What a Week! Highlights from the 50th IWSG Conference | 26-29 September, De Biotoop, Groningen, NL
We are still buzzing from an unforgettable week in the Netherlands, where more than 250 wader enthusiasts from over 40 countries gathered for the 50th Annual IWSG Conference. Hosted in the beautifull city of Groningen, the meeting featured 72 talks, 48 posters, 4 workshops and 4 inspiring plenary lectures – all fuelled by endless coffee, stroopwafels and passionate discussions about shorebirds.
Celebrating Excellence – Conference Prizes
A huge congratulations to this year’s Student Presentation and Poster Prize winners!
Student Talk Award
1st – Ondřej Belfín from BirdEyes, University of Groningen, The Netherlands et al. How to describe the vocal repertoire of a species? A case study of the Black-tailed Godwit
2nd – Renée Veenstra from BirdEyes, University of Groningen, The Netherlands et al. Soil moisture enhances the detectability of vibrations induced by moving earthworms
3rd (shared) – Selmane Chabani from Laboratory of Biological Oceanography and the Marine Environment, University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene, Algeria et al. Study of Plovers in the Algiers Region, Northern Algeria: Case of an Urban Site (Sablette Promenade)
3rd (shared) – Michella Ligtelijn from Conservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands et al. Arthropod availability for Godwit chicks across management regimes in Dutch dairy grasslands
Poster Prize
1st – Fanny Rey from Laboratoire LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), University of La Rochelle, France et al. Migration pathways and behaviours of Red Knot Calidris canutus accurately described by GPS telemetry on the East Atlantic Flyway
2nd – Sara Ryding from Deakin University, Australia et al. There and back again: A Ruddy Turnstone’s tale of migration
3rd – Florian Packmor from Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority, Germany Picky chicks? First insights into the dietary composition of juvenile Common Ringed Plovers in the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea based on DNA metabarcoding
Competition for Shorebird Tracking Studies
Our tradition continued with the annual Telemetry Contest – and the winners were:
Lotek – José Alves from Department Biologia and CESAM – Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal. Unraveling the mysterious Pratincole migration.
Druid – Julian Garcia-Walther from Pronatura Noroeste, Mexico, University of Massachusetts, United States. Rising Seas, Vulnerable Shores: Tracking Shorebirds in Mexico’s Most Important Wetland
Global Messenger – Amaranta Adojaan from University of Tartu, Estonia. Are Estonian mire-specialists really specialists? – A Whimbrel case study
A New Chapter for the IWSG
We warmly thank Jennifer Smart for 4 years of leadership, and are delighted to welcome Brett Sandercock as our new IWSG Chair! We can’t wait to continue the journey with him steering the flock!
What’s Next?
Next IWSG Conference: Santiago de Compostela, Spain – 4-7 September 2026
Binoculars ready?! – we’re heading to Galicia next year!
Thank You!
None of this would have been possible without the incredible organising team (coord. Marie Stessens & Eldar Rakhimberdiev), our generous sponsors, and the volunteers who kept everything running smoothly behind the scenes. To every speaker, poster presenter, question-asker, and late-night bar-room debater – thank you for keeping the IWSG spirit alive.
See you in Spain in 2026 – and until then, keep wading!