The BOU is proud to be a sponsor of the 6th World Seabird Twitter Conference.

The World Seabird Twitter Conferences are a flagship series which have paved the way for other events in ecology, ornithology and beyond, including our own recent Twitter conferences. These events are truly inclusive, global, low cost and low carbon so are good for the budget and the environment too.

A new instalment of one of the world’s first climate friendly conferences, the 6th World Seabird Twitter Conference #WSTC6, is now open for abstract submission.

Last year’s #WSTC5 had over 100 presenters tweeting about their work from over 20 countries, some presenting in multiple languages, and people from all around the world getting involved by asking questions, re-tweeting and following the presentations. This resulted in the #WSTC5 hashtag being used over 3,400 times by over 700 contributors, with a potential reach of over 1.3 million users!

Twitter conferences are a great opportunity to promote your research to a much wider, global audience. Since they involve no travel, anyone can take part, for free, from wherever they are – anywhere in the world! There are no barriers to taking part, all you need is a Twitter account and a device (computer or smart device) to tweet from live during the conference. And to simply follow the event, you don’t even need a Twitter account!

This year’s #WSTC6 takes place on the 4 – 6 May 2020 and is being organised by Kirsty Franklin (@kirstyyfranklin), Virginia Morera (@sk8sbd), Elodie Camprasse (@ECamprasse) and an amazing group of volunteers. As usual, many prizes will be awarded, including free registration to WSC3 sponsored by the World Seabird Union (@seabirders)!

There are many ways to participate, from following as a spectator to participating with one (or several) contributions. To follow the conference, interact with presenters and other spectators, follow the #WSTC6 hashtag to see all posts related to the conference. There will also be session-specific hashtags allowing you to follow individual topics you are particularly interested in. A programme where you can find the times and titles of all presentations will be published on the WSTC website.

If you want to present your work at #WSTC6, abstract submission is now open until 15 March 2020, under the “Registration” tab on the WSTC conference website.

If you want to know more about the history of the World Seabird Twitter Conferences, the benefits of Twitter conferences, or need some inspiration with preparing your tweets, you can check out:

  • The 2019 WSTC #ornitholoday day   View
  • Wakelet from the Tracking and Distribution session of #WSTC5  View
  • Use of #WSTC5 hashtag map  View

Plenary speakers

(from left)
Jennifer Provencher, Canadian Wildlife Service | @jenni_pro
Tom Hart, University of Oxford | @penguin_watch
Mercedes Santos, Instituto Antártico Argentino | @mechasantos

Abstract submission is now open!

We are now seeking abstracts on any topic of seabird research or conservation.

Deadline for submissions is 15 March.

 Information and online abstract submission

 Questions? Then get in touch with the WSTC organisers!