By SORTEE 2025 Leadership Retreat participants | December 2, 2025
The virtual 2025 SORTEE Online Retreat brought together our society’s Directors, Officers, and Committee Chairs for three days of inspiring discussions about SORTEE’s past experiences and future directions. Across sessions on “Vision & 2026 Society Priorities”, “Sustainability & Core Activities”, and “Membership & Governance”, we reflected on our progress, identified areas where we can improve, and shaped goals for the year ahead. 🌱
What stood out most throughout the conversations and ideas we exchanged was not any single initiative, policy, or technical challenge. It was a reminder that SORTEE’s strength comes entirely from its ✨ members and volunteers ✨. Every milestone we’ve reached over the past five years, whether advancing open data and open code practices, promoting preprints, or delivering virtual conferences, workshops, webinars, and code clubs, has been achieved because dedicated volunteers cared deeply about improving research culture in ecology and evolutionary biology. SORTEE’s leadership came away from the retreat with a renewed emphasis on strengthening communication and collaboration both within and across our committees.
Focusing our collective energy
Building on the 2024 retreat consensus, we reaffirmed that SORTEE’s strength lies in community-building, while also recognising the value of contributing to broader systemic change in science. 🎯 To maximise our volunteer capacity, we agreed that 2026 goals should build on SORTEE’s existing foundations and momentum rather than expanding into entirely new areas. We identified open data, open code, and preprints as areas where SORTEE already has substantial activity, visibility, and member interest. These should continue to guide our work in 2026.
At the same time, goal-setting should be more structured than in previous years. Rather than choosing topics ad hoc, the Board of Directors agreed to develop an annually updated list of goals and priorities 📝 to inform the activities of SORTEE’s committees. This list will be informed by member survey data 📊 and existing SORTEE initiatives.
Expanding our membership through visibility and collaborations
Participants highlighted the significance of increasing SORTEE’s visibility within the larger EcoEvo community. 🌍 We talked about building relationships with other learned societies in EcoEvo, having a greater presence at in-person conferences ✈️, and expanding our existing outreach toolkit with slides and talking points, to help members promote SORTEE in their departments, at conferences, or local events (e.g., this flyer).
Looking ahead
The 2025 retreat left us with a clearer direction and a sense of purpose. 🚀 It also reinforced what has been true since SORTEE’s founding five years ago: everything we accomplish is driven by our people.
As we move into 2026, we carry forward that commitment to supporting our volunteers and members, focusing our efforts, and continuing to build a culture of transparency, openness, reliability, and collaboration in ecology and evolutionary biology.
To everyone who participated in the retreat, and to our founding members, past members, and newest members, thank you. ❤️ Your ideas, dedication, and enthusiasm continue to shape SORTEE’s path forward.
SORTEE Leadership retreat participants: Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar, Christian John, Dom Roche, Edward Ivimey-Cook, Joel Pick, Juliette Tariel-Adam, Kaija Gahm, Losia Lagisz, Michael Bertram, Matthieu Paquet, Natalie van Dis, Patrice Pottier, Stefan Vriend, Stephanie Flaman, Rose O’Dea, Saoirse Kelleher, Marija Purgar
SORTEE 2025 Leadership Retreat in numbers
- 17 participants
- 11 hours of discussion
- 10 countries (Australia, Canada, Croatia, Finland, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, UK, USA)
- 7 time zones
Voices from the SORTEE 2025 Leadership Retreat
“The SORTEE 2025 leadership retreat was a huge success. It was particularly inspiring to have meaningful conversations and discussions about improving volunteer experiences and growing our open science community.” Edward R. Ivimey-Cook (SORTEE President) & Marija Purgar (SORTEE President-Elect)
“The leadership retreat was a fantastic opportunity to reflect on what SORTEE has accomplished in recent years and discuss what we will work to achieve in the near future. It is inspiring to work together with so many ecologists and evolutionary biologists who are passionate about Open Science!” Michael Bertram (SORTEE Board Member)
“This year’s retreat brought together thoughtful discussions, lively interactions, and a remarkable diversity of perspectives. An inspiring foundation for SORTEE’s next steps.” Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar (SORTEE Board Member)
“I was humbled and inspired by the deep commitment and enthusiasm from SORTEE’s leadership when it comes to charting the future of the society and its activities. There is no doubt SORTEE’s governance is in extremely capable hands!” Dom Roche (SORTEE Past President and co-founder)
“On the eve of SORTEE’s fifth birthday, I came away from this retreat with a buoyant optimism for the Society’s future.” Rose O’Dea (SORTEE Past President and co-founder)