Planning for IBBS18 as a virtual event, 6-9 September 2021, is underway. Please plan to present a paper or a poster and submit your abstract by 30 June 2021. Abstracts will be reviewed, and authors will be contacted regarding acceptance and registration. Registration fees have been established and are posted on the meeting website. The exceptionally low fees were designed to encourage meeting attendance and participation.

IBBS18 will kick off on 6 September with a workshop for early career scholars as well as a round table discussion on standards for biofilm research. Subsequent days (7-9 September) will include parallel sessions with an invited speaker and contributed talks. If you have an idea for a promising session, please suggest a topic and agree to organize/chair that session. In keeping with the goals of IBBS, early career scholars will be encouraged to co-chair.

The general approach will be for speakers to prerecord presentations and be available to respond to questions immediately at the conclusion of a session. Importantly, virtual poster presentations will be a part of each day and are designed to facilitate technical discussions. All presenters are encouraged to submit a manuscript to the society’s professional journal, International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, for consideration in a special issue designed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of IBBS!

As an international organization, we acknowledge that members and colleagues are in differing time zones and that recorded presentations and live discussions may be scheduled outside the normal workday for many who attend the event. All recorded sessions will be available for viewing by registered attendees for 6 months after the conference. Thank you for your continued patience as IBBS18 evolves as a virtual gathering. We look forward to ‘seeing’ you Sept 6-9, 2021.

Sincerely,

Brenda Little
IBBS President

Joseph Suflita
Chair of the IBBS18 Organizing Committee