ITALIAN SOCIETY FOR EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY Congress 6-10 September 2026, Firenze, Italy Dear Colleagues, we are finally ready to share with you most of the details of the SIBE 2026 conference, which will take place in Firenze from 6 to 10 September. The scientific programme will be structured around five themed symposia: Symposium 1 =93Host-microbiome interactions=94 Symposium 2 =93Evolutionary roots of behavioural diversity=94 Symposium 3 =93Phylogeography and Conservation Genomics: understanding=20 evolutionary history to sustain species resilience=94 Symposium 4 =93Human evolution=94 Symposium 5 =93The evolution of ecological diversification: mechanisms,=20 interactions, and outcomes=94 Contributions that do not fall within the themes listed above are also=20 welcome and will be included in a dedicated miscellaneous symposium. *_Registration will open on March the 9th._* In addition to the=20 scientific sessions, the conference will offer a rich programme of=20 events, including a dedicated poster session, a crash course on wet-lab=20 techniques in genomics, the meeting of the Italian group for=20 conservation genetics and genomics, an original outreach theatre event=20 entitled =93Queer Botany=94, and a charming social dinner hosted at the=20 Firenze Botanical Garden. As for the venues, the conference will take place across several locations in the city. All scientific sessions will be held in the Novoli area, home to the University Social Sciences Campus, while social events and the poster session will take place in the historic city centre. Participants may therefore choose to stay either in the city centre or in Novoli, which are conveniently connected by tram. Please note that the last tram service runs at around 00:30; after this time, public transportation becomes more limited. September is peak season in Florence and several other conferences are scheduled in the Novoli area during the same period, so we strongly recommend booking accommodation well in advance. We invite you to visit the conference website www.sibe-iseb.it/firenze2026 for full details on Evoluzione2026 and to stay tuned for further updates. More exciting information will be released soon, including the opening lecture speaker, the full crash course programme, and a preview of the Evoluzione2026 t-shirt. The chairs of the congress Alessio Iannucci Sara Fratini Alessio Iannucci Tenure Track Researcher (RTT) Department of Biology University of Florence Via Madonna del Piano 6, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy email:alessio.iannucci@unifi.it Tel. +390554574741 Alessio Iannucci (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)