The Systematics Association
Promoting the study of systematics and taxonomy since 1937.
Our Mission
01
Promote systematics
Our main role is to represent and further all aspects of Systematic biology.
02
Organise Conferences
On key themes related to systematics, and support researchers to organise organism-based meetings and workshops
03
Provide Grants & support
To researchers worldwide working on taxonomy and systematis.
Events
Founders' Lecture 2025
An annual event honouring the founders of the Systematics Association. Evening lecture delivered by a prominent invited systematist. The next edition will be on Friday 24th October 2025, in person at the Linnean Society of London. Details will be announced soon.
Young Systematists' Forum 2025
The Young Systematists’ Forum represents an exciting setting for postgraduate students and doctoral researchers to present their work to a scientific audience interested in taxonomy and systematic biology. The next edition will be on Friday 14th November 2025. Stay tuned!
Other events
Other events we organise yearly include the Systematics Association Founders' Lecture, the Joy of Discovery day, or the Science Policy Lecture (in partnership with The Linnean Society).
Our story
The Systematics Association was founded in May 1937 as the “Committee on Systematics in Relation to General Biology” with Sir Julian Huxley as its first president. Its aim was to provide a forum for the discussion of the general theoretical and practical problems of taxonomy.
Eighty years later, we continue to work tirelessly for the promotion of the study of systematics and taxonomy. We provide competitive research funds for systematics research, organise conferences and meetings, and publish books on all aspects of systematics. Our conference programme includes a major international biennial conference, the Young Systematics Forum for junior researchers, as well as lectures by distinguished speakers. The Association also supports a variety of training courses in systematics and awards grants for meetings and workshop organisation.
Since its foundation, the Association has been run for and by systematists. It has been thanks to several generations of systematists who devoted their time and energy to keep the association running, since all of our officers and council members are volunteers.
Systematics
Systematics is the scientific study of biodiversity, it origins, relationships, and classifications. It is an interdisciplinary field that combines methods and techniques from different disciplines such as biology, genetics, palaeontology, ecology, and mathematics to identify and describe the relationships between different organisms.
