European conference 36th European Mustelid Colloquium
Facts about this year's 36th European Mustelid Colloquium in Białowieża
A huge Thank You to everyone for making the 36th European Mustelid Colloquium such a success!
VWT was delighted to work in partnership with the Mammal Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences and Białowieża Ecology Conference to organise the 36th European Mustelid Colloquium in Poland in October 2026.
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Partnerships
The Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (MRI PAS) is one of the most widely recognised scientific institutions in Poland specialising in the biology and ecology of mammals. Established in 1952 by Prof. August Dehnel, the Institute has played an important role in the development of theriology and has advanced wildlife conservation and the sustainable management of mammal populations.
MRI PAS has made significant contributions to knowledge in ecology, physiology, morphology, and evolution of mammals with its long tradition of research on carnivores, including mustelids. Particularly important studies concerned factors influencing population dynamics, interspecies interactions and competition, or adaptation to changing environmental conditions of native and invasive mustelid species. These achievements have established the Institute as an important scientific centre in this field.
Situated in the unique environment of the Białowieża Forest — one of the best-preserved temperate forests in Europe — the Institute provides a stimulating scientific environment and an exceptional natural setting, which serves as an invaluable resource for understanding the functioning of natural ecosystems.
The Mammal Research Institute is located in Białowieża, eastern Poland, 250km east of Warsaw, in the central part of the last natural European lowland forest – Białowieża Primeval Forest.
Białowieża village is nestled within the pristine wilderness of the Białowieża Forest, that contains the best-preserved fragment of European lowland temperate forest. Located in eastern Poland in the Podlaskie region, near the border with Belarus, this idyllic village, is renowned for its architecture, authenticity and rich biodiversity. The forest is a UNESCO natural heritage site and supports 59 mammal species, more than 250 bird species, 20 amphibian and reptile species and over 12,000 invertebrate species. The European bison is the iconic symbol of the forest, and Białowieża supports the last remaining wild population.
Photo: Białowieża Forest ©Karol Zub
Photo: Weasel in Białowieża Forest ©Karol Zub
Along with its conference facilities, the Mammal Research Institute holds an extensive scientific collection of mammals containing nearly 190,000 specimens, including 1,150 bison skulls. These items are made available to scientific institutions in Poland and abroad for research-related purposes and are used in educational activities.
Thank you to the three keynote speakers who joined us in Białowieża.
Dr Karol Zub is an Associate Professor at the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a world-leading expert in weasel ecology. His research bridges fundamental ecological theory with applied wildlife management and conservation.
His main research interests include the ecology, physiology, genetics and population dynamics of small mustelids and their prey species, with particular emphasis on: energy expenditure; effect of body mass and metabolic rates variation on winter survival; quantitative genetics (heritability of body mass and metabolic rates); genetic structures of small mammal populations; and population dynamics of weasels and voles. His current work also focuses on the eradication of stoats from the Orkney Islands.
Karol is the author or co-author of more than 70 scientific papers, book chapters and technical reports and he is Editor-in-Chief of the international journal, Mammal Research.
Dr. Jenny MacPherson is the Principal Scientist at Vincent Wildlife Trust. Prior to joining VWT, she was based at Royal Holloway University of London for ten years, carrying out research on the ecology and behaviour of a range of mammal species including pine marten, dormouse, red squirrel, hedgehog, water vole and mink. She joined Vincent Wildlife Trust at the beginning of 2011 and led VWT's Pine Marten Recovery Project from 2014, having been involved with species reintroduction programmes in Britain and elsewhere since 1997.
Jenny also holds a number of honorary positions including Visiting Fellow University of Exeter, Member of DEFRA Reintroductions Task Force, Associate Editor Ecological Solutions and Evidence, Director of the International Martes Working Group,and member of IUCN Small Carnivore Specialist Group.
She has co-written more than 50 papers, reports and book chapters and is the author of the book Stoats, Weasels, Martens and Polecats published in 2024 by Harper Collins in the New Naturalist series.
Dr. Tim Hofmeester is an Associate Professor and Researcher at the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Umeå, Sweden, as well as a board member of the Small Mustelid Foundation. His research focuses on the use of conservation technology and citizen science to foster human-wildlife coexistence, with a particular focus on small mustelid conservation.
He is particularly interested in how environmental change affects species occurrence and density, and in how we can use participatory methods and technological solutions to study small wildlife species. Since he was a student, he worked on a range of mustelid species, with a particular focus on the smaller ones: pine marten, polecat, stoat, and weasel. Two particular focus areas have been the development of various camera-trapping methods to study and monitor small mustelids and the use of observational data and habitat suitability modelling to examine how small mustelid distributions respond to environmental change. He also dabbled in population genetics and parasitology.
As part of his research, Tim also puts a lot of emphasis on communicating about small mustelids to stakeholders and the general public.
Thank you to Luca for taking and sharing these great records of a fantastic colloquium.
You can now download the Book of Abstracts for the 36th European Mustelid Colloquium and previous colloquiums
Download the Book of Abstracts for the 36th European Mustelid Colloquium
Download the Book of Abstracts from the 35th European Mustelid Colloquium held in Romania in 2024.
Download the Book of Abstracts from the 34th European Mustelid Colloquium held online in 2022.
Download the Book of Abstracts from the 33rd European Mustelid Colloquium held in Portugal in 2019.
Download the Book of Abstracts from the 32nd European Mustelid Colloquium held in France in 2017.
Download the Book of Abstracts from the 31st European Mustelid Colloquium held in Poland in 2013.