The University of Pretoria's Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics (CMEG) is delighted to announce that they were successful in their bid to host the 18th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME) 2020. Other bidders were Hawaii, Auckland, Beijing and Santiago. The meeting will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in August 2020.

The bid was prepared by the Cape Town Bid Local Organising Committee (LOC), which included researchers in the fields of microbiology from around the country, led by Prof Don Cowan and Dr Thulani Makhalanyane from the University of Pretoria.

According to Dr Thulani Makhalanyane, the LOC secretary, 'This will be the first ISME meeting on the African continent, and we are ecstatic! The success of the bid presents us with a unique opportunity to promote the field of Microbial Ecology across the African continent and we hope to attract more African delegates than before.' Dr Makhalanyane is the Deputy Director of CMEG and is an ambassador for the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME).

The LOC Chairman, Prof Don Cowan, Director of CMEG, said: 'On behalf of the Local Organising Committee, I would like to state that we are extremely pleased that South Africa has been chosen as the venue for the 2020 International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME-2020). Microbial ecology is an under-developed subject in Africa, but is vitally important in the growing appreciation of the value and importance of global and regional biodiversity. ISME-2020 will bring more than 2 500 international visitors to this continent, including all the world's leading researchers in the field, and this meeting will therefore represent a critical moment in the evolution of the fields of microbial ecology and biodiversity research in Africa.'