Sustainability

Sustainable travel incentives

Sustainable rail incentives

Sustainable incentives (max £150) can be claimed for all international train journeys that replace the use of transportation with a high carbon footprint such as flights. Applications will only be accepted from people who have travelled from outside of the UK. We will also accept applications from people departing from Northern Ireland. To qualify your entire journey should involve no flights, and minimal driving.

To make a claim, please submit an expense claim form after the conference, detailing all of the costs incurred during your trip. Reimbursements will be made up to a maximum of £150.

Sustainable travel blog and prize

We will award one prize of £700 for the attendee who submits the best blog post describing how they made their journey to the conference more sustainable. The winner will be selected by The Company of Biologists Sustainability team. All blogs should be a maximum of 700 words. N.B. We may require some receipts and additional details to verify the trip.

Submit your application by the deadline of midnight GMT Sunday 6 April by emailing it to sustainability@biologists.com.

Please include your name, organisation, all transportation modes involved, and receipts as an attachment to your email. Please include your blog in pdf, doc or docx format. We do not accept any downloadable links for submission.

Please note that if you submit an essay, you will automatically agree for us to possibly edit and publish your blog on our stories page (with credit) and use fragments from it on social media.

At The Company of Biologists, we are committed to ensuring our environmental impact is kept to a minimum and we are working hard to make sustainability a consideration in everything we do, including our anniversary activities.

Over the past few years, we have launched two major initiatives to promote sustainability and biodiversity:

The Company of Biologists’ Sustainability Initiative

Launched in 2020, The Company of Biologists’ Sustainability Initiative provides guidance and support on the sustainability of events and offers insights on technologies that can be used for virtual and hybrid events. Event organisers can apply for grants which offer up to £2,500 to support innovative ideas that will enable biologists to collaborate proactively whilst minimising their impact on the environment.

The Forest of Biologists

Launched in 2023, The Forest of Biologists is a living and growing forest that has been created as part of our biodiversity initiative, with support from the Woodland Trust. For each Research Article and Review article we publish in one of our five journals, we are planting a tree in a UK forest. We are also funding the restoration and protection of ancient woodland and dedicating these trees to our peer reviewers. All these real trees are also represented together in a virtual forest. The Forest of Biologists is a celebration of the work of the scientists whose research and expertise fills our journals, and it is a clear demonstration of our commitment to sustainability.

Find out more about our initiatives in the sustainability hub.

Sustainability was also an important consideration when choosing a venue for our 100-year anniversary conference. The city of Liverpool is easily accessible for UK and international visitors and the main sights are within walking distance of the conference venue. Like The Company of Biologists, the ACC Liverpool cares deeply about offering sustainable conferencing options. Over the next few months, we will be sharing more information about how we will make this conference as sustainable as possible and how you can help us as you plan your attendance.

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