriptional potential, or come to chat about the impact of location on antimicrobial phenotype and fitness!

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— Caroline Jarvis (@carolinejarvis.bsky.social) 14 April 2026 at 13:47

Its our favourite day at @microbiologysociety.org #microbio26 #genetics & #genomics. In the poster session at A039 we have our @eh-hayles.bsky.social presenting her hot off the preprint work on the dynamics of Shiga toxin subtype #stx2a in #STEC across England, 2016-2024. Read here: tiny.cc/y0u1101

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— Langridge Lab (@langridgelab.bsky.social) 14 April 2026 at 10:58


A big round of applause to the following who all won a poster prize in each respective category of our journals!

Microbial Genomics poster prize winners:

Becca Morrell-Tomiczek

Victoria Orr


Journal of General Virology poster prize winners:

Irma Laiter
Adriana Tubb

 

Horizons poster prize winners:

Joseph Falconer
Jamie Gorzynski

 

Access Microbiology poster prize winners:

Claire Davison
Ashleigh Tunsgate

 

Journal of Medical Microbiology poster prize winners:

Lauren Pittaccio
Nusrat Afrin

 

Microbiology poster prize winners:

Devon Darley
Weijei Zhou

 

Community moments

From networking to exploring Belfast, delegates shared plenty of memorable moments along the way:

Another MicroSoc, another strong showing from University of Glasgow Bacteriology @uofgsii.bsky.social 5 talks, 8 posters, plus session chair duties. Smashed it 🦠🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👩🏻‍🔬 #Microbio26

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— Justine Rudkin (@scousemicrobe.bsky.social) 15 April 2026 at 17:45

Before we all run off back to @quadraminstitute.bsky.social we wanted to thank @microbiologysociety.org for anorher wonderful conference We have all had a great time at #microbio26 networking & hearing #cool science. Please watching for our news this year will be an awesome 1 for the whole group..

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— Langridge Lab (@langridgelab.bsky.social) 16 April 2026 at 12:54

Lovely catch-up of the #AccessMicro editorial board today in Belfast @microbiologysociety.org #MicroBio26

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— Seána Duggan (@seanaduggan.bsky.social) 14 April 2026 at 21:32

 

Natalie Bennett gave us some insightful words about antimicrobial resistance; a persisting dilema on the uprise! 

Also check out our ongoing Knocking Out AMR project which showcases the global effort that is being put into this cause.

Joy Yao's LinkedIn post at microbio26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Get involved

Nominations are now open for the 2027 Prize Lectures, celebrating excellence across microbiology.

We also have opportunities to get involved with the Society, including Governance roles (deadline 17 May 2026) and our Champions programme (deadline 30 April 2026).
 

Publishing for the community

Annual Conference is only possible due to the revenue and content in our journals. Publishing one article with us generates the revenue to fund four early career members to attend Annual Conference.

Learn more about #PublishingForTheCommunity on our website.

Thank you!

On behalf of the Microbiology Society, we extend our sincere thanks to everyone who attended, presented, and supported the delivery of sessions at Annual Conference 2026. We hope you had a fantastic experience and look forward to seeing you again at Annual Conference 2027 in Birmingham.

Cracking few days in Belfast for #MicroBio26. Now the journey home.

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— Jack Ferguson (@jackf7.bsky.social) 15 April 2026 at 20:09

 

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