After the successful meeting in 2024, we are happy to announce the 2026 ANN Spring Meeting in March 2026 at the same location as before, a scenic town of Cochem in Germany!

Date: 13-15 March, 2026 (Friday-Sunday)

Place: Youth Hostel Cochem   = Web site =   = Map = 
Klottener Straße 9, 56812 Cochem, Germany.
Closest train station: 10-min walk from Cochem (Mosel) Station
- 35 min by RE (Reginal Express) or 50 min by RB (Regional Bahn) from ICE station Koblenz
- 2-2.5 hours from Frankfurt Airport (Flughafen)
- 1.5 hours by RE from Luxembourg
- 2 hours by RE from Saarbrücken

       Search train connection by = Bahn.de =
          For destination, type "Cochem(Mosel)"

       Search routes by = Google Map =

Registration Deadline:    25. January 2026

Participation Fee: 
120 € for Students (PhD / Master / Bachelor)
180 € for Postdocs / Technicians
290 € for Principal Investigators / Lab Heads / Senior Scientists / Retired
The fee includes two nights of stay, all meals, sweets, beverages and WiFi connection.

The ANN (Arthropod Neuroscience Network) Spring Meeting is a discussion-oriented meeting aimed especially at young researchers to get to know each other and to exchange ideas and technical information. It will be held during the spring semester break of even years, effectively alternating with the Göttingen Neuroscience Meeting.

Features of the Meeting:

• Neuroscience of all species of insects and arthropods, with diverse research approaches
• 2 nights / 3 days. Starts at around 15:00 on the first day - concludes at around 13:00 after lunch.
• Everyone stays together from breakfast to night beer.
• Only young people will present talks and posters (students, postdocs, and young PIs who are less than 2-3 years after starting their labs).
• Young people who want to participate without presentation are also welcome.
• More established people are strongly encouraged to participate as "discussers." Your comments and suggestions will be very helpful for younger people.
• Ample discussion time after each talk
• Long poster sessions
• Long free time in the afternoon of the second day, an important opportunity for networking
• Late night party.

Cochem is a nice small town along the Mosel River. There is a historic downtown and a castle. Unfortunately it is a bit shifted towards the Western edge of Germany. During the past several years we examined more than 40 venues from Berlin to Konstanz, but there are few facilities where we can organize such a meeting with >100 participants with a reasonable price. The venue would be most convenient for the people who work in Germany, but people in nearby countries are of course welcome to join. We look forward to your attendance to make this meeting a really fruitful one.

== Oral Sessions ==

• Each talk at the oral sessions will be 12-min presentation followed by 8-min discussion. Therefore we will have plenty of discussion time. (For the sake of diversity, we will have only one, or maximum two talks from each lab)
• Talks about any topics are welcome. We will organize them into several sessions. We also welcome the talks about methodology/techniques.
• Due to the time constraints, we might have to make selection if we receive too many talk applications.

== Poster Sessions ==

We will have two poster sessions at both nights after dinner. They will transform to drink sessions with beer and wine for further communication.

== Poster Pitch ==

All the poster presenters will have a short oral presentation to advertise their posters. One slide and for one minute.

== Family Attendance ==

If you want to bring your family, they can in priciple stay with the regular fee of the youth hostel. This, however, is dependent on the overall number of participants. Please contact the organizers for further detail. (Pets are not allowed.)

== Tentative Program ==

Friday, 13 March
13:30-15:00  Registration
15:00-15:10  Welcome Remark
15:10-17:40  Oral Sessions
18:00-19:00  Dinner
19:00-20:00  Poster pitch
20:00-22:00  Poster session
22:00-           Beer+Wine

Saturday, 14 March
07:00-09:00  Breakfast
09:00-12:40  Oral Sessions
13:00-18:00  Long Free time (We provide a lunch pack.)
18:00-19:00  Dinner
19:00-21:00  Poster session
21:00-           Party (open-end with music, may continue until quite late.)

Sunday 15 March
07:00-09:00  Breakfast
09:00-11:40  Oral Sessions
11:50-12:20  Broad discussion and Closing remark
12:20-13:20  Lunch and Félix Dujardin Awards

== Registration ==

Registration will start at the beginning of January and closes on 25. January 2026..

If you plan to present a talk: Please submit the Title, Author list, and Abstract.
If you plan to present a poster: Please submit the Title and Author list. (Abstract is not needed.)
Conference fee can be paid by bank transfer, credit card (VISA/Master)..

- Questions about the meeting: email to ann-spring-meeting@uni-koeln.de

== Organisers ==

Program Organizers
 - Dr. Carola Städele (Univ. Göttingen)
 - Dr. Andreas Thum (Univ. Leipzig)
 - Dr. Uwe Homberg (Univ. Marburg)
Local Organisers
 - Dr. Thomas Riemensperger (Univ. Cologne)
 - Dr. Kei Ito (Univ. Cologne)

The meeting is financially supported by the AXA Research Fund.