The Society of Systematic Biologists advances the science of systematic biology in all its aspects of theory, principles, methodology, and practice, for both living and fossil organisms, with emphasis on areas of common interest to all systematic biologists regardless of individual specialization.
Recent News
AAAS report on harassment:
Leaders from some 70 professional societies convened in Washington, D.C., on October 1 to discuss the issue of harassment in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) fields. Rayna C. Bell, SSB’s Council Member, attended the meeting. The meeting was hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and EducationCounsel (EC). We came together to share concerns and needs, discuss policies and frameworks, and make plans to continue the discussion by developing a consortium of societies for professional conduct to prevent and address sexual harassment in STEMM. In coming months, the consortium will work collectively to develop customizable model frameworks for systems, policies, and practices to combat sexual harassment and a toolkit of practical resource materials for use by societies and institutions. We can – and will – collectively respond to address sexual harassment, as recommended in the National Academies’ June 2018 consensus report.
Membership Options:
We have membership options: 1, 2, or 3 years, or even lifetime membership (lifetime membership starts at just $864).
Statements By SSB:
In the past year, we have released statements about issues relating to science, its importance, and restrictions on it. Please see them here.
Leaders from some 70 professional societies convened in Washington, D.C., on October 1 to discuss the issue of harassment in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) fields. Rayna C. Bell, SSB’s Council Member, attended the meeting. The meeting was hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and EducationCounsel (EC). We came together to share concerns and needs, discuss policies and frameworks, and make plans to continue the discussion by developing a consortium of societies for professional conduct to prevent and address sexual harassment in STEMM. In coming months, the consortium will work collectively to develop customizable model frameworks for systems, policies, and practices to combat sexual harassment and a toolkit of practical resource materials for use by societies and institutions. We can – and will – collectively respond to address sexual harassment, as recommended in the National Academies’ June 2018 consensus report.
Membership Options:
We have membership options: 1, 2, or 3 years, or even lifetime membership (lifetime membership starts at just $864).
Statements By SSB:
In the past year, we have released statements about issues relating to science, its importance, and restrictions on it. Please see them here.
Code of Conduct
We have a code of conduct at all our meetings; we encourage reporting of issues to members of the joint meeting council or members of our executive committee. All three societies are dedicated to making the meeting a welcoming place to all with no discrimination or harassment. To this end, we have created a form to aggregate the useful suggestions that have come in so far. To provide a suggestion, go here. To see the suggestions so far, please go here (SSB does not vet or approve of these suggestions -- we're merely aggregating them now for future discussion). Note that the form has been populated with public suggestions proposed on Twitter and Facebook so far (though the comments were made associated with names, it's not clear that people want their name associated, so only the first initial is included -- if you want your name included, please contact Brian O'Meara). We'll be doing more moving forward -- this is just a rapid response to capture ideas while they're fresh