Nominations for the 2026 IDEA Award Now Open

The American Society of Naturalists, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the Society of Systematic Biologists announce the call for nominations for the ASN/SSE/SSB Inclusiveness, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Award. The IDEA Award will be given to a person at any career stage who has strengthened the ecology and evolutionary biology community by promoting inclusiveness and diversity in our fields. The award can also be presented to a group. The recipient(s) will be invited to present a plenary lecture at the annual Evolution meeting. Each recipient will also receive a plaque and a $1000 honorarium (shared among recipients if more than one).

Please see the IDEA website to nominate someone.

Diversity at Evolution

In service to the goals of our three sponsoring societies (ASN, SSB, and SSE), the conference organizers and the Joint Meeting Committee are committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all of our attendees. This commitment starts with our choice of the conference location; our existing meeting policies specify that we will not schedule conferences in states with laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, at the time we sign contracts with the convention center and hotels. During the conference we also support various social and educational activities that focus on inclusivity and networking.

Check out our Safe Evolution page for initiatives to promote a safe, inclusive, and professional environment at our meetings.​​

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Conference diversity initiatives

During the meeting we will be hosting events that focus on inclusivity and networking. Details about these are in development, and will be posted on our Workshops and Special Events page.

​If you have ideas for events going forward, or ways to improve previous ones, please don't hesitate to contact us.