5th International Radar Aeroecology Conference & Training workshop

The 5th International Radar Aeroecology Conference (IRAC 2026) will be held in Amsterdam on June 24-26, 2026. The conference will cover the latest international developments relevant to the use of different types of radars to monitor and understand flying animals. An optional two-day training workshop will take place before the conference on 22-23 June, covering the use of weather radar for applications in aeroecology.

All conference updates will be communicated via the Radar Aeroecology mailing list. Please sign up to get notifications. Contact us if you cannot sign up to Google Groups.

We thank the following organizations for providing financial support:

Registration

Register for the conference

Registration deadline: March 20 for presenting authors. April 28 for other participants.

Programme

Times are indicated in local times for Amsterdam, Netherlands (CEST, UTC+02:00). See the current time in Amsterdam.

Monday, June 22

Tuesday, June 23

Wednesday, June 24

Session 1 - Migration ecology of birds

Session 2 - Methodological advances

Session 3 - Observing insects at scale

Session 4 - Migration ecology of birds (cont.)

Thursday, June 25

Session 5 - Insect migration

Session 6 - Radar applications in wind energy

Session 7 - Applications in radar aeroecology

Friday, June 26

Session 8 - Movement ecology of bats and insects

Session 9 - Monitoring the airspace

Training workshop

The pre-conference workshop will be a two-day long immersive training in the use of weather surveillance radar data for applications in aeroecology. We will cover the basics of radar remote sensing, data visualization, and data processing. Early-career professionals, practitioners, and students are encouraged to participate.

For inquiries about the workshop, please contact Kyle Horton.

Venue, travel and accommodation

See logistics for practical information on the venue, accommodation, travel, getting around, and things to see and do in Amsterdam.

Contact

Please contact us irac2026@uva.nl with any questions that you may have regarding the conference, incl. your abstract submission, (informal) events you might want to organize (e.g. round-table discussions), etc.

Scientific committee: Bart Kranstauber, Birgen Haest, Isabel Metz, Nadja Weisshaupt and Jeff Kelly.

Organizing committee: Judy Shamoun-Baranes, Elske Tielens, Peter Desmet, Cecilia Nilsson and Bart Hoekstra.

Training workshop coordinator: Kyle Horton

Code of conduct

Our conference is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks, workshops, parties, Twitter and other online media. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers.

If you are being harassed or witnessed something inappropriate, would like to file a complaint, or have other concerns about the safety of participants, please do not hesitate to contact us at irac2026@uva.nl or anyone from the organizing committee.