During the first week of February 2025, the HUGS teams will organise a 2-day scientific meeting of the Royal Society at Charlton Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG. Our meeting will feature the research of over 20 invited speakers and 10 poster presentations, all engaging on the biology, epidemiology and control of hybrid schistosomes in Africa. Registration for the meeting is free: https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2025/03/parasite-evolution/.
The Royal Society is the foremost organisation representing science at the highest level within government and academia. It has an extensive public engagement programme in the UK and abroad. The Society's origins trace back to the mid-17th century when informal gatherings of London- and Oxford-based intellectuals joined together to form a formal organisation with a Royal Charter then known as "The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge". Its first meeting took place at Gresham College, London, following a lecture from Christopher Wren on 28th November 1660.
The motto of the Royal Society is 'Nullius in verba'. This is taken to mean 'take nobody's word for it', so the main role of Society is to promote scientific discussion that advances our understanding of the natural world. The motto is typically based on the appraisals of state-of-the-art evidence by informed and erudite debate. Several presentations and general deliberations from this meeting will be published in a forthcoming special issue of Philophosial Transactions of the Royal Society later in the year.