Past Conference Reviews:

• CSHL Neurobiology of Drosophila
  • Basic info: every other year (odd years) in early October from Tuesday evening to Saturday lunch. Single track
  • Matt: By far my favorite, strongly recommend folks go every time. Presented a poster, very well attended with a lot of good questions and feedback.
  • Stephen: Good for people trying to get familiar with Drosophila neuroscience for the first time and for veterans/people looking to move into a different part of Droso neuro. It is a single track conference (everyone sees the same talks) with very good coverage across many fields and a very well attended poster session where you will likely get some feedback. Recommend.
  • Helen: Except for 2 keynote lectures, all the talks are short format (12-15 minutes) and almost all of them are given by trainees or junior faculty members; talks are usually very good. Started with a strong neurodevelopment focus but has become more physiology and circuits focused each year. I strongly recommend attending this conference every time it is held. If you attend one conference in a year, this one would be at the top of my list. For senior grad students, consider asking Rachel to nominate you for the Elkins lecture, the keynote graduate student talk.
  • Sophia: Went as a first year grad student (no pres or poster), found it approachable and a good introduction to the science and people of drosophila neuro. Would recommend
• CSHL Neuronal Circuits
  • Info: every other year (even years) in mid-March from Wednesday evening to Saturday lunch. Single track
  • Matt: Good, more general neuroscience audience but a lot of fly folks. Presented a poster, ok attendance but a lot of good questions and feedback.
  • Helen: smaller and shorter than the CSHL Drosophila meeting and focused on systems/circuits neuroscience across species. Good meeting but lower priority than Drosophila one. For senior grad students, consider asking Rachel to nominate you for the Larry Katz lecture, the keynote graduate student talk.
• COSYNE
  • Info: held annually at the end of February/beginning of March. Divided into single track main meeting and workshop after main meeting
  • Matt: Least favorite, talks were not presented for general audience and many of the questions/comments were obviously sexist. Much of the theory presented was presented for “insiders” rather than a “general audience”, making the conference not really worth my time. Presented a talk which went well, though relatively little engagement afterwards.
  • Stephen: In the past (pre 2018) was a place to hear interesting ideas and there was a fair amount of strong modeling of quantitative neuroscience mixed in among far more computational topics. The workshops are a really nice way to get familiar with a field, and it is a nice environment for meeting people/networking more easily relative to the conference. I would probably do both or just the conference though. Recommend if computationally curious, but I am unsure if the vibe has shifted as others have noted.
  • Helen: I last attended in 2023 and did not like it for the same reasons as Matt. I did get to catch up with some of my grad school classmates and some others in the field, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. Maybe someone with a stronger background in theory and computation would get more out of it, but for the vast majority of talks/posters, I did not come away with an understanding of why I should care.
• ASCONA https://www.asconacircuits.org/
  • A ‘fancy’ and small conference that has a lot of systems neuroscience. A lot of solid, interesting work presented usually by PIs. It is held in a very nice, beautiful swiss location just north of Italy, and like it or not, you will rub shoulders with glam journal editors. Probably good for a more mature project, only one person per lab is allowed and it can be competitive based on the year and how recently someone from the lab has attended. A good experience for meeting people and maybe for networking/setting up future connections. Recommend (stephen)
• NCM (Annual meeting of the Society for the Neural Control of Movement)
  • Info: held annually in ~April in a different interesting location each time. Single track. Mostly human and primate work, with some rodent
  • Helen: I attended this to learn about what the vertebrate people thinking about when it comes to the neural control of movement and was one of 2 fly people at a conference of ~400 people. If you work on movement, not a bad conference to attend once in a while to expand your horizons
  • Sophia: I attended this meeting May 2025. This meeting was 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 human, primate, rodent work, and again, I was one of two fly people. Despite this, my poster was more well attended than I had expected, and folks were generally still interested in work in flies. In particular, I was impressed by some of the more translational/clinical research presented. If you work on motor control, are thinking about how potential projects in this lab can contribute to the broader field, and/or are thinking of a more translational aspect to your career at any point, I would recommend attending.
• Modulation of Neural Circuits and Behavior Gordon Conference
  • Info: held every other year (odd years) towards the end of May. Small, single track conference. Like all Gordon conferences, has an associated seminar meeting in the 2 days before for trainees.
  • Helen: Systems neuroscience, generally, but check the program for the specific conference since there is a theme each time. 50-75% of talks given by PIs. Lots of networking opportunities.
• Crete meeting (officially, Workshop on Neural Circuits and Behavior of Drosophila)
  • Info: held approximately every other year in June at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, fundraising permitting. Small (~60-80 people), single track meeting, that lasts 6-7 days. Everyone who attends gives a short talk (15-20 minutes). Must apply to attend, and given the size of the meeting, usually 1 person per lab. Senior grad students and postdocs at the late stage of their project. Usually info about this meeting spreads by word of mouth, but apparently, they’ve made a website now.
  • Helen: I really like this meeting. The location is gorgeous, and there are plenty of opportunities to just hang out and talk science with fly circuits people. Vibe is very casual, and includes stray cats that will wander into the conference hall during the presentations. On the other hand, because these people are the ones closest to us in the field, expect detailed and vigorous discussion. From a networking perspective, probably best for senior grad students and postdocs who will be staying in the fly circuits field.
• Neuroethology (International Congress of Neuroethology)
  • Info: every two years held somewhere new, often in an interesting place. A wide variety of species studied with an emphasis on non-model systems and behaviors observed in nature. Large poster session(s) with big and small talks (may have changed since I went - Stephen).
  • Stephen: Talks are usually great because presenters are a) aware they are talking to outsiders for their field, and b) used to explaining their idiosyncratic system. It can be a nice place to gain an appreciation for animal behavior beyond the mouse and fly. I think it is a nice thing to attend any time in the lab for a shot in the arm or to get some different perspectives on behavior, there is disproportionate neuro droso (and insect vision/navigation) attendance, so you may get more relevant feedback if you do present a poster than you might think. There are awards for graduate students which lab alum Tots got, so maybe look into that if you’re attending and senior.

Misc Smaller Themed Conference Series

These are conferences that happen infrequently and are usually retreat-style where everyone stays in the same housing/eats together. Please move them above if you think they belong somewhere else.

• Janelia Conferences https://www.janelia.org/you-janelia/conferences/conferences
  • At Janelia, you stay in the housing there with a small number of presenters for a single-track talk and (usually) multiple poster sessions. They tend to be very focused, you should look through and sign up for email announcements.
• Gordon Research Conferences https://www.grc.org/
  • These are very specialized and very frequently held at small private colleges in their off months. A great way to get really into a field and get to know the people/what is exciting. Looking through the list every 6 months or so is a good idea, ask around to see if anyone has attended one particular type before.

Conference Logistics:

• Get pre-approval from Rachel before deciding to attend any conference.
• The general expectation is that everybody in the lab will attend roughly 1 conference per year. You are not obliged to attend any conferences if you don’t want to, however, and there might be good reasons why some folks need to attend >1 in a given year (e.g., they are searching for postdoctoral positions or faculty positions). So please regard this as just a rough rule of thumb.
• International conferences are generally more expensive than domestic conferences, so please be choosy about the international conferences you attend (but check! some are quite subsidized).
• In general, you are welcome to attend a conference without presenting, unless the conference requires all attendees to present.
• As a general rule, you’ll be reimbursed for all travel and lodging expenses, but you won’t receive a per diem stipend. Also, the lab’s standard policy is not to reimburse conference attendees for meals they buy while at the conference or traveling.
• You can charge the HHMI Procard directly for your conference registration. Note there is a monthly spend limit, we should try to avoid maxing out the card as it is used for many other things.
  • For conferences that multiple lab members will attend, to avoid exceeding the HHMI card limit, we can request use of another HHMI credit card. Ask Rachel or Stephen about this.
  • Alternatively, if there will be many conference bookings from the same conference, we can often request a quote and pay by purchase order (PO).
• Use your personal credit card to book your hotel, and get reimbursed via HHMI through “Emburse Spend” (below). Retain copies of the receipts and charges in your credit card portal.
• If the full cost of an airfare or train fare will be paid via HHMI funds, you can have the HHMI travel office book your travel, and you don’t need to pay out of pocket. To take advantage of this option, a HHMI Travel Booking Request Form (attached below) should be completed and sent to the email listed on the bottom of the form (travelsupport@hhmi.org), ccing bwhsoo@hhmi.org. Please include “TRAVEL REQUEST” in the subject line to ensure that the request is routed properly. if you decide to send a screenshot of your preferred travel arrangements instead of listing them on the form, then please be sure the screenshot is attached as a PDF, along with the Travel Request form.
• If the cost of airfare or train fare is not chargeable to HHMI (e.g., if you are traveling to the NIH U19 meeting, or if you are going to be reimbursed by another institution for some reason), then charge the travel costs to your personal credit card, and give the receipts to Mary Kate for reimbursement after you return. This applies also to bus, taxi, Uber, Lyft, etc.
• HHMI Reimbursement is currently handled through “Emburse Spend” (formerly “Abacus”) system. To get added to this, you will need someone to reach out to HHMI on your behalf to be invited by an email link. Currently Stephen or Rachel can make these requests. ALL reimbursement must be processed within 60 days of the last expense.
  • Please set up your Emburse Spend account before you leave for the conference
• If traveling internationally with Harvard-owned data and/or materials, the ORA Research Security Team offers to provide travel attestations.
  • The travel attestation consists of a letter from the PI and an export control certification from the Research Security team confirming that the researcher has University permission to travel internationally with Harvard-owned data and/or materials and does not require an export license.
  • Requests and questions concerning travel attestations should be sent to International_Collaborations@hms.harvard.edu as early as possible, but at least 5 business days before the start of travel.

📎 HHMI Lab Travel Request Form.pdf