Conference Programme

The conference will feature a full day of scientific sessions, including invited plenary lectures, research talks, early-career researcher presentations, and an interactive poster session. The programme is structured to reflect the breadth of microbial interaction research, spanning natural, clinical, industrial, and engineered biofilms and microbiomes.

Sessions will cover key themes such as:

• Interspecies cooperation, competition, and communication
• Biofilm organisation, resilience, and adaptation
• Metabolic cross-feeding and community-level function
• Antimicrobial tolerance and resistance in complex communities
• Synthetic and engineered microbial communities

Dedicated networking breaks and exhibition periods will provide opportunities for discussion, collaboration, and engagement with academic, industrial, and research-network partners.

Programme outline

8:30 – 09:15 | Registration

Session 1: Metabolic Cooperation and Alternative States in Microbial Communities

Chair: Faizan Sadiq

09:15 – 09:20 | Welcome from the conference organiser
Dr Faizan Sadiq, Lecturer in Microbial Biofilms, Cardiff University

09:20 – 09:30 | Welcome from Applied Microbiology International (AMI)
Kathryn Spiller, Director of Publishing, Applied Microbiology International

09:30 – 10:00 | Plenary Talk
Power from unity: On the formation of intercellular metabolic networks within microbial communities
Professor Christian Kost – Professor of Ecology, Osnabrück University, Germany
(25-minute talk + 5-minute Q&A)

10:00 – 10:30 | Plenary Talk
Alternative stable states in a synthetic human gut community
Professor Karoline Faust – Associate Professor in Microbiological Bio informatics, KU Leuven, Belgium
(25-minute talk + 5-minute Q&A)

10:30 – 11:00 | Selected Early Career Researcher Presentations (2)
• 10:30 – 10:45 Early Career Researcher 1
• 10:45 – 11:00 Early Career Researcher 2

11:00 – 11:15: Flash Poster Presentations (10)
Each presentation: 1-minute talk, with no Q&A

11:15 – 11:35: Refreshments, exhibition and poster viewing

Session 2: Interaction Dynamics & Microbial Community Function

Chair: Katja Hill

11:35 – 12:05 | Plenary Talk
Competition in bacteria and the human microbiome
Professor Kevin Foster, Chair of Microbiology, University of Oxford, UK
(25-minute talk + 5-minute Q&A)

12:05 – 12:35 | Plenary Talk
Interspecific interactions in biofilms impact bacterial protection and functionality
Professor Mette Burmølle, Professor of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
(25-minute talk + 5-minute Q&A)

12:35 – 12:55 | Research Talk
Cooperation and competition in chronic wound biofilms
Dr Faizan Sadiq, Lecturer in Microbial Biofilms, Cardiff University

12:55 – 13:25 | Selected Early Career Researcher Presentations (2)
• 12:35-12:50 | Early Career Researcher 3
• 12:50-13:05 | Early Career Researcher 4

13:25 – 13:40 | Flash Poster Presentations (10)
Each presentation: 1-minute talk, with no Q&A

13:40 – 14:40 | Lunch, exhibition and poster viewing

Session 3: Ecological Stress, Signalling Cascades and Microbial Adaptability

Chair: Brad Spiller

14:40 – 15:10 | Plenary Talk
Biofilm – Bacteriophage Interactions – Breaking and Building Professor Jeremy Webb, Professor of Microbiology and National
Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC) Co-Director, University of Southampton, UK
(25-minute talk + 5-minute Q&A)

15:10 – 15:30 | Research Talk
Title tbc
Dr Katja Hill, Senior Lecturer in Oral Microbiology Cardiff University

15:30 – 15:50 | Research Talk
tbc

15:50 – 16:10 | Research Talk
Title tbc
Professor David Williams, Professor of Oral Microbiology, Cardiff University

16:10 – 16:30 | Research Talk
Title tbc
Dr Lydia Powell, Lecturer in the Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Swansea University, UK

16:30 – 17:00 | Plenary Talk
Unravelling the signalling cascades that govern ecological versatility in Acinetobacter baumannii
Professor Ronan MacCarthy, Professor in Microbial Biofilms, University of Southampton, UK
(25-minute talk + 5-minute Q&A)

17:00 – 17:15 | Refreshments, networking and poster viewing

17:15 – 17:30 | Closing remarks and awards
Professor David Thomas and Dr Faizan Sadiq