The 4th International Online Conference on Diversity
The 4th International Online Conference on Diversity
Biodiversity of Animals, Plants and Microorganisms
Part of the International Online Conference on Diversity series
Event's Timezone: Central European Time
6 July 2026
10 August 2026
30 October 2026
Animal Diversity, Biodiversity Conservation, Marine Diversity, Microbial diversity, Phylogeny, Plant diversity
Welcome from the Chair
Key Themes: The conference will span various key themes, including the following:
- Animal diversity;
- Biodiversity conservation;
- Marine diversity;
- Microbial diversity and culture collections;
- Phylogeny and evolution;
- Plant diversity.
Awards and Opportunities: The best oral presentation award and best poster award will receive an award of CHF 200 and a 50% discount to publish an extended paper, in the Special Issue of Diversity.
This conference will be organized as an online event in order to enable participation from all over the world, with no restrictions related to travel effort and expenditure. Furthermore, active participation and attendance in this online conference are free of charge.
Selected extended versions of the papers will be published in a Special Issue of the journal Diversity with a 20% discount on the Article Processing Charge. We extend our warmest welcome to you as participants or attendees of this virtual conference.
Kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Michael Wink
Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
Event Chair
Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
Prof. Dr. Michael Wink completed his PhD in 1980 at Technische Universität Braunschweig. He is currently a senior professor at Heidelberg University, within the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology, and is a visiting professor at CEPROBI, the Prince of Songkla University and Northeast Forestry University. He works in the areas of natural products, chemical ecology, medicinal and poisonous plants, molecular pharmacology, biotechnology, evolution (molecular systematics, phylogeny, phylogeography of plants and animals), and ornithology. To date, he has authored or coauthored more than 1200 papers published in international journals and conference proceedings. He is the Editor-in Chief of Diversity.
Session Chairs
Prof. Dr. Luc Legal
Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
Prof. Dr. Łukasz Kaczmarek
Department of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznan, Poland
Dr. Stuart Kininmonth
Heron Island Research Station, University of Queensland, Gladstone, Australia
Prof. Dr. İpek Kurtböke
School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Australia
Prof. Dr. Mario A. Pagnotta
Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, Tuscia University, Viterbo, Italy
Event Committee
Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Department of Biology, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
Zoonotic Disease and One Heatlh Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, Campus Miguel Unamuno, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
Rodrigo Morchón García (PhD in Biology) is currently full professor and director of the Zoonosic Diseases and One Health research group at University of Salamanca, Spain. His main research interests are parasite/hosts relationships like Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens, immunology, immunopathology (including the Wolbachia endosymbion bacteriae), cellular and molecular mechanisms of pathology of these diseases, immune diagnosis, epidemiology in humans and animals and insect vectors of parasite disease like culicid. He has authored/co-authored over 200 scientific publications and reviews, 14 refereed books and 280 conference proceedings papers (oral communications, poster and guest speakers, etc). He is a President of European Society of Dirofilariosis and Angiostrongylosis (ESDA) and board of Spanish Society of Parasitology (SOCEPA). He functions as member of Editorial board of journals and referee of several international scientific journals.
Pr. Matthieu Chauvat is a French soil ecologist specializing in soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. He is a full professor at the University of Rouen Normandy since 2016. His work focuses on the role of soil fauna—particularly microarthropods—in decomposition processes, nutrient cycling, and plant–soil interactions. He is especially interested in how global change drivers, such as biological invasions, and climate change, affect soil communities and ecosystem processes. Through experimental and field-based approaches, his research contributes to a better understanding of the interactions taking place belowground between soil biodiversity and plants with consequences on ecosystem functioning.
Laboratory of Molecular Ecology, State Scientific Research Institute Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP), CONICET, IIMyC Benthos, Mar del Plata, Argentina
Department of Geology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
Laboratory of Mammalian Ecology, State Scientific Research Institute Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
Linas Balčiauskas is a leading Lithuanian mammalogist and the head of Laboratory of Mammalian Ecology, State Scientific Research Institute Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania. Over the course of his career, he has authored about 100 research articles in SCI(E) journals and approximately 200 in other peer-reviewed publications, delivered over 200 presentations at conferences and leaded over 50 commissioned research and experimental development projects. His research interests encompass various aspects of mammalian ecology, human dimensions of mammals, and citizen science. He serves as an expert in several IUCN specialist groups, mentors doctoral students, and actively participates in the editorial processes of several scientific journals.
University of Białystok, Białystok, Poland
Department of Applied Statistics, Institute of Mathematics and Basic Science, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
Department of Biology & CESAM, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
Department of Mycology and Genetics, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
Department of Marine Biology, Institute of Biology, Fluminense Federal University, Brazil
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari, Italy
His Academic career and training boast numerous collaborations and stays abroad with more than 20 foreign institutions. He is associate to CNR-IPSP and Research Interests are focused on: Agricultural, Urban and Forest Entomology & Nematology – Sustainable planning and management of forest, agricultural, urban and periurban pests of Mediterranean area - Ecological role of insect & nematode populations in agricultural, forest, urban e periurban areas – Insect Pathology and Microbial Control – Biodiversity, morphology and biology of entomopathogenic nematodes and fungi in Mediterranean ecosystems and evaluation of their potential as biological control agents of insect pest populations – Ecological Biodiversity – Evaluation and monitoring of Arthropod Biodiversity in natural and urban areas. The academic achievements include a total of more than 380 publications (original research papers, monograph, scientific reports and communications presented at several international and national conferences). Involved as a coordinator, consultant or technical advisor in national and international projects, he is the Convenor of IOBC-WPRS Working Group "Microbial and Nematode Control of Invertebrate Pests" and Past President of Italian Society of Nematology (SIN).
Center for Climate Change Research, University of Toronto (ONRamp at UTE), Toronto, Canada
Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, Arcavacata CS, Italia
Maize Research Institute “Zemun Polje”, Belgrade, Serbia
Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Registration
The registration for IOCDV 2026 will be free of charge! The registration includes attendance to all conference sessions.
If you are registering several people under the same registration, please do not use the same email address for each person, but their individual university email addresses. Thank you for your understanding.
Please note that the submission and registration are two separate parts. Only scholars who registered can receive a link to access the conference live streaming. The deadline for registration is 30 October 2026.
Instructions for Authors
1. Deadline for abstract submission: 6 July 2026.
2. Abstract acceptance notification: 10 August 2026.
Please note:
An abstract acceptance email only confirms that your abstract has been accepted. Oral or poster presentation invitations are determined separately by the conference chairs, and you will receive an additional email with the presentation result.
If you do not have an account, please register at www.sciforum.net. After logging in, submit your abstract using the “Submit Abstract” button on the conference homepage. No template is required.
Abstract Requirements
1. Types of Submissions
- Accepted: Original research abstracts; systematic reviews or meta-analyses abstracts (must comply with PRISMA 2020).
- Not accepted: Narrative, scoping, comparative, perspective, opinion, or essay-style reviews
2. Content Requirements
- Length: 200–300 words
- Structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusions
- Language: Clear, publication-ready English
- Originality: Must be original and unpublished; previously published abstracts will not be considered
3. Authorship
- The submitting author must ensure all co-authors approve the content.
- Authors may submit multiple abstracts, but only one abstract per author may be selected for an oral presentation.
Presentation Requirements
1. Each abstract must designate one presenter. To change the presenter, please contact us after you receive the oral/poster presentation invitation.
2. Only live presentations are accepted.
3. Presenters who do not attend the live session will not be eligible for awards or presentation certificates.
- Size in pixel: 1080 width x 1536 height–portrait orientation.
- Size in cm: 38,1 width x 54,2 height–portrait orientation.
- Font size: ≥16.
- Examples of successful submissions can be viewed here at the following links: (1), (2), (3)
- You can use our free template to create your poster.
The poster template can be downloaded HERE. We will reach out to you closer to the dates of the conference with more information.
It is the author's responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state "The authors declare no conflicts of interest." This should be conveyed in a separate "Conflict of Interest" statement preceding the "Acknowledgments" and "References" sections at the end of the manuscript. Any financial support for the study must be fully disclosed in the "Acknowledgments" section.
MDPI, the publisher of the Sciforum.net platform, is an open access publisher. We believe authors should retain the copyright to their scholarly works. Hence, by submitting an abstract to this conference, you retain the copyright to the work, but you grant MDPI the non-exclusive right to publish this abstract online on the Sciforum.net platform. This means you can easily submit your full paper (with the abstract) to any scientific journal at a later stage and transfer the copyright to its publisher if required.
Publication Opportunities
2. Proceeding Paper Publication
If you wish to publish an extended proceeding paper (4-8 pages) in Biology and Life Sciences Forum (ISSN: 2673-9976), please submit it to the same journal after the conference.
Proceedings submission deadline: 21 December 2026. (45 days after the conference)
Please click HERE to submit your proceedings paper to Biology and Life Sciences Forum . Authors are asked to disclose that it is a proceeding paper of the IOCDV 2026 conference paper in their cover letter. Carefully read the rules outlined in the 'Instructions for Authors' on the journal’s website and ensure that your submission adheres to these guidelines.
BLSF-proceedings paper template
Publication Notice: Proceedings papers will undergo peer-review procedure. Acceptance at the conference does not ensure final publication in the proceedings journal.
Event Awards
To acknowledge the support of the conference's esteemed authors and recognize their outstanding scientific accomplishments, we are pleased to announce that the conference will provide 4 awards including Best Oral Presentation Awards and Best Poster Awards.
The Awards
Number of Awards Available: 4
Eligibility: Open to all authors selected as oral speakers who have delivered their presentation.
Criteria: Evaluation based on content quality, delivery clarity, audience interaction, and overall impact.
Prize: A prize of CHF 200 and a certificate celebrating your achievement, along with a 50% discount to publish an extended paper in the Special Issue of Diversity.
2. Best Poster Award
Eligibility: Open to all authors who have presented their work through posters.
Criteria: Evaluation based on scientific merit, creativity, and ability to attract and engage viewers.
Prize: A prize of CHF 200 and a certificate celebrating your achievement, along with a 50% discount to publish an extended paper in the Special Issue of Diversity.
Winner Announcement: The award winners will be evaluated and selected by the chairs after the conference. Results will be announced on the website and all winners will be individually contacted via email.
Sponsors and Partners
For information regarding sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, please click here.
Organizers
Media Partners
Conference Secretariat
Ms. Adelina Platon
Mr. Ionut Spatar
Mr. Russell Wang
Email: iocdv2026@mdpi.com
For inquiries regarding submissions and sponsorship opportunities, please feel free to contact us.
