The Congress merges the traditions of the participating societies: the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB); the American Society of Naturalists (ASN); the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB); and the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE). The sextennial Congress takes the place of the ESEB and Evolution Meetings in 2024, and it builds on the success of the previous Congresses in Ottawa in 2012 and Montpellier in 2018.
The structure of this Congress will be unique. Roughly 40% of talks will be structured into symposia, following the traditional ESEB format. The remaining 60% of talks will be structured into general sessions according to topic, following the traditional Evolution meetings format. The success of the joint meeting therefore depends on the strength and range of the symposia complementing the standard sessions.