Everyone would agree that Ecology Across Borders (#EAB2017), the joint annual meeting of the BES, Gfö, NECOV and EEF, was a great success. As usual, the quality of talks and the ecological concepts and findings developed during the conference was outstanding. However, what struck me the most was the increasing number of workshops and events dedicated to the working lives of ecologists (topics that apply to all scientists).

The meeting was an eye-opener on the high amount of diversity in our community; and as all of you know, diversity is a main driver of the functioning and stability of any community. We are all different, yet deserve to be equal. I believe that acknowledging our differences and our complementarities is the key for our community of ecologists to make novel discoveries, be heard, and protect our planet.

Below we give you a sample of the different events and workshops that were held during the conference. I attended the ‘Stress Awareness and Mental Wellbeing at Work’ workshop, Melanie Jane Edgar initiated the Accessibility Network, Senior Editor Amy Austin and winner of the 2018 L’Oréal-Unesco for Women in Science award gave a talk at ‘Early Career Development Day’, and Associate Editor Iain Stott was at the the LGBT+ mixer.

The BES has an Equality and Diversity Working Group (EDWG) that was created 2 years ago to develop and oversee the delivery of the Society’s equality and diversity work. The group, led by Hazel Norman (BES Executive Director), is composed of a dedicated team, including among others Karen Devine (BES External Affairs Manager) who organized many of the workshops at #EAB2017, Associate Editor Iain Stott, Senior Editor Richard Bardgett and myself.

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