National Bat Conference

The National Bat Conference is the biggest event in the bat calendar and this year returns as a hybrid event! An opportunity to hear from experts, develop your skills and connect with bat workers from across the country - catch up with old friends and make new ones.

This year the National Bat Conference will take place online via Zoom and in person at the University of Reading. We are delighted to announce that our Keynote Speaker this year will be BCT's President Chris Packham!

Bookings are now open and early bird prices will run until 3rd June.

Book your in person tickets

Book your virtual tickets

We are grateful to Thermal Vision Ecology and Wildlife Acoustics for their sponsorship - other exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities are still available!

Workshop details can be found by clicking here.

Chris Packham will give the Keynote on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday talks will include:

• BCT update - Kit Stoner, BCT
• Tree Roost Mitigation - Chloe Delgery and Jim Mullholland
• Come for the birds, stay for the bats! Potential of a low cost, high quality bat monitoring system for bat monitoring and conservation world-wide - Richard Zinck
• Introducing BCT's Sound Classification System - Madeline Davis
• Panel discussion - panellist details to follow

Sunday talks will include:

• Bats, Bulbs, Bollards and Black-outs - practice and pitfalls in planning lighting mitigation - Cody Levine
• Overview of BCT’s Wildlife Crime Project - Mark Goulding
• Long-term change in insect populations as potential drivers of population change in UK bats - Hannah Romanowski
• Bat Maths: Modelling movement, detector placement and finding roosts - Thomas Woolley
• Assessing migration of bat species and interaction with Offshore Wind Farms in British Waters - Jack Hooker

We will also hear from the winners of various awards including the Pete Guest Award, the Vincent Weir Award and the Kate Barlow Award.

More details to come.

The conference itself will take place in the Palmer Building at the University of Reading. Click here for map location.

Accommodation is available on campus in the halls approximately 9 minutes walk away. Any questions about accommodation can be sent to: info@venuereading.com

In-person tickets include attendance at the conference (including talks, workshops, panel discussion and networking), refreshments and lunch each day.

In-person early bird prices - no longer available

In-person full prices

• One day only (Saturday or Sunday) BCT member £135 / Non-member £140
• Weekend delegate BCT member £180 / Non-member £185

Optional extras

• 2 course dinner on Friday or Saturday night £20pp
• Conference dinner on Saturday night (3 courses plus wine, quiz and ceilidh) £50pp

Accommodation

B&B - en-suite rooms in halls can be booked directly with the University of Reading for Friday and/or Saturday nights - £76.50 pppn (booking link is provided in your conference booking confirmation email)

Virtual prices

• • One day only (Saturday or Sunday) BCT member £60 / Non-member £65
  • Weekend delegate BCT member £105 / Non-member £110

NB virtual tickets will include all the talks live or as recordings if you can't attend live as well as a limited selection of workshops. It will not be possible to include virtual attendees in all the networking elements, but there will be Zoom rooms open for networking with other virtual attendees if you would like.

Late booking fees - £20