Programme Schedule

ICA 2026 Programme 15–21 November 2026

15–21 November 2026

A week of discovery, exchange and connection

Browse each congress day for plenaries, technical sessions, symposia, excursions and social events.

Host cityKochi, Kerala, India
15

Sunday, 15 November 2026

Arrival, Registration & Welcome Reception

All day

Delegate Arrival & Registration

Delegate arrival and conference kit distribution.

Evening

Welcome Reception

A warm opening gathering for all delegates.

16

Monday, 16 November 2026

Congress Day 1

Morning

Inaugural Ceremony

Plenary Lecture — Charles Haddad
Darkest Africa? Shining light on the spider biodiversity of the world’s most understudied continent

Parallel Technical Sessions

Systematics, Taxonomy & MorphologyEcology & Community InteractionsConservation & Biodiversity
Afternoon

Young Arachnologists Plenary – I

Kiran Marathe - University of British Columbia, Canada

Phylogenomics of plexippine jumping spiders (Salticinae, Plexippini, Plexippina)

Parallel Technical Sessions

BehaviourEvolution & BiogeographyPoster Presentations I
Symposium 1

How to make Arachnology collections data accessible for research?

Evening

Russian Party

17

Tuesday, 17 November 2026

Congress Day 2

Morning

Plenary Lectures

Jutta M. Schneider
Dangerous liaisons: causes and consequences of monogynous mating systems
Rodrigo Hirata Willemart
The sensory biology of Opiliones

Parallel Technical Sessions

Genetics & Molecular BiologyEcology & Community InteractionsMedical & Applied Arachnology
Afternoon

Young Arachnologists Plenary – II

Rina Morisawa - Kyoto University, Japan

Phylogeography of the Japanese endemic mite harvester species Suzukielus sauteri (Roewer, 1916)

Parallel Technical Sessions

BehaviourPhysiology & Functional BiologyPoster Presentations II

Congress Photo

Symposium 2

Spatial Orientation in Arachnids: from Mechanisms to Behaviour

Evening

Arachno Olympics & Games Night

18

Wednesday, 18 November 2026

Congress Day 3 – Mid-Congress Excursion

Full day

Official Excursions

Delegates may choose among officially organised excursions including:

Western Ghats Biodiversity ExcursionKerala Backwaters Experience
Evening

Informal Networking & Free Evening

19

Thursday, 19 November 2026

Congress Day 4

Morning

Plenary Lectures

Siddharth Kulkarni
Ancient Rare genomic changes and the divergent genomic trajectories across Chelicerata
Suresh Benjamin
Chance, Curiosity, and Spiders: Revealing Hidden Diversity in a Tropical Mountain Hotspot

Parallel Technical Sessions

Venom, Silk & Functional MaterialsConservation & BiodiversityEmerging Technologies & Modelling
Afternoon

Young Arachnologists Plenary – III

Mariela Oviedo-Diego - Smithsonian Institution, USA

Integrated Divergence under Competition: Linking Morphology, Ecology, and Function in Madagascan Pelican Spiders

Parallel Technical Sessions

Systematics & TaxonomyFunctional MorphologyPoster Presentations III
Symposium 3

Parasitoids and Parasites of Arachnids: Hidden Players in Terrestrial Food Webs

Evening

Congress Dinner

20

Friday, 20 November 2026

Congress Day 5

Morning

Plenary Lecture

Xin Xu
Living fossils revisited: Systematics and biogeography of the primitively segmented spiders

Parallel Technical Sessions

Student Oral CompetitionEvolution & BiogeographyGenetics & Molecular Biology
Afternoon

Young Arachnologists Plenary – IV

Morena Nava - University of Barcelona, Spain

From hidden retreats to phylogenetic trees: resolving the evolutionary history and systematics of Iberian red devil Dysdera spiders (Araneae, Dysderidae)

Parallel Technical Sessions

Student Poster CompetitionEmerging Technologies & Modelling
Symposium 4

Arachnid Systematics of the Oriental and Indo-Pacific Regions

ISA General Assembly

Evening

Cultural Programme

21

Saturday, 21 November 2026

Congress Day 6 – Valedictory & Departure

Morning

Young Arachnologists Plenary – V

Kyung-Hoon Jeong - University of Hamburg, Germany

Population Genomic Study of East Asian Sea Pseudoscorpions (Anchigarypus japonicus (Beier, 1952)), Using Whole Genome Sequencing Approach

Morning Parallel Technical Sessions

Valedictory Ceremony

  • Congress Resolutions
  • Future ICA Announcements
  • Best Student Oral Presentation Award
  • Best Student Poster Award
  • Vote of Thanks
Departure

Delegate Departure

Optional post-congress tours.