Friday 8 November, 09:30 – 16:30
Herschel Building, Newcastle University & Online

Join our Sustainable Agriculture Special Interest Group for a day delving into the latest innovations in agricultural entomology, from cutting-edge automated monitoring through novel pest management strategies to the latest land management approaches. Sustainable agriculture is faced with a multitude of challenges in the coming decades, from increasing pressure to produce for a growing global population, to climate change and the associated range shift of pests. Since insects are central to our food systems as protectors, pollinators and pests, entomological research is optimally placed to address these challenges.

This meeting will cover all aspects of entomology for sustainable agriculture but will specifically focus on recent innovations in how we manage and monitor insects, and the translation of these innovations into agricultural practice. Alongside invited talks from some exceptional leading researchers across these topics, we are inviting attendees to bring and present portable equipment linked to their work in an innovative spin on traditional poster sessions. We are also inviting abstracts for both oral and standard poster presentations from any registered attendees.

Key themes

• Innovations in managing insects in agriculture
• Cutting-edge insect monitoring for agriculture
• Novel practices and their impacts on insects

The Editors of RES journal Agricultural and Forest Entomology are pleased to present a Virtual Issue specially curated for this event, which can be accessed here. The collection highlights recent research on the latest innovations in agricultural entomology. It also connects with a forthcoming special issue, Advances in insect biomonitoring for agriculture and forestry, and the first two papers in this Virtual Issue are also part of that special issue.

We thank Koppert for supporting this event. Koppert specialise in sustainable solutions for crop protection and natural pollination. Their biological products and services help growers around the world.

Keynote speakers

Sam Cook
Rothamsted Research

Sam is Science Area lead on ‘Next-Generation Integrated Pest Management’ at Rothamsted Research where she has worked since undertaking her PhD. She is a behavioural ecologist, working to apply knowledge of insect pests of arable crops – and that of their natural enemies – to provide sustainable pest management strategies that reduce or eliminate the need for insecticides. She has particular interests in oilseed rape ecology and regenerative agriculture. She has been a member of the Royal Entomological Society since 2002, a fellow since 2005 and was founder and convenor of the Special Insect Group on Insect Behaviour (2006-2009). She loves insects – especially pollen beetles – but doesn’t like hornets after a bad experience in Indonesia…!

James Kitson
FERA Science Ltd

James is Science Lead and Team Manager for NGS and Bioinformatics at FERA Science Ltd. He develops and uses high-throughput sequencing and other molecular methods to detect and characterise ecological communities and species interactions, often in agricultural contexts. James is particularly interested in the interactions between plants, their insect herbivores and the insect parasitoids that exploit the herbivores. James aims to understand more fully how these systems are structured and use this knowledge to enhance biological control of pest and invasive species.

Kirsten Miller
Environment Strategy Directorate, DEFRA

Kirsten is Head of Environmental Monitoring in the Environment Strategy Directorate in DEFRA. She specialises in finding the evidence needed to develop environmental policy such as England’s Environmental Land Management Schemes and 25 Year Environment Plan. Before joining DEFRA, Kirsten was a molecular ecologist with a focus on the reconstruction of ecological networks using DNA metabarcoding. Having completed her PhD in London, she worked in Spain and Sweden before returning to the UK.

Programme

The full programme can now be viewed below.

Poster presenters

Alphonsa Baby, University of Padua
RNAi-mediated gene silencing in Halyomorpha halys: Effects on Life History Parameters and Gene
Expression

Michael Smith, University of Sheffield
A new method to track how pollinators use agricultural landscapes

Registration

Registration is now open at the bottom of this page. We offer significantly reduced rates for RES members, so if you aren’t already a member, join today!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch: info@royensoc.co.uk

In-person registration deadline: 17:00 (BST) Friday 25 October
Online registration deadline: 17:00 (BST), Wednesday 6 November

SIG convenors

• Jordan Cuff, Newcastle University
• Jasper Hubert, Koppert
• Kelly Jowett, Rothamsted Research