The Scottish Microscopy Society's
2026 Symposium
17th November 2026
John McIntyre Conference Centre, Pollock Halls, 18 Holyrood Park Rd, Edinburgh EH16 5AY
Registration
Registration is now open until Monday 2nd November 2026. Please see details of the travel fund below before registering.
Travel, Accommodation & Registration
Fund – up to £100
We are pleased to be offering our Travel Fund again this year, supported by SULSA and the Scottish Microscopy Society.
The fund provides up to £100 towards travel, accommodation, and/or registration costs.
If you would like to apply, please submit your application here before registering via Eventbrite. The deadline for these submissions is 7th October at 5pm.
Abstract Submission
We strongly encourage ECRs to submit an abstract for an oral or poster presentation. This is a great opportunity to present in a friendly environment, to win prizes and to interact with peers in the microscopy community.
We welcome submissions for both oral and poster presentations.
- Oral presentation deadline: Monday 19th October 2026 at 5pm
- Poster presentation deadline: Monday 2nd November 2026 at 5pm
You can submit one abstract only. Applicants for oral presentations will be notified after the submission deadline whether their abstract has been selected for a talk.
This year, we’re introducing a dedicated afternoon poster session, giving you plenty of time to view the posters and chat with presenters in depth.
Keynote Speaker
We are delighted to welcome Dr Jost Enn
inga, Head of the Dynamics of Host-Pathogen Interactions Unit at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, as our keynote speaker.
Jost’s group develops novel fluorescence microscopy assays for tracking pathogen invasion processes, measuring multiple parameters to correlate pathogen behaviours, intracellular localisation and host responses in real time.
Symposium Programme
| 09:00–09:50 | Registration, Coffee, Poster Hanging & Trade Exhibition |
| 09:50–10:00 | Welcome from the SMS Committee |
| 10:00–10:45 | Keynote Speaker – Prof. Jost Enninga – Institut Pasteur |
Contributed Talks Session 1, Chair: Leandro Lemgruber-Soares
| 10:45-11:00 | Daniel Soong – University of Edinburgh |
| 11:00-11:15 | Charlotte Mellor – CRUK Scotland Institute / University of Glasgow |
| 11:15-11:30 | Morgan Bryant – University of Aberdeen |
| 11:30-11:45 | ASCUS – Edinburgh |
| 11:45-12:00 | 5 min technobites: ZEISS / ONI / Photon Lines |
| 12:00-13:30 | Lunch, Trade Exhibition and Networking |
Contributed Talks Session 2, Chair: Adrian Garcia Burgos
| 13:30-13:45 | SMOTY Winner – Alex Hunt – University of Edinburgh |
| 13:45-14:00 | Lewis Walker – University of Strathclyde |
| 14:00-14:15 | Theo Andrews – Trinity College Dublin |
| 14:15-14:30 | 5 min technobites: Nikon / Northern Light Microscopy / Miltenyi |
| 14:30–15:45 | Poster Session, Coffee & Trade Exhibition |
Contributed Talks Session 3, Chair: Louise Stephen
| 15:45-16:00 | Amal Balahmar – University of Dundee |
| 16:00-16:15 | Deborah Seah – University of Edinburgh |
| 16:15-16:30 | Oliwia Mruk – CRUK Scotland Institute / University of Glasgow |
| 16:30-16:45 | Ryan Ferguson – University of Edinburgh |
| 16:45–17:00 | Prize Giving & Closing Remarks |
Scottish Microscopist of the Year
The Symposium will include a talk by the winner of the 2026 Scottish Microscopist of the Year Award!
Image Competition
Our image competition will be running as part of this year’s symposium.
Image submission is open until 5pm on Thursday 12th November 2026
*Please note: you will need to sign into a Google account to view the form and upload your image. (Contact us if you’re not able to do this)
All images will be displayed at the conference, as well as being uploaded to our website.
The symposium is a great opportunity to meet facility managers from different universities, who can give you more information on the microscopes and techniques available in Scotland.
This year’s symposium is kindly supported by our trade partners who will have technobites and stands on the day
