The Annual Gatherings of the ISBS is an extraordinary experience where biosemiotics scholars from around the world gather to share their latest work in the field. As each presenter gets the same amount of time, there are no breakout sessions, and each presentation builds on the previous ones. The comfortable size of the Gatherings presents ample opportunity for in-depth conversations and groundbreaking insights, bringing together scholars from across each field in academia. To read more about the previous Gatherings, click this link.
The 2026 Gatherings in Biosemiotics
The Gatherings in Biosemiotics is the annual meeting of world scholars studying sign processes in living systems. Since 2001, these meetings have taken place and also serve as the annual meeting of the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies.
The Gathering will be hosted by the University of Sheffield’s School of Architecture and Landscape, which is part of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The gathering will be held across two venues. The Arts Tower (home to the School of Architecture and Landscape) and the home for the Faculty of Social Sciences; known as the Wave.
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
The Scientific Advisory Committee of the 26th Gatherings in Biosemiotics invites scholars and researchers from all over the world to submit their abstracts of presentations primarily centred on the roles and significance of sign-processes in and between living systems. We particularly welcome research that brings a novel contribution to the field in the following areas:
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Semiotic processes in biology
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Multi-level semiosis and integrative approaches
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The biosemiotics of health and disease
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The evolution and ontogeny of semiotic processes and mechanisms
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Ecological biosemiotics
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Semiotic approaches to ethology
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Modelling semiotic processes
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Biosemiotics and cognition
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The biosemiotics of language development
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The implications and relations of biosemiotics to philosophy and humanities
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Biosemiotics of aesthetics
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Applied biosemiotics
Abstracts should be 300-600 words, typed using a standard word processing format (using Times New Roman 12 point font, and setting the page size for A4). Abstracts should be submitted as a single page file to the following email address: biosemiotics@sheffield.ac.uk to be received by no later than Friday 5th February 2026.
Please name the abstract file with the author’s (your) surname in capital letters, for instance SEBEOK.doc.
Biosemiotics and the (built) environment
Prior to the 26th Gatherings in Biosemiotics there will be a one-day pre-event symposium on “Biosemiotics and the (built) environment” to deliberate the role of communication and signification in the built environment, and how meaning is cast into built form. Whilst the implication is human design, building and habit forming is not specific to humans. Biosemiotics is a non-anthropocentric discipline, and the situated and distributed building processes of non-humans offer valuable insight into how humans may build ecological and symbiotic habitats. We therefore welcome presentations concerning human and non-human world-making, with note to the following themes:
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Semiotics of aesthetics
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Semiotics of morphology
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Semiotics of space
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Environmental and ecological perception
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Semiotic analysis of built environment
Abstracts for this pre-Gathering symposium should be 300-600 words, typed using a standard word processing format (using Times New Roman 12 point font, and setting the page size for A4). Abstracts should be submitted as a single page file to the following email address: biosemiotics@sheffield.ac.uk to be received by no later than Friday 5th February 2026.
Please name the abstract file with the author’s (your) surname in capital letters with _building; for instance SEBEOK_building.doc