ESEB-funded Special Topics Network: Internal Conflicts and Organismal Adaptation Seeking expressions of interest Dear colleagues, Multicellular organisms are held together by cooperation between their constituent parts: genes, genomes, and cells. It is this intimate integration that allows complex adaptations to evolve. Like any collective, however, multicellular organisms are vulnerable to internal conflicts. This is the focus of this Special Topics Network. We're looking to stimulate further research on internal conflicts (interpreted broadly) in a few ways. First, we want to bring together different perspectives to work on conceptual foundations of conflict and organismal adaptation. Second, we want to ensure crosstalk both between those who study organismal adaptations and those who study conflict and between scientists from different points of entry. Finally, we want to promote work on internal conflict that has application in medicine, conservation, or public health. We have two activities planned for the upcoming year of our STN. First, we will form a community online through virtual events seminars, discussions, brainstorming sessions. The first of these seminars is scheduled for March 21st, 2024, at 14:00 UTC; more information will be sent around in due time. Second, we will run an in-person workshop in Groningen, The Netherlands (in Fall 2024) to catalyze further work. At the moment, we are looking for interest from the evolutionary biology community. We are especially keen to involve early-career researchers in our STN community (e.g., PhD students, postdocs) as well as (evolutionary) biology students. If you would like to get on our mailing list and take part in our upcoming events, please sign up via https://shorturl.at/ekFNS or visit https://internalconflictsstn.wordpress.com/ for more information. Sincerely, Martijn Schenkel (m.a.schenkel@rug.nl), Arvid Ågren (agrenj@ccf.org), Manus Patten (mmp64@georgetown.edu), and Nina Wedell (nina.wedell@unimelb.edu.au) Dr. Martijn Schenkel Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences University of Groningen Visiting: Linnaeusborg, room 5172.0666, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen Postal: PO Box 11103, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands "Schenkel, M.A." (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)