The Entomological Collections Network hosts a meeting every year, which is a great opportunity for us gather and share updates from our collections, discuss new tools/workflows/resources and strengthen our community.
Our next meeting will be held in Columbus, Ohio on November Friday 6 – Saturday 7, 2026, ahead of the Entomological Society of America meeting. The venue will be the Columbus Hilton Downtown hotel (402 N High St, Columbus, OH 43215) next to convention center.
Our annual meeting takes a hybrid format (held in-person and streamed via Zoom), to help members of our community participate wherever they are. We also offer discounted rates for students, volunteers and have a limited number of travel bursaries.
ECN 2026
We have an exciting set of symposia this year:
- Collections for Conservation: Addressing the use of insect collections in conservation science (Sarah Schroeder)
- Behind the Scenes of the Behind the Scenes [panel discussion] (Ashleigh Whiffin & Isa Betancourt)
- Machine Learning, Collections, and You: Collections Centered AI Tools and Applications (Brennan T. Hays, Alyson East, & Sydney Record)
- Teaching Collections: Development, Management, and Innovation (Louis Nastasi)
- Uncovering the Hidden Gems in our Museums (Brittany Kohler & Luc Leblanc)
- Growing into an entomologist [pre-recorded, 3–5 minutes long talks] (Luc Leblanc)
- Contributed talks (not in a specific thematic symposium)
- Lightning talks (pre-recorded, 3–5 minutes long), including Specimen Spotlight (single-specimen feature)
Submissions have now closed.
Travel grants
This year, we are excited to offer several travel grants ($500 each) for students and researchers traveling to the meeting in Columbus, OH. Priority is given to those presenting at ECN, so please submit your talks soon! To apply for a travel grant, please fill out the application by midnight (EST) on Friday, October 9th. Applicants will be notified by Friday, October 16th. If you have any questions, please email secretary@ecnweb.org.