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Past events › EEBRC 2026

2nd Eastern European Bat Research Conference

Towards the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) · 28–30 September 2026 · Yerevan, Armenia

About the conference

The 2nd Eastern European Bat Research Conference (EEBRC) was organized by Armenian bat researchers and conservation practitioners in collaboration with regional and international partners. It took place in Yerevan on 28–30 September 2026 and provided a dedicated platform for scientific exchange and collaboration in bat ecology, conservation and management across Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and adjacent regions.

Programme (PDF)

Key dates

Abstract submission deadline: 31 May 2026
Notification of acceptance: 30 June 2026
Conference: 28–30 September 2026 (excursion on 30 September)

Thematic sessions

Diversity & TaxonomyEcology & BehaviorRoosts & HabitatsMonitoring & MethodsConservation & ThreatsHealth & DiseasePolicy & Outreach

Working language: English. Abstracts up to 300 words; oral presentations 10 min + 5 min Q&A; posters in A0 format. Accepted abstracts were published in the online Conference Book of Abstracts.

Programme

Monday, 28 September
09:00–10:00	Registration
10:00–11:00	Opening ceremony (welcome remarks)
11:00–11:40	Session 1 · Chair: Astghik Ghazaryan Aliaksei Shpak — The Minsk Bat Contact Centre «Kazhanapolis» as a tool for monitoring hibernating bats Anton Vlaschenko — From case-by-case rescue to a nationwide urban bat monitoring programme in Ukraine
11:40–12:10	Coffee break
12:10–13:30	Session 2 · Chair: Jan Zukal Jiri Pikula — Diversity of filariae circulating in South Caucasian bats and their ectoparasites Sophio Maglakelidze — Regional and method-dependent patterns of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in bat-associated samples from the Balkans and South Caucasus Lavinia-Vasilica Manolachi — Antimicrobial resistance and virulence profiles in insectivorous bat guano from Isverna Cave, Romania mirror anthropogenic contamination Vahram Hayrapetyan — Azokh Cave as a perennial habitat and roost for bats
13:30–14:30	Lunch · group photo
14:45–16:05	Session 3 · Chair: Ioseb Natradze Jan Zukal — Ecophysiological aspects of bat hibernation: a study of selected European species Petr Mrhálek — Long-term changes in the winter bat assemblage of Kateřinská Cave, Czech Republic Tatevik Harutyunyan — Acoustic differentiation of Miniopterus pallidus and M. schreibersii: multivariate discrimination of cryptic bent-winged bats Natalia Dibolscaia — New data on bat hibernation roosts from „Orheiul Vechi” cultural-natural reserve
16:05–17:00	Coffee break · poster session
Tuesday, 29 September
10:00–11:35	Session 4 · Chair: Henry Schofield Aleksandra A. Panyutina — Legged locomotion in bats: Gould’s spandrel or a key for settlement Julia Moiseeva — Concordance between morphological and genetic diversity in long-eared bats of the genus Plecotus É. Geoffroy, 1818 (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) Ilia Artiushin — Hybridisation between common and northern serotine. Beyond mtDNA Vida Zrnčić — Shining a light on bats: UV fluorescence in lesser and Blasius’s horseshoe bats
11:35–12:05	Coffee break
12:05–13:35	Session 5 · Chair: Tigran Hayrapetyan Stuart Newson — Scaling up bioacoustics: towards sustainable biodiversity monitoring across Europe, North Africa and the South Caucasus Pita K. Amick — Understory pteropodids (Chiroptera) avoid the sub-canopy and fly near the forest floor across elevational gradients Vojo Milanović — The impact of heavy metals on bats: guano as a bioindicator of heavy metal pollution Samo Grgurevič — Bat research as part of the Slovenian Biological Students’ Society research camp “Ecosystems of the Balkans”
13:35–14:35	Lunch
14:35–15:00	Closing ceremony · Henry Schofield, Astghik Ghazaryan, Peter Lina
Evening	Conference gala dinner
Wednesday, 30 September
All day	Excursion

Poster session

PO-01	Sarka Bednarikova, Eva Rehulkova, Ondrej Danek, Sarka Masova, Monika Nemcova, Katerina Zukalova, Jan Zukal, Jiri Pikula. A new filarial nematode from the parti-coloured bat in Europe: integrative description of Litomosa vetuni* n. sp.*
PO-02	Kateřina Zukalová, Petr Mrhálek, Jiří Pikula, Veronika Seidlová, Jan Zukal. Phenology and metabolic costs of gestation in the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis)
PO-03	Monika Nemcova, Katerina Zukalova, Sarka Bednarikova, Lucie Kovacova, Jan Zukal, Veronika Seidlova, Jiri Pikula. Interferon β and ω as biomarkers of pathogen exposure in Myotis myotis* bats*
PO-04	Monika Nemcova, Lucie Kovacova, Jiri Pikula. Diclofenac-induced concentration- and temperature-dependent patterns of responses in liver cells derived from the common noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula)
PO-05	Lucie Kovacova, Jiri Pikula, Monika Nemcova. Metabolic performance of bat hepatocytes at fluctuating body temperatures simulated under in vitro conditions
PO-06	Elizaveta Ignateva. Wind energy expansion in Central Asia: emerging conservation risks for bats in a poorly studied region
PO-07	Bella Babayan, Samvel Shahinyan, Samvel Bagdasaryan, Tigran Yesayan, Garegin Sevoyan, Alexander Yesayan. The challenges of global warming effects on Armenian caves
PO-08	Astghik Ghazaryan, Kendra Phelps, Tigran Hayrapetyan, Georgi Papov, Ofik Yelabekyan, Vanuhi Hambardzumyan, Tatev Harutyunyan, Anna Tadevosyan, Seda Adamyan, Nisreen Al-hmoud, Mu’men Alrwashdeh, Amany Abdien, Ghadeer Alzghoul, Luke Hamel, Kevin Olival. First record of coronaviruses in bats of Armenia
PO-09	Tatevik Harutyunyan, Anna P. Tadevosyan, Georgi Y. Papov, Astghik S. Ghazaryan. Research of synanthropic and migrant bats in Yerevan
PO-10	Georgi Papov, Tigran Hayrapetyan, Tatevik Harutyunyan, Vanuhi Hambardzumyan, Ofik Yelabekyan, Anna Tadevosyan, Astghik Ghazaryan. Bats of Areni 1 cave

Scientific Committee

Dr. Henry SchofieldUniversity of Sussex

Mr. Peter H. C. LinaSenior Expert

Dr. Jan Zukal, MBAHead, Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University

Mr. Ioseb NatradzeInstitute of Zoology, Tbilisi; Ilia State University

Dr. Ivana BudinskiSenior Research Associate, Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”

Organizing Committee — Chairs

Astghik GhazaryanPhD, Associate Professor, Head of Department of Zoology, Yerevan State University

Tigran HayrapetyanPresident of the Armenian Association of Mammalogists NGO

George PapovAssociate Professor, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Yerevan State University

Vahram HayrapetyanSenior researcher, Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology

Organizing Committee — Members

Tatevik HarutyunyanPhD student, Junior Researcher, Department of Zoology, Yerevan State University

Ofik YelabekyanSenior laboratory assistant, Department of Zoology, Yerevan State University

Gohar SahakyanSenior laboratory assistant, Department of Zoology, Yerevan State University

Diana SarukhanyanLaboratory assistant, Yerevan State University

Elen HayrapetyanLaboratory assistant, Yerevan State University

Volunteers

Armenian Association of Mammalogists NGO

Venue

The conference was held at Yerevan State University (YSU), Faculty of European Languages and Communication, “Innovative Solutions and Technologies Center” Foundation, 1 Alex Manoogian Street, Yerevan. Founded in 1919, YSU is Armenia’s oldest and largest institution of higher learning.

Yerevan, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, lies at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, with views of Mount Ararat and the Ararat Valley.

Organizers and partners

Armenian Association of Mammalogists NGO

Contact

2nd EEBRC organizing committee · info@armbat.org · 1 Alex Manoogian St, Yerevan, Armenia