On November 9-10, the Entomological Society of America (ESA), the Entomological Society of Canada (ESC), and the Entomological Society of British Columbia (ESBC) hosted an invasive arthropod species summit in Vancouver, BC, immediately prior to the tri-society Joint Annual Meeting of ESA, ESC, and ESBC, which ran from 11-14 November in Vancouver. Each of the three Societies has named a summit co-chair to help organize the event. They were: Tracy Hueppelsheuser, British Columbia Plant Protection Advisory Council (ESBC); Sandy M. Smith, University of Toronto (ESC); and Frank G. Zalom, University of California – Davis (ESA), with Dr. Helen Spafford, a well-known expert on invasive arthropod species, serving as a technical advisor.

The summit was sponsored by Corteva Agriscience, the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont; Bayer CropScience; and Syngenta:

Important information and links:

• Why: We held this summit as part of the overall Grand Challenges Agenda for Entomology initiative. The summit sought to explore key aspects of the invasive arthropod species crisis, learn what existing initiatives and funding organizations are already active in this area, and identify the best opportunities for the entomological community to make a meaningful and lasting contributions. Learn more by reading the Statement of the Problem report prepared for this summit (summary available here).
• Who?: Known opinion and thought leaders of the invasive arthropod species challenge were been invited. All entomological societies, related federal agencies, and corporate interests were encouraged to send a representative to the summit. The summit is invitation only and space was limited. Nevertheless, all invited speakers and attendees were also encouraged to suggest others who should be in attendance. In the end, approximately 160 people registered and 150 attended. The speakers and their bios may be found here.
• What?: The summit included a mix of round tables, plenary sessions, breakout conversations, scientific posters, and other methods of scientific presentation, in addition to plenty of networking opportunities.
  • The agenda remains online here, and includes links to presentations for those speakers who gave permission to share their talks.
  • The Summit utilized the ABT method of developing communication narrative. Participants were encouraged to watch this 5- minute video prior to coming to the summit to help prepare.
  • A report out on the summit was added to the GC blog and EntomologyToday.
  • As an outcome from the summit, a white paper remains under development and links to it will be added to this page when it is completed.