Behaviour 2023

Behaviour 2023 is a multi-disciplinary and international congress that focuses on animal behaviour. Delegates will come from a wide range of backgrounds - from ethology to behavioural genetics and anthropology. The congress will take place at Bielefeld University, Germany, from August 14th to August 20th 2023 (see the website https://behaviour2023.com). There will be over 800 delegates from all over the world and from every career stage. Bielefeld hosted the International Ethological Congress, as it was known back then, in 1977 and we are thrilled to try our best to make 2023 an equally exciting and stimulating event.

The congress consists of 7 days of various exciting activities. Each day will typically start at 9:00 and finish around dinnertime. There will be two plenary talks from Monday to Friday, one before and one after lunch. Lunch break will be one hour and we have two coffee breaks with about 30 min each. The remainder of the days will be filled with talks in parallel sessions, including those that are part of symposia, and workshops. There will be two evenings filled with poster sessions. In addition to the scientific talks, we will organize social events, sport events and excursions. These social events will include ‘safe-space’ events with strict policies to provide an accommodating, safe, and encouraging environment for everyone. The excursions will be held in the morning of Sunday August 20th.

The full schedule is available as a Google Calendar. You can add it to your personal device using the following link:

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r?cid=YmVoYXZpb3VyMjAyMy51bmliaWVsZWZlbGRAZ21haWwuY29t

Some tips to make your personal schedule:

• As all events are in the calendar, we advise you to import the calendar on a laptop or PC, and remove all events you don’t want to attend to make it easier to view on a mobile device.
• Once you’re viewing the Google Calendar, you can go to ‘Schedule’ mode (top right) which makes it easier to see all the talks.
• You can import the Google Calendar to other platforms, like Outlook. 
• Some events are still subject to change and will be automatically synced. 

Registration fees include: conference participation (August 14th - 20th), 6 lunches (vegetarian), hot and cold drinks and snacks during coffee breaks in the morning and afternoon, drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and snacks during the two poster sessions, a ticket for public transportation within Bielefeld during the time of the conference, as well as a conference bag with a reusable mug and bottle. Please remember to show proof of your student status (e.g. certificate of enrollment or student ID) to our staff at the registration desk on the first day of the conference if you purchased a student registration ticket.

Unfortunately, the conference will take place in person only.

If presenters don't want their content to be shared, their slides will show a canceled twitter icon (see above). Please be respectful and only share content without the mentioned icon. In case you are unsure whether you are allowed to share content of a specific presenter, please contact the presenter and ask for consent first. They most likely will be happy to talk to you.

Yes you can cancel your registration if needed. The cancellation fee is 20% when cancelled up to 60 days before the event (August 14th 2023), 50% when cancelled up to 30 days before the event, and no refund shall be given when cancelled within less than 30 days before the event. In case you have to cancel, please contact us at behaviour2023@uni-bielefeld.de

Unfortunately, abstract submission and congress registration have closed.

BSc, MSc and PhD students can make use of our reduced registration fees.

If choosing the student rate, please remember to show proof of your student status (e.g. certificate of enrollment or student ID) to our staff at the registration desk on the first day of the conference.

Germany will have a so-called ’49-euro ticket’ available in 2023 that includes unlimited access to regional trains across the country for one month. This makes travel to Bielefeld a lot more affordable. Lastly, the confirmation of your registration will give you access to discounts for accommodation within Bielefeld (see our list under “Accommodation”).

Oral presentations will be 15 minutes long, with additional 3 minutes time for questions. Details on the presentation formatting, information for symposium hosts, and poster presentations can be found under 'Instructions for presenters'.

We have outlined a strict Code of Conduct outlining expected and unacceptable behaviour at the congress, as well as the potential consequences of not adhering to this. There will be a ‘hotline’ available to report any cases and our organisation team had been trained to react and will be available to provide help. Please see the page under ‘Inclusivity and accessibility’ for more details on who to contact to report unacceptable behaviour. Moreover, to ensure everyone’s safety, the University’s security team will be available around the clock in case help or assistance is required.

We have a team ready in case any instances of discrimination, assault, unwanted sexual attention, inappropriate comments, or any other unacceptable bheaviours as outlined in the Code of Conduct. are experienced. You can reach out to us by going to the Information Desk, contacting one of us through email (see the page Inclusivity and Accessibility) or by approaching one of our team members at the venue. 

Yes, we will provide free professional childcare. You can indicate your need for childcare during the registration process. We will also have parent-children offices equipped with a desk, a comfortable couch and lots of toys and books for the little ones. For breastfeeding mothers, we will provide a calm and comfortable room in which you can use a breast pump or feed your baby undisturbed. More details on child-care will be communicated shortly, and you can find more details under Inclusivity and Accessibility.

It is possible to book multiple tickets for the excursion you would like to attend, for example if you are bringing your child(ren) and/or partner. This should have been indicated within the registration process. If you need to adjust anything regarding child(ren) and/or partner registration, please contact us at behaviour2023@uni-bielefeld.de.

Unfortunately, because we can only offer a very limited number of congress dinner tickets, you cannot bring your partner. If you are bringing your child(ren) to the congress and would like to attend the dinner, please get in touch with us.

Yes, your child/children can either have lunch together with you or with the group of children in childcare.

If desired, parents can book meals for their children through our registration platform. Depending on the children's appetite, parents can either book a full portion or a half portion consisting of the same lunch that the other conference attendees will have, including a starter, a hot meal and a dessert, as well as snacks during the morning and afternoon coffee breaks and drinks during the day.

One booking corresponds to meals for one child for one day. So please make sure to book meals for the right amount of days your child/children is/are going to stay in childcare by choosing the right number of meals. Bookings can be made until Friday, July 14th, 23:59 CET.

We can offer support during the conference through technical devices such as an inductive listening system and will assist in finding a suitable sign language interpreter. Furthermore, we want to ensure unlimited mobility during the conference regardless of personal limitations in movability. If you require any other assistance or would like to point out other possibilities that could make a big event such as the Behaviour 2023 congress more easily accessible, please let us know by sending an email to behaviour2023@uni-bielefeld.de
Please find more information here.

There are no COVID-19 related restrictions in Germany. There are no more mandatory medical masks in public transport.

One of the big impacts that large events have on the environment is through large waste and the carbon footprint of the large number of meals provided. The organization committee aims to reduce these impacts by offering organic, vegan or vegetarian catering only. Moreover, we will make sure no food is wasted by keeping our catering team updated on the number of participants. This is where you can actually help us: please make sure to indicate during the registration if you intend to skip some days of the conference, so that we can plan accordingly. In case you have any food-related intolerance or allergies, please let us know during the registration as well. In case there is still some excess food, we will use our social media platforms to inform students or people in need that might be happy about some free meals due to a tight budget.

Our conference bag will come with a reusable and sealable mug that will help reduce plastic/paper waste as well as the water needed to clean several mugs over the course of a day.

To minimize paper waste, we will not print out the schedule. Instead, we ask the delegates to do this themselves if they think a printed version of the schedule is useful for them. We will offer a digital agenda that includes the full timetable of the congress.

In order to make the public transport more accessible and to promote its use over taxis and/or cars, registration fees will include unlimited use of the public transport network within Bielefeld.

In addition, the university of Bielefeld takes a range of measures to minimize our impact, including the use of recycled paper (toilets, tissues, printing) and separating waste for instance. Check the website for more details https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/themen/nachhaltigkeit/#.